Division II Final Newspaper Articles

[m]

For those who don't have access to the Houma Courier or The Advocate... here are two articles on the finals from the Houma Courier and one from the Advocate.

www.houmatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070225/SPORTS/70224016/1032/SPORTS01

Vandebilt wins unprecedented third straight state soccer title
Terriers shut out East Ascension, again

Vance T. Barker
Sports Correspondent

GONZALES – Saturday night became a historic one for high school soccer in Louisiana.

In a rematch of last year’s Division II state championship, Vandebilt returned to Spartan Stadium and beat East Ascension 3-0 in the state final to become the first team in Louisiana to win three straight state titles.

“I’m extraordinarily happy,” Vandebilt coach Doug Hamilton said. “We went through a lot of adversity this season. We had some pretty major injuries early in the year. All the preparation and the scheduling is to prepare for a game like this. It’s a tremendous credit to our senior class. They had been to many championship games, but this is the first time many of them had to be the winners and the champions. We knew they had it in them. We peaked at the right time. I couldn’t be happier for the boys.”

Not only is the title the third in a row for the Terriers (19-11-2), it’s their fifth in the last six years and the program’s seventh. The victory is Vandebilt’s 27th in its last 28 playoff matches. It was the sixth straight year the Terriers have played for the state title.

Mac Corbin began the scoring 5 minutes into the match when he headed a free kick by Bradon Eschete.

After a yellow card was issued to East Ascension’s Carey Gautreaux for dissent after a hard tackle, T.J. Freeman extended Vandebilt’s lead to 2-0 on a penalty kick in the 35th minute. The score remained that way through halftime.

In the 54th minute, Corbin ended the scoring when he booted in another free kick from Eschette.

“This means a lot to us,” Corbin said. “Nobody thought we would do the three-peat. Everybody thought we’d be too young. We just thought different. We came out and decided to play. We knew we’d be all right. We didn’t want to be the team not to do it.”

East Ascension (18-8) was issued five yellow cards in the match, all but one coming in the second half.

The difference however was Vandebilt’s efficiency on offense. While the Spartans outshot the Terriers 30-10, they failed to get one kick past Vandebilt goaltender Mason Smith, who was only called on to make one save. Most of that was because the Terriers’ defense helped control the action for most of the match.

“Bradon Eschette and Mitchell Barker in the middle of the defense were spectacular,” Hamilton said. “They shut down any chances East Ascension had. They played well.”

East Ascension goalie Chad Ledler made two saves.

“It was a good game, better than last year, but it doesn’t lessen the pain,” Spartans coach Rueben Ruiz said. “They had our backs against the wall and used it to their advantage.”

[m]

www.houmatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070225/SPORTS/70224017/1032/SPORTS01

BOYS HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER PLAYOFFS
Execution keys Vandy’s victory

Kelly McElroy
Staff Writer

GONZALES – The portion of Vandebilt Catholic’s game it struggled with all season was the same that helped it win an unprecedented third straight Division II state title.

The Terriers scored three goals off set pieces Saturday night to take a 3-0 victory over East Ascension at a blustery Spartan Stadium.

Mac Corbin scored two goals off long free kicks from Bradon Eschete, and T.J. Freeman sandwiched in a penalty kick as the Terriers took home their seventh title in school history.

“We finally put them (the set pieces) together,” Vandebilt coach Doug Hamilton said. “The guys were extremely focused, especially on those set pieces.”

With a strong wind at their backs in the first half, the Terriers (19-11-2) executed to near perfection on their first goal.

From behind the midfield stripe, Eschete launched a ball to Corbin, who headed it out of the air and into the net for a 1-0 Vandebilt lead 7 minutes into the match.

“Bradon Eschete, my goodness,” Hamilton said. “He has a major leg. Even by his standards, he had a little extra on that one. It was from 65 yards out. It was incredible.”

Corbin said the Terriers have been heavily practicing those types of pieces recently.

“The last two weeks, we’ve been working on those set plays,” Corbin said. “Early in the season they were really giving us trouble. Bradon sent in some awesome balls, and we were able to capitalize. We finally got it down.”

T.J. Freeman scored Vandebilt’s next goal on a penalty kick 4 minutes before halftime that gave the Terriers a 2-0 lead at intermission.

Freeman, a freshman, used his left foot to kick the ball low and into the far-left corner of the net for his 42nd goal of the season.

“I was nervous,” Freeman said. “Very nervous. At first I planned on going to the opposite corner, but at the last second something told me to change. It worked out perfect.”

Vandebilt scored the final goal of the match in the 53rd minute when Eschete made another long, free kick that bounced around the net before Corbin sent it home.

