NHB Futbol- North Huntington Beach Futbol Club

The boys entered the 2010 Slammers tournament as the defending champions, having won the 2009 BU-15 edition on penalties over the host Slammers squad. The boys began their title defense against NC Boca with a 3-1 win. Midfielder Oscar Fernandez opened the scoring with a deft one touch volley to the far post. Forwards David Vasquez and Sergio Tapia finished off the scoring for the 3-1 result. Match number two of group play was a 2-2 draw against Chelsea, who would end up being the opponent in the final. Sergio Tapia notched a quality goal during the run of play to put NHB up 1-0. After finding themselves down 1-2 in the second half, Oscar Fernandez headed home the equalizer off a corner kick. For match three a tie against Slammers was all that was needed to earn a spot in the final. The Slammers defense felt generous and offered up an early mistake that cost them a goal by Sergio Tapia. Slammers were able to pull even in the second half, but the match ended in a 1-1 draw. The final match pitted NHB against Chelsea in a rematch of pool play. NHB struck first in the opening minutes of the match with a diving header by midfielder Gabriel Flores off a solid far post service by forward Sergio Tapia. Chelsea was able to equalize in the 32 minute, only to concede a goal 3 minutes later. The first half ended with NHB up 2-1. The second half was not as competitive as the first, with both teams generating only a few quality looks on goal. The game ended 2-1 in favor of NHB.

This past weekend NHB Black BU-16 began play in the Copa Del Mar tournament in San Diego. The opening match scheduled NHB against the host Del Mar Sharks. The first half was a fairly ugly match, and ended without a goal by either team. After a brief talking-to, NHB played a more intelligent game, and notched the first of 4 goals in the 3rd minute. Forward Aaren Lewis scored a nice left-footed shot off a corner kick. Two minutes later midfielder Gabriel Flores scored what the team decided to call a disco goal (you don't want to know….). At minute 13 NHB defender Reed Arao found midfielder Gabriel Flores on the far side of the field, who in turn slotted the ball past the Del Mar keeper and into the path of forward David Vasquez: NHB 3-0. Forward Jacob Breckenridge finished off the scoring with a solid far post shot in the 27th minute. Final score NHB 4-0. It was a nice way to begin the tournament, keeping a clean sheet with a solid defensive unit of Zac Way, Josh Madrid, Aaren Lewis, Garrett Stiffler-Greasby, Reed Arao, midfielders Anthony Bussa, Kameron Moses and goalkeeper Ryan Emma. Match #2 was against an ugly affair against a Canadian squad. After going down 1-0 at the 5 minute mark, midfielder Anthony Bussa tied things up in the 18th minute. The rest of the match declined, ending with 3 player ejections (two Canadians and one NHB player). Fortunately the match ended without further issues, 1-1. NHB ended group play at the top of group A, and played the semifinal match against San Clemente United. NHB could never quite get its rhythm going against a scrappy San Clemente squad, but finally found the back of the net in the second half with 5 minutes left in regulation. Defender Zac Way found midfielder Oscar Fernandez isolated on the left side, who then struck a low driven service to the far post. The service was redirected to the back post by midfielder Gabriel Flores. The game ended that way and NHB was off to the final match. The final found NHB matched against an old nemesis, Aztecs Premier. The two teams played each other three times last year in tournaments at U-15. NHB won the first of those with a 1-0 score to win the 2009 BU-15 Cerritos Memorial weekend tournament. Aztecs won the next two in two editions of the Nomads tournament. NHB started the final quickly, catching Aztecs asleep defensively to go up 3-0 by the 14 minute on goals by forwards Aaren Lewis (3', 10') and David Vasquez (14'). The Aztecs broke down the NHB defense in the 30' minute earning a penalty. The first half ended 3-1 in favor of NHB. The Aztecs came out with all cylinders firing in the second half and caught the NHB defense off balance in the 8th minute with a well-struck free kick from the top of the box. Another defensive miscue in the 26th minute and the game was even at 3 – 3.

The match ended that way and went straight to penalties. NHB chose to shoot first. Defender Josh Madrid stepped forward as shooter number one. He struck it well, with force, but apparently the Aztec keeper fear-stricken, so much so that he could not move his feet and the ball struck him squarely in his hands…..that's our story and we're sticking to it….anyway, Keeper Ryan Emma steps in goal to face the first Aztec shooter. The referee blows his whistle authorizing the shot. The Aztec player hit a world-class shot to Ryan's left, but unlike most keepers Ryan is unusually intelligent (for a keeper anyway) and anticipated the dastardly strike, made a World-Class save deflecting the ball wide of the net. The rest of the shooters on both sides figured out the mistakes of the first two (read, no one missed) so we fast forward to shooters 21 and 22 (read, shooter 11 for each team). Yup, you've deduced correctly that the last two shooters are the goal keepers. NHB keeper Ryan Emma steps up to the penalty mark, presumably thinking about where he is going to direct the ball. Meanwhile, the rest of his teammates are appealing to every deity known to man. The referee sounds the whistle, Ryan steps forward and GooooooooL! NHB is up 10 – 9. The last shooter is the Aztec keeper. He didn't look confident stepping up to the mark, either that or he couldn't believe how badly Ryan's keeper gloves smell….regardless, he hit his shot directly at Ryan and NHB wins it's second consecutive tournament for the summer 2010. Congratulations the NHB Black BU-16.