Casa Mia Bays Take Another National Title

 (Baltimore Bays)

By: Keith Mills

One down. One to go?

The Baltimore Bays Under-18 boys soccer team won the inaugural National Soccer Academy championship last weekend in California, beating Los Angeles Football Club, 4-2 in overtime. Meanwhile, the Under-15 boys team began its quest for a national title Wednesday in Little Rock, Ark.

The NSA is part of U.S. Soccer's Developmental Academy, which is designed to showcase some of the country's best Under-16 and Under-18 club teams and players. The Bays are one of 64 club teams selected to play in various leagues throughout the country. Baltimore won the Mid-Atlantic Conference of the NSA with a 25-2-1 record to qualify for the nationals, which were played at the Home Depot Center, the training site for the men's and women's U.S. national teams.

"This is really special," said coach Kevin Healey, who is also president and general manager of the Baltimore Blast. "Bob Bradley, the coach of the U.S. national team, was there. He talked to every one of the kids. So did Landon Donovan. Scouts from all over the country were there. It was really a big deal."

Healey and McDonogh's Steve Nichols coached the Bays U-18 team, which is basically the same team that won the Under-16 U.S. Youth Soccer championship two years ago.

In Carson, the Bays beat the Chicago Fire, 4-0, as McDonogh's Chris Agorsor scored all four goals. One day later, Agorsor, fellow McDonogh Eagle Andrew Bulls and Severna Park's Michael Rose scored as the Bays beat Westchester FC of New York, 3-1. Bulls and Nick Vranis of Winston Churchill in Montgomery County scored to lead the Bays to a 2-1 win over the Colorado Rush and a spot in the title game.

Friday's championship game, broadcast live on ESPN 2, was a game befitting a national championship, physical and hard-fought. The Bays overcame two Los Angeles leads to tie the game in stoppage time.

Down 2-1 in the 97th minute, Agorsor, who did not start the game because of a injured knee, was taken down in the penalty box. Bulls converted the penalty kick to tie the game and send it to overtime. Agorsor had scored the Bays' first goal in the first half on a feed from Christian Barreiro.

"Chris was incredible," Healey said. "He scored four goals in the first game, then hurt his knee. The national team doctor said it was a sprained MCL. We talked to a lot of medical people back in Baltimore and they said if he could withstand the pain he could play. We didn't start him but he came in and got the job done."

Bulls scored the go-ahead goal just minutes into the first overtime and John Raley of St. Mary's Ryken in southern Maryland added an insurance goal late in the game to secure the title in LAFC's backyard.

"It was essentially a home game for L.A.," Healey said. "They had over 1,000 fans there. They were dancing with the drums going. It was an incredible atmosphere. And our guys stepped it up."

Agorsor was named the Developmental Academy's Under-18 Player of the Year, capping an incredible season at McDonogh and with the Bays that could go down as the greatest in local soccer history. Todd Haskins of Howard High School won the 1990 Gatorade Player of the Year award but didn't achieve the team success in high school or club ball that Agorsor has.

The 5-foot-6 striker, who is headed to the University of Virginia, was also named the Gatorade National Soccer Player of the Year and the National Soccer Coaches Association Player of the Year. Last fall, Agorsor scored 24 goals and added eight assists for Nichols at McDonogh, which finished the year 21-2-1 and was crowned the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference champion. He ended his McDonogh career with 55 goals and 22 assists.

Agorsor will join Bays goalkeeper Dan Louisignau at Virginia. Louisignau is a graduate of Concord High in Wilmington, Del., and he stepped up in the NSA finals with seven saves, four in overtime.

Bulls scored 18 goals with 24 assists last fall for McDonogh and he will join his brother Dan at University of Maryland Baltimore County. Rose is the second leading scorer in Severna Park history and is headed to Notre Dame while Barreiro of Calvert Hall is going to the University of Pennsylvania.

They are joined on the Bays U-18 team by Tommy Caso (McDonogh/Bucknell), Michael Calderone (Eleanor Roosevelt/UMBC), Jake Levin (McDonogh/Penn), Tom Brandt (Palmyra, Pa./Penn), Keith Cowdrey (DeMatha/ Santa Clara), Joe Vidmar (McDonogh), Mike Deasel (Loyola Blakefield/Loyola College), Steve Levine (Loyola Blakefield/Towson), Brendon Klebanoff (St. Alban's/Bucknell), Michael Lansing (Magruder), Mark Jaskolski (Northwest/Loyola) and Jonathon Kershaw (Severna Park).

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The Bays Under-15 team, meanwhile, began its quest for the U.S. Youth Soccer national title this week in Little Rock against the Boston Blast. They play the Dallas Texas 93 Red Thursday and the Chicago Fire Friday.

Nichols and Healey also coach the U-15 team, which won the U-14 national title last season.

Members of the U-15 team include: goalkeeper Tim Peitsch of Loyola Blakefield, Marquez Fernandez, Joe Meyer, Mamadou Kansaye, Moses Makinde and Julian Griggs of McDonogh, Gaeton Caltabiano and Henry Ban of Mount St. Joseph, Joe Cahalan of Gilman, Lucas Winters of Archbishop Curley and Calvert Hall's Alex Bullington.

Bullington is the grandson of former Loyola College coach Jim Bullington, whose Greyhounds won the 1976 NCAA Division II national championship (a team that included Healey).

"It's really neat to see Alex out there," Healey said. "It brings back a lot of memories. But these kids are really making their presence known right now nationally. They won it as U-14s last year and they're back again. That's a great credit to the kids."

Issue 3.30: July 24, 2008