“We work on all kinds of free kicks,” Eschete said. “We work on short ones right outside the 18-yard box, we work on midway kicks, and we work on the long ones.”

Every free kick won’t always work to perfection or result in a goal, but for the Terriers on Saturday night, three set pieces resulted in a state championship.

“Sometimes it’s just luck,” Eschete said. “That first one was a nice setup, but we just got a lucky bounce on the second one, and the keeper couldn’t handle it.”

[m]

www.2theadvocate.com/sports/6068461.html?showAll=y&c=y

Vandebilt shuts out EA for title

By FRED ALDRICH
Special to The Advocate
Published: Feb 25, 2007

GONZALES — A thing of beauty.

That was the set piece Vandebilt Catholic used to score its first goal en route to a 3-0 win over East Ascension in the Division II-Class 4A boys soccer state championship match at a windy Spartan Stadium Saturday night.

It was the second year in a row that Vandebilt defeated the Spartans in the state finals and marked an unprecedented third straight state championship for the Terriers as they finished off an unusual season which saw them start with a 4-11 record, then go 15-0-2 on their way to the championship.

The play that set the Terriers in motion came in the sixth minute when Braden Eschete took a free kick from near the left sideline about 8 yards inside the midfield line. Eschete lofted a perfect pass just outside the right post which Mac Corbin took in stride and headed in past diving East Ascension goalkeeper Chad Leodler.

“They came at us with so much speed up front,” said EA coach Rueben Ruiz. “Their speed forced us into a defensive posture, and we never could attack on offense the way we wanted to.

“They played the wind better than we did, and they just played the ball well all over the field,” he said.

Aside from that play, the Spartans fought Vandebilt to a standoff until a crucial play in the 35th minute.

EA’s Carey Gautreaux was called for a foul in the penalty box when he and T.J. Freeman collided going for the ball. Freeman, a freshman who is Vandebilt’s leading scorer for the year, drove the penalty kick low left into the goal and the visitors had a 2-0 lead.

“That penalty kick took a lot out of us,” Ruiz said. “It was the first time we’ve been called (for a foul) in the box all year.

“We got some fouls on what looked like 50-50 balls. Sometimes you get the call, and sometimes you don’t,” he said.

The Terriers’ final goal came in the 52nd minute when Eschete and Corbin teamed up again on a set piece.

This time Eschete sent a free kick from 40 yards out on the right diagonal into a pack in the front of the goal, and when Leodler couldn’t get a handle on the ball, Corbin kicked it in for the goal.

“It’s ironic, but set pieces have been our Achilles heel all season, on offense and on defense,” Vandebilt Catholic coach Doug Hamilton said. “We looked at some things and Coach (Matt) Kelso came up with a new scheme.

“I’m just extraordinarily happy with this win. We have guys that played on the other championship teams, but this was the first time they had to step up and be the leaders.

“Eschete and (Mitchell) Barker were incredible. Even by his standards Eschete had a little extra zip, and I don’t think they ever got past Barker,” he said.

The Spartans’ offense generated only three shots on goal and one free kick which sailed over the goal.

Luke Landaiche put the ball in the goal in the 48th minute but the goal was disallowed and Landaiche received a yellow card for interfering with Smith before the shot.

Hamilton did not compare this championship to the past two, but said this year was special for more than the state title.

“I’m more proud of our journey this season,” he said. “We had injuries early, we played a tough schedule, and we had to overcome adversity.

“But everything you do is to prepare you for a game like this, and we knew we could do it.

“A lot of this is a credit to coach Kelso. Vandebilt Catholic has a proud soccer tradition, but he has really brought the passion back into our program,” he said.

East Ascension finished the season with an 18-8 record. The Spartans tied Lee High for the Division II, District 4 title and advanced as the No. 1 team on a basis of goal differential.

Vandebilt Catholic reached the finals by knocking out Lee High 2-0 in the semifinals.

[Hooligan]

PRIDE.....TRADITION.......PASSION...........

Sounds like the basic ingredients to be a champion

[m]

Here's another good article on the Division II finals that was in today's Houma Courier.

www.houmatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070226/SPORTS/70226003/1032/SPORTS01

BOYS HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER
Terriers defy odds in taking third-straight championship

Kelly McElroy
Staff Writer

HOUMA – There were several reasons Vandebilt Catholic wouldn’t win a third consecutive Division II state championship.

First, no soccer team in Louisiana history had ever accomplished the feat.

Second, the Terriers graduated 10 key seniors off last year’s team which had won three of the last four Division II crowns.

Third, the team started the season by losing 11 of its first 15 matches.

Last, three of Vandebilt’s four midfielders were battling injuries at one point in the season.

