Fire Balls blaze their way to a title

Boys’ under-9 team wins three straight games in tournament.The Fire Balls ended their 2005 season on a high note by handing the previously undefeated Raiders a 3-1 loss in the AYSO Region 56 under-9 boys’ playoff championships.

In the final, Grant Mooney posted two key goals in the fourth quarter to lift the Fire Balls.

Daniel Neff scored the other goal for the victors.

Christian Castelblanco and Jack Kerins turned in strong defensive performances, as did Jacob Smith in goal.

Connor Gordon scored the lone goal for the Raiders, who also were led by the play of Cooper Kossick, Rory McFarland and Nash Kucera.

The Fire Balls, coached by Dan Kerins and Eric Reichert, went 3-1 in postseason play and finished the season with an overall record of 10-2-2.

The Raiders, coached by Gary Kossick, finished their outstanding season with a 12-1 record.

In previous tournament action:

Great Whites 4, Fire Balls 3

Devin Anderson and Max Simon scored goals in the fourth quarter to seal the win for the Great Whites.

Midfielder Will Shepherd and goalie Max Beram led the team on defense.

Alex Hicks, Max Yusko and Joe Schulman led the Fire Balls.

Fire Balls 5, Blue Dragons 0

Josh Reichert, Jack Kerins and Jacob Smith all scored for the Fire Balls in the shutout victory.

Cole Rakhshani, Brett Campbell and Connor Saeman led the way for the Blue Dragons.

Fire Balls 3, Green Hawks 2

Daniel Neff came up with two clutch goals late in the fourth quarter as the Fire Balls squeezed past the Green Hawks in an elimination game.

Greg Jubinsky led the up front charge and Roy Critchfield and Ben Moody manned the defense for the Fire Balls.

Hunter Kling scored twice and Jack Snow and Josh Duren also made key contributions for the Green Hawks.

In girls’ AYSO action:

Region 56

Under-11 Division

HB Extreme 4, Irvine 1

The HB Extreme, an AYSO Plus team, clinched first-place with the three-goal victory.

The win capped an 11-1-1 season for the Extreme, which competed in a 14-team pool that included teams from southern, coastal and portions of central Orange County.

Leading the Extreme on offense was Zoe Zimmerer, Kelly Nemes, Megan Pasternak and Sarah Shklanko.

Handling midfield duties was Hannah Greenbaum, Isabella Shaw, Ashley Ramey and Jennie Bergsma. The defense was handled by Sydney Stout, Nicole St. Laurent, Tiana Kiriaki and Kristen Shklanko.

Nikki Watkins and Chloe Kossick combined in the net and gave up just 12 goals in 13 contests. They also recorded six shutouts.

The Extreme is coached by Tracey Ramey and Vince Zimmerer.