Welcome to a new year of Everton Florida Soccer!

The U13 Boys Blue team played a rigorous pre-season, competing in 5 tournaments.  The first was a round-robin charity tournament for Giovanni Tejamanil, a local boy who was killed in a tragic traffic accident early in the summer.  Gio was a friend of a few of our players, so this was a great opportunity for us to honor him.  Thank you again to all of the players and parents who participated.

We followed that up with the Puma Cup over Labor Day weekend, where we finished 2nd in our bracket with 1 win, 1 tie and 1 loss.  After that was the Everton Fall Challenge, in which the boys continued to show good improvement for a new team.  Next was the Palm Harbor Fall Classic where it all started to come together.  We played in the U14 bracket, and finished 2nd with a 1-1-1 record, and fell just short of advancing to the finals.  Finally, we played in the Largo Halloween Tournament, with our best showing so far.  The boys won 2 games and lost only 1, however, our crossover win against New Tampa did not count in the standings.  We were placed 2nd in our group, again falling just short of the finals.  Most importantly, the team improved game to game, taking good momentum into the USA League season.

The U13 Boys Blue team began the USA League season at Central Pasco.  The boys fought hard against CPUSA, and with some good saves by Robbie, held their opponents to only 1 goal.  Unfortunately, that was the only goal of the game and Everton lost 1-0. This game was certainly a learning experience for the boys in more ways than one, and motivated them to come out strong in their next game.

Game 2 was against the Suncoast Spartans at our home fields.  Suncoast was ahead of us 1-0 at half-time, but after some wise words by the coaches, the 2nd half proved quite different.  Just a few minutes into the 2nd half, Cristian tied the game on a corner kick.  Several minutes later, Jitari scored to take the team ahead 2-1. They finished the game strong with another goal by Cristian, and finally one by John.  The whole team showed great defense and good passing skills on the way to their 4-1 win!

Next was another home game against Hernando Heat.  After suffering their only loss in the Halloween tournament to Hernando, the boys were looking to get revenge.  They did just that with a 5-2 victory!  It was a tough match, but the boys showed what teamwork is all about, and proved that Everton is a team to be reckoned with.  Goals were put in by Taylor, Camilo, Jitari, and Stevie contributed with 2 headers.  Great Job Boys!

The fourth game was our toughest yet, when we visited Plant City.  The boys had a hard time in this game, with only one goal by Jitari.  But the defensive players, Bradley, Sam, Elliot, and our guest player Ross, along with our keeper Robbie, kept Everton in the game all the way.  We lost 2-1, bringing our record to 2 wins and 2 losses, and putting us in 5th place in the league.

We now enjoy a week off for the Thanksgiving holiday, and look forward to playing some great soccer and more wins in the next 4 games.

The U13 Boys came back from the Thanksgiving holiday refreshed and ready to play their next game with HC United visiting us in St. Pete.  The first half was controlled by Everton, with several shots on goal, but we went into half-time with a 0-0 score.  Everton came out in the second half determined to win the game.  With more organization and determination, Everton pulled ahead within the first few minutes on a goal by Camilo.  That was followed by a goal from Cristian, and two more by Camilo.  The team had a healthy lead on HCU, so our coaches decided to change things up a bit, allowing players to play different positions than normal.  With this new formation, Bradley scored his first goal of the season to bring the final score to Everton 5, HCU 0.   Our third win of the season took us from 5th place to 3rd place in the division.  Great Job Boys!

We travelled today to play against Valrico's talented U12 team.  The game started off on the right foot with a goal by Taylor about 2 minutes in.  Everton was challenged by Valrico, but held tough for quite a while.  Midway through the first half, a well-placed shot  by Valrico tied the game at 1-1.  The second half brought more opportunities for Everton to really put the game away.  Camilo scored the second goal, but Valrico came back and tied the game once again.  Strong defense by Sam and some great saves by Robbie kept the game at 2-2, until Cristian smoked a tremendous shot into the back of the net to take the lead at 3-2 with about five minutes left.  The final minutes of the game were intense, with our Everton boys showing patience, communication, and good teamwork.  In a total team effort, they won their 4th game to secure their 3rd place position in the standings.

We look forward to a double-header next weekend, playing New Tampa on Saturday and then taking on Palm Harbor Sunday afternoon.

PLANTATION - The Holiday weekend ended with the U12 Raider Boys reaching the semi-finals in the annual Plantation Thanksgiving Classic. The first of four games - held Friday afternoon - was a dominating win over Team Boca. The 7-0 win included fantastic teamwork and goals from players including Anthony.

Saturday morning’s match against Strike Force proved again how good passing and control can win games. The 3-0 win was a solid effort from all the boys.

The final two games were both against the West Pines Black Squad - one of the state’s elite premier teams and the tournament’s eventual champion. The game Saturday, and the semi-final Sunday resulted in losses, but gave the West Pines team its toughest fight the entire weekend. Saturday’s two goals by the Raiders were the most scored in any game against West Pines. And the goals given up in those matches - 5 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday - were West Pines’ lowest offensive efforts for the weekend.

Hard-fought goal fired during game three, versus West End Black.

Solid defense, all weekend long.

Moving down the field.

Setting up the game-winning shot. 

A successful pre-season is done. The U12 Raiders Red Boys are making a strong entrance into the 2007-08 year.

Two tournaments. Two finals.

LABOR DAY PUMA CUP - U12 FINALIST

ST. PETE RAIDERS FALL CHALLENGE - U12 FINALIST

The new year builds on several strong years of teamwork and play.

2006-2007 - U11 Division 1

Final Four Division 1 Region C

Third place, USA league play

Champions Ormond Beach Tournament

Champions Largo Halloween Tournament



2005-2006 - U10 Division 2

Champions, Hackworth Davis Cup

1st Place USA League play

1st Place Region C play

Finalist, Dunedin Sterling tournament

Finalist, St. Pete Raiders Shootout