Despite all those factors, the Terriers hoisted their third straight state title and the school’s seventh after a 3-0 victory Saturday night over East Ascension in Gonzales.

“I’m more proud of the journey this season than anything,” Vandebilt coach Doug Hamilton said.

“We peaked at the right time. We needed to play just a little better at the beginning of the season, but that confidence just built and built and built. Ultimately, we weren’t going to be denied. Vandebilt Catholic has a very proud tradition.”

Maybe it was some of that tradition, or the fear of somehow failing to live up to it that carried the Terriers to their fifth crown in six years.

“Vandebilt has so much tradition that every time you step on the field, you know all the past players, coaches and fans expect nothing but the best,” senior Scott Bergeron said.

“And that’s state championship-type soccer. That’s what we do. I would never want to play for another school.”

Senior captain Mitchell Barker carried some of that pressure into the season.

“The other teams we had were so great,” Barker said. “We had so much talent.
Coming in I knew I would be a captain, and I would be the one who all the pressure
was on. I knew my teammates would come through. This means the world to me.”

Another challenge to the Terriers (19-11-2) was the fact they had to travel back to East Ascension, where they beat the Spartans 8-0 last year.

“They (the Spartans) really wanted it,” senior defender Chris Babineaux said.

“They were coming hard, but we got them frustrated. That’s what we wanted to do. We took them out of their game.”

The play of freshman forward T.J. Freeman, who scored on a penalty kick on Saturday night and was the Terriers’ leading scorer with 42 goals on the season, was key for Vandebilt this year.

“All our hard work paid off,” Freeman said.

“A lot of people thought we were the underdogs. We started off bad, but gave it all we had. The guys are very supportive. They kept telling me to work hard, and I did.”

Hamilton said the presence of assistant coach Matt Kelso, a native of Scotland, former Nicholls State University track athlete and member of the New Orleans Shell Shockers, helped keep the team together through the rocky early start.

“Coach Kelso just said keep coaching, and he told the kids to just keep playing,” Hamilton said. “I have to give him tons of credit. He has brought tons of energy to the team, and really brought that passion for soccer.”

The words of Hamilton and Kelso obviously got through to the team.

“You can never say enough about the coaches,” Bergeron said. “A lot of times, they do stuff we don’t like, but they always know what is best for us and keep us in line.”

Next season’s senior class will be going for four consecutive state titles.

“I have three under my belt right now,” junior Bradon Eschete said. “And maybe a fourth one coming next year. We just have to keep working hard.”

[newtosoccer]

www.kfolkjun.com/htv10/Sports/tabid/61/EntryID/205/Default.aspx

Posted by: JMcCann 2/24/2007
The faces may change, but the end result rarely does. The Vandebilt Terriers are the champions of Boys Division II once again after a 3-0 victory at East Ascension Saturday night. They become the first team in the history of Louisiana high school soccer to win three consecutive state championships.

"The history was a big motivator," Coach Doug Hamilton said of his young squad, who finished with an overall record of 19-11-2. "We ultimately peeked at the right time. Although the record is not glamorous by our standards, the pride of being the first team to do three in a row is just incredible."

Even though the Terriers have now won 5 state championships in the last 6 years, this team was considered by many a talented one, but perhaps too young to win it all again. In the end, the hard work and the experience resulted in a history-making season.

"The youth and everything doesn't really matter as long as you've got the heart and determination to do it all, you can do it," senior Scott Bergeron said. "If you really want it inside, it comes out within you, and a champion's a champion. That's what we are."

"It just shows that we're strong and everyone works together. And even if we are young, we can still get it done," sophomore goalkeeper Mason Smith said.

Smith and his defense pitched a shutout on the evening, allowing East Ascension very few shots on goal.

The Terrier offense got started early in the first half when Braden Eschete blasted a ball from near midfield and onto the head of Mac Corbin, who knocked it into the net for a 1-0 lead.

"Braden Eschete put a awesome ball in and I was just able to knock it in. That's it," Corbin said.

The Terriers extended their lead on a penalty kick late in the first half after freshman T.J. Freeman was taken down in the box. Freeman converted the PK to give Vandebilt a 2-0 halftime lead. The rookie was a pleasant surprise on the team this season as he ended up leading the team in goals on the year.

"It's just a great feeling. I didn't think I'd be here, and when I'm here I just give it the best I've got and I hope that's enough," Freeman said.

Corbin put the icing on the cake with his second goal halfway through the second half to give Vandebilt a 3-0 lead, the score would stay that way until the final whistle blew.

"We always expect to be here, but it's very difficult to get done," Coach Hamilton said. "Our boys would not be denied, and we couldn't have peaked at a better time."

For highlights and interviews from this game, watch Sportstalk 10 Monday at 9:00 p.m.