U-19 Blackhawks off to an even start

It’s spring time again and the Sidney Soccer Club’s U-19 Blackhawks are back on the fields.

The Blackhawks - founded by Jun Binghay, Scott Mines and Tina Mines - have been a part of the spring sports season since 2005 and are ready to show why they have been around for the past eight years and are “still going strong” according to Co-founder and U-19 Head Coach Scott Mines.

“I am really excited about the group of kids I have this year,” Coach Mines said. “Their enthusiasm level is high and their progress from the start of the season has really increased.”

The Blackhawks play in the Great Plains soccer league that includes Ogallala, Alliance, Sidney, Garden County and Imperial; with some friendlies being played against Sterling, Co and North Platte, Ne.

Last week’s season opener, an away game, brought the U-19 co-ed team their first win of the season against Ogallala with a final of 6-1.

Mines said the game was so successful because, “the kids really got on the field and controlled the tempo of the game. They really implemented all the passing we have emphasized during training.”

The following Thursday the Blackhawks met up with Sterling, Colorado’s High School Team for a friendly, which was the Sidney team’s first loss of the season.

Despite hard efforts by the goal tender Alex Ybara and full-back line, the Blackhawks gave us a 6-2 victory to Sterling, Co.

“Sterling was good competition I believe that we really haven’t found our cohesiveness as a team yet and this game really showed us the points of our play we really need to work on to be competitive with Sterling, as this was their high school’s soccer team,” Mines said optimistically towards the loss.

North Platte was next on the schedule for the U-19 team with a double header last Sunday played here at home.

The Blackhawks walked away with an even keel for the afternoon by winning one and giving one up.

According to Coach Mines, during the first game the teams “passing game was much better than theirs and our ball control on the field along with the passing we created more opportunities especially in the second half.”

His team won the first of the double header 3-2 with goals coming from Andrew Meyers, Bryant Dagg and Corbin Shelor.

Coach Mines also added if it hadn’t been due to great goaltending by Alex Ybara the game may have ended in a 2-2 score.

Coming off the victory and a short break between games the Blackhawks would see a very different North Platte team on the field; it was the same team but a different determination that would put the Blackhawks defense and offense to the test.

Despite the loss of 6-4 scoring for the Blackhawks were half-back Zoey Mines and Corbin Shelor who made the next three goals with one being from a penalty shot.

Mines had this to say about the loss, “The fact we were only working with two subs to start with and lost one of our starting members of the team, due to work, and fatigue setting in with the rest of the kids, against an opponent that had ten subs, we did alright. Alex Ybarra did have some outstanding saves in the game when we really needed him and my hats off to all the kids in that second game for their efforts.

“Not to make any excuses but this definitely shows us (coaches and team) our fitness level needs to be higher. It was a good test. North Platte has several good players that demanded a lot of effort out of our kids.”

Due to prior engagements of some of the U-19 players three of the U-14 Blackhawks players joined the Sunday’s set of games- Weston Walker, Teddy Drewes and Devon Shelor.

The U-14 Blackhawks are coached by John Drewes.

“The whole atmosphere of playing with the older kids really stepped up the game in those U-14 kids.”

Despite the recent cancelations of games, due to the snow storm that blanketed the area, the U-19 Blackhawks are 2-2 with the next game scheduled for April 16 in Alliance.

The U-19 will have a total of 8 home games played at the Deer Run Soccer Fields this season.