Teams get ready for 3v3 tourney
The Kick It 3v3 Soccer World Championship tournament is still two months away, but the three Cape Coral teams that have qualified to play there have started to practice for the event.
The three teams headed to the tournament Jan. 16-18 at Disney’s Wide World of Sports are the Bad Ace Boys (U17 boys competitive), the Hickory Smoked Beef (U16 boys’ competitive) and the Dynamite (U13 girls’ rec.).
“We never stopped practicing (since qualifying at nationals in August),” said Brad Herrera, who coaches the Dynamite with Ed McGlynn. “We’re getting together on the weekends and maybe once during the week.”
The Bad Ace Boys took a different approach.
“We decided to hold off on practice until now,” said Bad Ace Boys coach Bill Pacheco. “With the competitive season and high school soccer, it was just too much soccer.”
Pacheco said high school coaches around the Cape don’t seem to object to some of their players participating with the 3v3 squads.
“Some of the coaches in Fort Myers don’t like it, but as long as we aren’t playing a league, they kind of accept the tournament,” Pacheco said.
The Bad Ace Boys are practicing every Sunday at Pelican Soccer Complex, and will throw in a scrimmage game or two with the Hickory Smoked Beef team.
“We’re really looking forward to this event,” Pacheco said.
Teams likely will get in a few extra practice sessions over the holidays when the high school schedule takes a break, except for a few tournaments.
“We want to fine tune what we do,” said Pacheco. “We allowed too many goals in the other tournaments, so we want to tighten that up and fine tune our defense.”
Almost all members of the two boys’ teams play high school soccer right now. With that in mind, the 3v3 sessions concentrate on skills and ball handling instead of conditioning.
“We only have to get back to the 3v3 game,” said Donna Agostinelli, who coaches the Hickory Smoked Beef teams with Bob Agostinelli. “After the holidays they will go back to playing high school and work on their skills (until the tourney).”
The Dynamite are facing a different situation. All six of the girls are in middle school, which plays its soccer season in spring. Most, however, are just finishing up their recreation league play in the Cape Coral Soccer Association program. There’s still a rec. league tournament to play and all six girls made all-star teams, which play in several local tournaments.
“Our practices might get a little longer, and more intense to build up the girls’ stamina,” said Herrera. “There’s no strategy to change, just work on our passing and ball control skills.”
The Dynamite made one addition to the roster. Mallory Guerrero replaces Helania Korvanen for the Disney tourney.
“Depending on how much all-stars they play, we’ll definitely ramp up the number and intensity of practices from here on,” added McGlynn. “The girls are really excited about playing this tournament.”
Team rosters:
Dynamite – Caitlyn McGlynn, 14, Caloosa Middle, 8th grade; Mallory Guerrero, 14, Oasis Middle, 8th grade; Kaylee Herrera, 13, Gulf Middle School, 8th grade; Sara Morin, 13, Gulf Middle, 8th grade; Ashley Nebel, 13, Trafalgar, 8th grade; Ashley Rogers, 13, Gulf Middle, 8th grade.
Hickory Smoked Beef – Eric Agostinelli, 16, North FM, junior; Michael Marzella, 16, Bishop Verot, junior; Jed Cicoria, 15, Ida Baker, sophomore; Caleb Barnhouse, 16, South FM, sophomore; Yury Bykau, 15, Ida Baker, sophomore; Shane Jones, 15, North FM, sophomore.
Bad Ace Boys – Shane Pacheco, 17, Cape Coral High, senior; Travis Pacheco, 16, Cape Coral High, sophomore; Kevin Shultz, 17, Estero High, senior; Guillermo Duque, 17, Cape Coral High, senior; Gaston Sola, 17, Cape Coral High, senior; Nathan Stone, 15, Cape Coral High, sophomore.