August 1, 2009 - Warrington, PA

The Lionville Kixx under-9 boys' team saw their first real action on a hot summer day in Bucks County. There were highs, lows, and a visit from Mother Nature to make for an eventful weekend!

The team, four players short, arrived bright and early for the Warrington Summer Classic. We learned right away which of our kids were more modest than others, as Coach D'Angelo distributed the uniforms, and the kids changed on the spot; in the parking lot, in cars, behind trees, and tucked away in a small receiving ramp. The boys looked sharp in their brand new "away blues," but quickly switched to white when they found that their first opponent, the Warrington Rangers, were also wearing right.

After a warmup the previous week against a tough and experienced Methacton team in which our boys looked a bit tentative and overmatched, no one really had an idea what level of competition we would face in the tournament, or how we would perform. As it turns out, there was no need to worry. The Kixx pounced on the hometown Rangers right from the opening whistle, scoring the first goal of the season just minutes into the game. That opened the floodgates, and the Kixx were relentless for the next 25 minutes, running up a score of 8-0 by halftime. The defense was solid all half, allowing few chances to even reach the keeper.

The second half was no better for the Rangers. As Coach D'Angelo shifted players to get them experience at different positions, they continued to pressure the Rangers at every turn. When the final whistle sounded, the Kixx had defeated the Rangers by an official score of 12-1 (or 15-1, if you believe John).

With a four-hour gap to fill between games, the player and parents scattered, with many of the kids sticking around to goof off on a small playground next to the field, while others grabbed a quick lunch at the grill near the field. As the temperature warmed up, parents shepherded kids into the shade as much as possible, so they wouldn't get overheated. It was nice to see the kids off the soccer field, beginning to build a sense of camaraderie.

Warrington ran a nice shop, including professional photographers who took pictures of each game. You can still check out and buy action photos from either of our games at the Techvantics web site (look for the Lionville Kixx links).

The afternoon game was against a tough Hunter United team. Prior to the game, we had watched them throttle the Horsham Hurricanes, and we thought it would be a challenging game. It was more challenging than we'd anticipated. Hunter United took it to us for the better part of the game, with strong dribbling skills and a swarming defense. The Kixx had their chances, but whereas in the first game nothing could go wrong, against Hunter they couldn't catch a break. The Kixx played valiant defense, but eventually ended up falling to Hunter by a score of 4-0. Still, the boys fought hard all game long and didn't give up!

Looking ahead to the next day's games, it seemed like we had a pretty good shot to beat Horsham and face Hunter in a rematch for the championship. But, Mother Nature intervened, and with massive thunderstorms all day on Sunday, the rest of the tournament was canceled. A disappointing end to our first tournament, but it was a great experience for the boys, and we left with both a good success story and more experience under adversity.