Division III Final Newspaper Articles

[q]

Rebels fall to Saints
Teurlings fails to score for first time this season
Kevin Foote
[e-mail]

SHREVEPORT - It was the worst time for the Teurlings Catholic Rebels to be held scoreless for the first time all season.
A baffled bunch of Rebels stood in amazement after the time ran out in the first of two 10-minute overtime periods Friday at Independence Stadium in Shreveport. Their dream of a state title was gone in a hard-luck 1-0 overtime decision to their district rival St. Louis Saints.

"We had some opportunities in the first half and missed some real good chances in the second half," TCH coach Lance Peltier said. "It's just a tough loss, but I couldn't be any prouder of these kids."

What made the loss even harder to swallow for the Rebels (28-3-2) was how the one goal happened. It came with 7:53 left in the first overtime periods. Mike Lapira's shot deflected off the knee of Rebels' sophomore Kyle White and just over the leaping effort of senior goalkeeper Ray Savoie and into the net for the game's only goal.
"If you were just throwing shots at the goal, one is going to go in," Lapira said.

"The deflection made the ball spin over me," Savoie said. "It was basically impossible to stop at that point."

Senior sweeper Jeff Cecil could only watch as his goalkeeper was put in a difficult position.

"He (Lapira) got by me and shot it," Cecil said. "It deflected off of Kyle, and there was nothing Ray could do about it."

There was something about the sequence that told White that trouble was on the way.

"As soon as it deflected off my knee, my heart dropped down to my toes," White said. "I just knew it was going in."

The Rebels outshot St. Louis (21-9-2) by three in the game, but somehow was forced to absorb their first shutout by an opposing goalkeeper of the season.

"I think we handled the bigger field fine," White said. "We played our game. It just didn't work out for us at the end of the day."

Savoie made two spectacular saves for the Rebels. The first one came off a free kick with 17:10 left in the first half and the second one with 4:14 left in the first half.

"We felt confident all along that we were going to win," Savoie said. "We never thought we were going to lose this game.

Teurlings had two near-misses on headers in the second half at the 11:07 and 4:29 marks.

"We had so many chances to score that it was ridiculous," Cecil said. "But you can't blame it on one person. It was a good game. It just didn't go our way unfortunately. They just got a lucky goal."

[q]

PrepBlog by Kevin Foote
St. Louis continues to frustrate Teurlings
Kevin Foote
[e-mail]

If you’ve played sports long enough or been a fan for long enough, you’ve got to have a sense of the frustration the Teurlings Catholic Rebels are feeling after Friday’s 1-0 overtime loss to the St. Louis Saints.
Last year, they lost to the Saints three times in three games with the last one coming in the state finals.

The Rebels just knew this year was going to be different. It was their turn in this rivalry. It certainly seemed like it was, but it didn’t happen.

The Saints came up with a deflected goal in the first of two overtime periods and held on to claim the 1-0 win.

If you’re a longtime UL basketball fan, you know what that feeling was like against the New Orleans Privateers in the 1980s and 90s when Tim Floyd was seemingly spending more time on the court than his players.

If you’re a Saints fan, you remember what it was like against the San Francisco 49ers in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

If you’re a Colts fan, you know what it was like against the New England Patriots prior to this past postseason.

There are just certain teams that you can’t seem to get the best of. For the Teurlings Catholic Rebels soccer team, that team is the St. Louis Saints.

It’s a shame too. It would have been such a fitting ending for this group of Rebels senior, many of which started as freshman and have literally been the program since its inception.

Now they hand over the program to the underclassmen left.

At least with moving up to Division II, the returning Rebels won’t have to worry about the St. Louis Saints any longer.

[q]

St. Louis grabs another boys state soccer title
February 24, 2007
By Brian Vernellis
Shreveport Times
[e-mail]

One word sums up St. Louis' victory in the Division III boys soccer championship - dynasty.

The Saints beat Teurlings Catholic, 1-0, in overtime on Friday for back-to-back Division III titles, and their fourth in five years.


Michael Lapira's shot in the 82nd minute from 25 yards away deflected off a Tuerlings defender and past goalkeeper Ray Savoie. Lapira was named the game's MVP.

"Whenever you shoot, good things can happen," Lapira said.

"They're a great team, and we know what they can do, but in overtime we stepped it up and took it to them."

