2014 Annual Sheriff's Spring Soccer Cup

Team Members Standing lft to rt:  Coach Hugo Cepeida, Brian Oliver, Manny Mandeita, Brad Golden, Edgar Ramos, Geoff Carlson, Sean Norwood, Joey Stevenson, David Blake, Pasqualy Salado, Kevin and Coach Don Barfield.    Kneeling:  Moises Gomez, Joel Dominguez, Mark Hubert, Luis Interiano, Scott Burkett, Beto Duenas, Brian Rivas.  Not present in the photo but contributed as players:  Kenny Pintado, Kevin Bonilla and Javier Ramos, Jesse Reyes and Jamie Guiterrez.

Weekend of April 26th & 27^th, 2014. 

In our first major soccer tournament of 2014, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department hosted their annual Spring Soccer Cup at Mount San Antonio College, CA.  This is an annual event where the Sheriff’s Department Athletic Foundation invites the top law enforcement and fire department soccer teams to compete in this grueling two day tournament.  We play four games in 2-days at a very high tournament level.

Teams in the competition: 

LA County Sheriff’s Gold Squad

Los Angeles Police Department’s #1 Squad (LA United F.C.

LA County Sheriff’s Green Squad (2^nd Unit)

Los Angeles Police Department’s #2 Squad) - Centurions

Fire Department Combo Team – LA City and LA County Fire.

Western Select – a local Club soccer team

Barcelona – a local Club soccer team.

Our first match pitted us against the LA County Sheriff’s Green Squad. 

LA United started off shaky, realizing that this was their first soccer tournament of the year, they proved to be off the mark with their passing and tactics on the field.  LA Sheriff’s Green Squad took full advantage of that and scored the first goal of the match.  LA United continued to struggle through the game, missing several “A” chances to score.  With time running out and about 1-minute to play, Joey Stevenson received a crossing ball for a corner kick to tie the game.  It was an exciting and timely goal. 

In our 2^nd match of the same day we took on Barcelona – a very young, fit and explosive club team.  This turned into a shootout between the two teams.  Barcelona was extremely fast and was able to get a 3-0 lead on us in the first 20-min.  With our backs to the wall, LA United made the necessary adjustments to curtail the onslaught.  LA United began to put pressure on their defense and slowly reduced their lead, however, not without allowing several more goals.  In the end, LA United dug deep within themselves and managed to tie this very talented team 6-6.  Amazing comeback for LA United.

In the 3^rd game on Sunday, we drew the other Club team, Western Select.  Now that we had gotten rid of the cobwebs from last year, we moved positively and with precision and determination to win this game.  LA United won, 4-0.

Due to the point system used by the game officials, LA United did NOT qualify for the gold medal round, rather we played for the 3^rd place medal.  Our opponents were our old allies, the 2^nd LAPD soccer team, the Centurions.  Because this was the culmination of a two day soccer event, all were extremely sore and tired.  LA United prevailed in this match winning 5-0 and that allowed us to claim 3^rd place in the tournament.

We wish to express our sincere appreciation to Sgt Ruben Nava, LA County Sheriff’s Dept. for putting on this wonder soccer tournament.

Below are action photo graphs of LA United in game play.  To enlarge the photo, place youre curson over the photo and double click.

Joey Stevenson attacks the defender and forces an errant pass.

Geoff Carlson protects his turf from a well placed corner kick by the opposing team

Pasqualy Salada using his speed to dribble past a challenging player

Luis Interiano (goalie) aggressively snares a shot on goal

Joel Dominguez gets into the air to thwart a crossing ball.

Pasqualy muscles past the defender to set up a shot on goal

Brian Rivas challenges his opponent for the ball

Mark Hubert stands his ground defending his turf

Joel works the ball up field into the attack

Moises Gomez shields the ball from the defender

Gomez looking for teammate support

Pasqualy uses his magical touch to avoid the defender

Pasqualy darts past the defender using his strength and position

Pasqualy looks to pass the ball into the attacking zone

David Blake springs free on a break-a-way to develop a scoring threat

Brian Oliver makes a long pass down field

Brian Rivas using his one-touch passing skills

Kevin  passes up field to initiate an offensive surge.

