Youth League Helps National Players Gain Match Experience

[March 14, 2016 – Harmon, Guam] – Recently selected as a midfielder for Guam’s U14 Boys national team, the Wings FC’s Taiga Simon hopes to gain as much match experience in the position as he can during Triple J Auto Group Robbie Webber Youth Soccer League matches.

Both the Guam U14 and U17 Boys national teams will be departing next week to Hong Kong for the Jockey Club International Youth Invitational Tournament.

“Our coaches told us that the teams we will be going up against in Hong Kong will most likely play more possession football with a lot of accurate passing,” said Simon, a 12-year-old student at St. John’s School. “The upcoming international matches will be a great challenge for us, and as one of the team’s midfielders, I am using youth league matches as additional training to help me get better touches on the ball and to develop better field vision. The midfield position is a lot of ball distribution – passing to teammates to set up plays, connecting the defense to our attackers.

“I started to take up the sport seriously after I was accepted into the (United Airlines GFA National) Academy when I was 9 years old. I owe a lot to my club coach Ross Awa for helping me develop as a player – he’s always giving me advice that has really helped me gain a better understanding of the game,” Simon added.

Simon and the Wings defeated the W.M. Engineering Strykers FC in a Week 4 match of the U14 division 6-0. Mark Iseke finished with a hat trick, Eddie Cho scored twice and Satoshi Oshita scored once.

In other U14 matches, the Tigers defeated the Guam Shipyard Wolverines with hat tricks from Kris Fernandez and Raf Garcia, two from Micah Hennegan, and one from Robert Niu.

Community First/Days Inn Dededo Soccer Club defeated Tumon Typhoons Soccer Club 6-0 with two goals each from Diether Messner and Christian Kido and one each from Janeson Quitano and Skylar Ross.

ASC Trust Islanders Betde defeated Quality Distributors 5-0 with goals from Juan Sarmiento, Jonathan Sevilla, Russell Anicas, Edward Reyes, and Jared Gordon.

Southern Cobras defeated Tsunami Sharknado 7-0 with two goals from Stephen Kelly and one each from Arwyn St. John, Keean Fejeran, Jon Mariano-Perez, Christopher Curtis, and Ethaniel Escuadra.

In the U17 division, Wings Red defeated the Wolverines 5-1 with goals from Hinako Ito, Inochi Recella, Kanta Terai, Derek Okuhama, and Takumi Ito. Logyn Lallatin scored for the Wolverines.

The Tigers defeated Tumon 6-1 with four goals from Yu Chan Lee and two from Seung Min Kim. Anthony Cepeda scored for Tumon.

Quality defeated the Islanders 4-1 with a hat trick by Jason Kim and one from Samuel Larkin. Aubrienne Pangindian scored for the Islanders.

The Strykers defeated the Cobras 4-0 with two goals from Xavier Naputi and one each from Vince Cruz, Jr. and Bradley Dickson.

Wings Black edged Dededo 5-4 with three goals from Leon Morimoto and two from Anthony Moon. Michael De Leon scored twice for Dededo and teammates Russell Capaltura and Kennedy Macatuno also scored.

In U12 matches, the Strykers defeated Dededo 6-1, Tumon edged the Cobras 7-6, the Wolverines defeated Islanders Asut 5-3, Orange Crushers battled to a 3-3 draw with Wings Black, and Islanders Betde defeated Tsunami.

Youth league matches continue Saturday with modified times to accommodate the 5th Annual Girls High School Preseason Challenge Cup, set to kick off with matches beginning at 4:10 p.m.