Tuerlings came close to the equalizer in the second overtime on a few tries, but St. Louis escaped with the win.

For St. Louis, it's been a magical ride. They were a sub-.500 team two months ago and wondered where their season would end up.

"We just weren't clicking," Lapira said. "Coach talked to us about it, and ever since then, we've been beating teams."

Teurlings Catholic was the latest on Friday.

The sting of the loss was amplified for the Rebels because the Saints beat them in the 2006 championship game as well.

"They're devastated and tired," said Teurlings Catholic coach Lance Peltier of his team.

"For the seniors, this was their last chance. They gave everything they had. I wish we could have put it away for the seniors."

The teams exchanged close calls through the 80 minutes of regulation, but neither could get that important first goal.

"Sometimes, it's who wants it more," St. Louis coach Jason Oertling said. "Sometimes, it's who gets lucky.

"(Teurlings) could have easily won this too."

The teams split their regular-season series at a game apiece and were well aware of what their opponent could do.

"(Teurling) has always been a second-half team," Oertling said. "We'd have to counter when the ball is in front of the net.

[q]

Still the One
Lapira OT goal lifts Saints to sixth state title
Jonathan Manning
Lake Charles American Press
February 24, 2007

Shreveport - Clear another spot in the trophy case, St. Louis just brought home another one.

St. Louis beat Teurlings Catholic 1-0 in overtime of the final of the Division III Louisiana High School Athletic Association soccer playoffs Friday night at Independence Stadium to win its sixth soccer title, the most by a Division III school.

Junior forward Michael Lapira scored the winning goal at the 2:28 mark of the first overtime period, deflecting the ball off Teurlings' Kyle White into the goal.

Lapira juked a Teurlings (29-3-2) defender, then shot the ball from the top of the penalty box. It hit White's knee and rendered Rebels goalie Ray Savoie helpless, bounding over his head.

"The deflection made the ball spin over me," Savoie explained. "Basically it was impossible to stop."

"When you let teams hang around, things like own-goals happen," said Teurlings coach Lance Peltier, whose Rebels lost to St. Louis in the finals two straight years.

For the goal, Lapira was named the game's MVP.

"If you are just throwing shots at the goal, one is going to go in," Lapira said.

The Saints are now back-to-back champions for the third time in school history, having also won state titles in 1997, '98, '03, '04 and '06.

Because of how St. Louis (21-9-2) won this one, finishing the season on a 10-game win streak after a sub-.500 start, it will hold special memories for Saints coach Jason Oertling, who has been at the helm for each of the Saints' titles.

"We had to fight for this one," Oertling said. "The other titles, we knew if we played our best, we would win. This one, we knew anybody could win. It was going to be who made something happen and who made the breaks. I'm going to cherish this one because we had to fight for it."

St. Louis also won 13 of its last 14.

"It just clicked one day," said Saints forward Cory Duplechain, who also started on last year's championship squad. "We just started playing together."

Teurlings was shut out for the first time this season, although it outshot St. Louis 21-18.

"They put a lot of pressure on us, but we had a lot of bodies flying around in front of the goal," St. Louis goalie Rennie Walker. "(The ball) wouldn't even get to me."

"After the previous games when it was 3-2, I didn't think it would be this low scoring," Oertling said. "We always talk about how defense wins championships and tonight we proved it. That a great team we just beat."

Walker, voted All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, had 12 saves in his second finals apperance in the goal.

"I'm proud of these guys," Walker said. "This one means more to me than last year because this was nothing but heart."

Teurlings lost in the final to St. Louis last year also but rebounded to spend much of the season in the other receiving votes of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America/adidas soccer poll.

But St. Louis' win in the finals was the Saints' second victory over Teurlings this season. The Rebels other loss was to Clinton, Miss.

"It's a hard-fought game every time we play," Peltier said.

[Bish]

"When you let teams hang around, things like own-goals happen," said Teurlings coach Lance Peltier, whose Rebels lost to St. Louis in the finals two straight years.

A deflection is not an own goal.

[coolhandluke]

A deflection is not an own goal.[/quote]


Ms Bish........wrong again !!

Own goal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An own goal occurs in goal-scoring games when a player scores a goal that is registered against his own team. It is usually accidental, and may be a result of an attempt at defensive play that failed or was spoiled by opponents.

[Bish]

Wrong again? When was I wrong before...?