Brian Oliver working hard on the attack

Mark Hubert challenges for the ball

Mark Hubert goes into the air to make a scoring threat - heading the ball

 Mark Hubert dribbles down field to support the offense

Brian Oliver passes a through ball to David Blake on a scoring attempt

Brian Rivas uses his dribbling skills

 Brian Oliver out on the wing sends a pass forward to Gomez

Luis Interiano grabs another shot on goal by the opponents

Luis drives the ball down field to the awaiting forwards.

LA United F.C. takes the 3rd Place Trophy

Comments welcomed.

LAPD Takes the Bronze Medal at the United States Police & Fire Championship Games in San Diego

The week of June 17 through 21, 2013

We could only muster 14 players for this competition as several officers could not get time off from the Department to compete in this week long event.  Being 4-players short did have a negative affect on the outcome our our games.

As the “games” begin, LAPD drew two games on Monday, the first day of competition.  Our first opponent was from the California Department of Corrections (CDC).  We had not competed against this team before so they were an unknown us.

Right from the start LAPD had a good jump in their legs and played a skillful passing game that left the CDC team flat footed.  So much so that LAPD won the game 7-2.  Contributing to the scoring were:  4-goals by Joseph STEVENSON, with additional goals by Joel DOMINGUEZ, Kevin BONILLA and Manual MANDIETA.

On to our second game of the day was against the “Homeland Security” team.  This is a team that we have played in the past.  They are a spirited and aggressive team that challenges early to try and break up our passing game.  It was a close game, however, LAPD again prevailed to win 3-1, with scoring from Alberto DUENAS, Edgar RAMOS and Heric OBREGON.

On Tuesday, we played the Los County Fire Department.  This team is highly skilled and very competitive.  They continue to be one of the toughest teams that we play against.  They are always physically fit and have a strong defense.

As the game progressed, both teams fought hard and gave little advantage.  This was proven by a 0-0 score at half time.  In the second half, LAPD began to put more pressure on their defense spending more time in Fire’s zone.  Late in the 2^nd half, Officer Kevin BONILL received a long pass down the left side of the field.  Kevin noted that Fire’s goalie seemed out of position and took that opportunity to launch a blistering shot from about 25 yards out from the left side that traversed across the goal mouth and into the upper right corner of the goal….A truly spectacular shot at any level of soccer.   A powerful and amazing goal that eventually won the game; score 1-0.

LAPD won all three games of their bracketed play, now on to the semi-finals.

In the semi-finals, we played an Orange County Combo Probation team, one we have not seen before.   

The game started out with both teams moving up and down the field pretty much at will, however, Probation seemed to have a little more jump in their legs and began to dominate the play in general.  This made us do much more defending than usual.  Eventually, Probation got the first goal, setting us back on our heels.  At the end of the first half, Probation was leading 1-0.  As we came out in the second half, it was obvious that Probation had fallen into a defensive mode so as to maintain their lead of 1-0.  Additionally, we lost a player due to penalties and played short, one man down. 

Our spirit was strong and we began spending more time in Probation’s defensive zone.  With about 10- minutes left in the game, Officer Joel DOMINGUEZ collected a rebound shot by on of the LAPD players and drove it past their goalie to tie the game 1-1.

The last 10- minutes was a slug-fest with both teams fighting to gain the lead.  LAPD continued to push forward even though they were one man down. 

As time drew near the end of the game, Probation, with 3-minutes left, had a corner kick near our goal.  As the kick was initially denied by the defense, but not cleared from the zone, Probation struck the ball hard and fast into our net scoring a 2^nd goal and putting them in the lead.

Unfortunately, Probation was able to make that score stand and LAPD lost 2-1.

We fell just a little short of our goal to take the gold medal, however LAPD was awarded the 3-rd place “Bronze” medal for soccer.

The following are actions photographs taken by Coach Don Barfield during the course of the tournament.  To expand the photo, place your cursor on the image and double click it.

Comments or suggestions are welcomed.