Brigade moves on to quarterfinal round

The Brigade boys Under-13 soccer team began its bid to win a League

Cup championship in impressive style Saturday, beating two opponents

during the second weekend of tournament play.

The tournament opened in November with 76 Gold, Silver, and Bronze level

teams vying for a coveted Cup title.

The Brigade entered the tournament seeded among the 10 teams and lived up

to that ranking with an easy 5-0 shutout victory over BRM Breakaway at

Oaks Polo Fields in San Juan Capistrano.

Adam Beavor’s goal in the fifth minute of play started the Brigade on

their way. Consecutive headers by JP Smith and David Sias upped the

advantage to 3-0 at the half.

A pair of Kareem Khalil goals in the final 15 minutes of play finished

off BRM Breakaway.

As impressive as the offense was, the Brigade defense had a big hand in

the victory - which moved the team in the Sweet 16 - as it did not allow

BRM a single shot on goal the entire match.

The Brigade didn’t have it as easy in their second weekend match as they

needed goals consecutive second half goals by Khalil to score a 3-1 win

over The Atlas FC of Los Angeles.

Khalil scored a three-point hat trick in the match, his first goal coming

off a volley of a Beavor corner kick.

Nick Rippeto, Jeremy Small, and Kevin Fronk also contributed to the

offensive attack as the Brigade outscored Atlas, which was coming off a

4-3 upset win over No. 8 seed West Coast Wolfhounds, 2-0 in the second

half.

The Brigade, also comprised of David Aguilar, Jarrid Johnston, Steven

Kalogeropoulos, Tomer Konowiecki, Bryce McKendry, Bryan Osuna, Brandon

Plummer, and Brendon Welch, will met the Southern California United

Saturday in an 11:30 a.m. quarterfinal match at the Oaks Polo Fields.

League Cup semifinal and final matches are scheduled for Sunday beginning

at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.