Oh young one, you have much to learn. Maybe you want to check wikipedia again, because this is the definition I got when I went there.

An own goal occurs in goal-scoring games when a player scores a goal that is registered against his own team. It is usually accidental, and may be a result of an attempt at defensive play that failed or was spoiled by opponents. This doesn't include deflections.

If you don't believe me, see for yourself.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Own_goal

PWND

Lapira shot the ball, and was probably hoping for a deflection anyway. It sounds like the player couldn't get out of the way, and the ball was on target for the goal anyway. It's not like the player was passing the ball back to the keeper and he missed it and it went into the goal.

[coolhandluke]

Adam......you should have used some of your minimum wage for gas money to Shreveport. Keeper was coming off his line to block......pretty sure it wasn't going in the goal. Next year if you let me know ahead of time, I'll spot you some gas money.....the view is much better in person.

It was a good game......congrats to the Saints

[Bish]

cajunfan said:

Keeper was coming off his line to block......pretty sure it wasn't going in the goal.

Irrelevant. I never said the ball was going in the goal. I said the shot was on goal. If the player has an intention of getting the ball into the goal however possible, then it doesn't matter if it hits somebody along the way, as long as the shot was on goal.

By your logic, if the keeper attempts to make a save and it goes off his hands or leg or whatever and into the goal, then it's an own goal. After all, it was "an attempt at defensive play that failed or was spoiled by opponents."

Using wikipedia as a reliable source is not a good idea either.

[macca1]

In England if a shot is taken and it is going on target but takes a deflection and still goes in it is not classed as an own goal. so it is up to your judgment if you think Lapira's shot was going on target before it took a deflection then it is his goal if you think it was going off target and was deflected in then yes its an own goal, but if you watched the goal the shot was on target and just helped on its way in so i don't think it was an own goal

[Bish]

macca1 said:

In England if a shot is taken and it is going on target but takes a deflection and still goes in it is not classed as an own goal. so it is up to your judgment if you think Lapira's shot was going on target before it took a deflection then it is his goal if you think it was going off target and was deflected in then yes its an own goal, but if you watched the goal the shot was on target and just helped on its way in so i don't think it was an own goal

Yeah, that's exactly how it should be. It's not so much a judgement call. If a player, be it the goalie or a field player, tries to make a save on a ball going in the goal, and isn't successful, then it's a goal, period.

[soccermadness10]

Usually deflections are only called own goals if the ball was NOT going on target in the first place, if a ball is definetly going in and hits a player or say the ball is rolling over the line and the player tries to clear it but puts it in the roof of the net, those are usually not called own goals. Own goals are when the ball is not already going in the net

[Ghandi]

God kills a baby every time someone puts wikipedia as a source.

[coolhandluke]

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Noun 1. own goal - (soccer) a goal that results when a player inadvertently knocks the ball into the goal he is defending;

[soccermadness10]

i'd still give credit to the striker if the shot was initially on target

[reggiebush]

Who cares? St. Louis won and Teurlings lost, that's all that matters.

[Bish]

cajunfan said:

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Noun 1. own goal - (soccer) a goal that results when a player inadvertently knocks the ball into the goal he is defending;

What are you trying to prove? I know you are avidly searching for some random website that has a definition of "own goal" so you can prove something, which I can't even figure out what it is. In the meantime you are making a fool of yourself.

Take this situation for example:

A shot is fired and is on goal. A field player is on one of the posts, and has an easy chance to block the shot. The goalie dives in front of the player in order to block the shot. He can't quite get to it and tips the ball up and over the field player's head and into the goal.

Now answer this question: Is that an own goal or no?

[justamom]

First of all, Congratulations to St. Louis!
Job well done!

To The TCH Seniors: Great Season, great game! You will be missed!
To the underclassman: Good Luck next year.
To Coach: Thank you! Two years at TCH, with two trips to the State Finals, we all enjoyed the ride.

To Coolhandluke: Let it go!! Mr. Bish has enjoyed bashing TCH all year long. As you can tell, he is lurking and hoping one of the players logs in soon so he can add a little salt.
Please do not place the salt in his hand.

Mr. Bish: The fat lady has sung!!

[Bish]

Haha. I bashed TCH all year long? Please explain how.

[doornobcrusher]

how is he bashing teurlings? coolhandluke said it was an own goal, and it wasnt, and bish proved him wrong... i see no bashing