New Team, New Number

Here are some photos from the 2013 Virginia Cup Labor Day Soccer Tournament in Richmond last weekend. I tried to post them on Facebook, but Facebook’s album loader is not working today, so I’m putting them on my blog before the next games roll around and I lose momentum.

The Virginia Cup provided Nick’s first matches as a member of the Richmond Kickers U16 Elite team. He practiced with the team for the last year and guested for them in several tournaments, and made the team in tryouts this spring.

He’s been wearing #8 for years, both on his earlier Richmond Kickers teams and when he was a young soccer player on the Lake Gaston Soccer Association tournament team, the Crushers. This time, a new team means a new number, so you’ll see him as #2 playing left defense in the photos.

(Above) Nick defending a shot on goal in game 4.

Click on the shots in the mosaic below to see full size photos and read captions.

Nick (#2) has a slide tackle to stop the shot. Ball is in the upper left — wish my camera were faster so I could get the ball closer to his foot.

Nice connection between midfield and defense.

First match of the tournament

Nick with a header

A nice take-away in game 4

Bicycle kick? Yeah. This photo is actually a missed picture. Nick was playing really well in game 4 and did a cool bicycle kick to reverse the attack on his goal and get the ball back to one of his teammates. Unfortunately, I missed the in-the-air part and got the on-his-back part. Still, it is evidence of a nice play — or at least it will help me remember what I saw.

The team won two games decisively, tied one, and lost to the tournament winners Virginia Rush in the final game, finishing in third place in the U16 Premier division.