Bays Under-15 Team Wins National Title

 (Courtesy of Baltimore Bays)

By: Keith Mills

The Baltimore Casa Mia Bays Under-15 soccer team has done it again.

The Bays won the U.S. Youth Soccer championship last weekend, beating Solar Red of Texas, 2-1. A year ago, the Bays won the Under-14 national title, while two weeks ago, the Under-18 Casa Mia Bays won the National Soccer Academy championship in Carson City, California.

McDonogh coach Steve Nichols and Baltimore Blast president and general manager Kevin Healey coached the U-15 squad, which outscored the opposition, 10-1.

The Bays opened the tournament with a 5-0 shutout of the Boston Blast as Julian Griggs of McDonogh scored three goals. Logan McHugh and Jonathan Guzman also scored, and the Bays picked right up where they left off in the Region I tournament last month in Maine.

The Bays rolled to five wins in the regionals by a combined score of 23-2, including a 6-2 win over Syracuse in the semifinals and a 4-0 win over the same Boston Blast team they beat in the first round of the nationals.

Griggs and McDonogh teammate Mamadou Kansaye scored goals as the Bays beat the Dallas Texans, 2-0, in the second round. Guzman scored the game's only goal in their 1-0 win over the Chicago Fire last Friday to secure a spot in the championship.

Griggs scored just four minutes into the game in Saturday's title game, and Kansaye scored on a penalty kick five minutes into the second half. Daniel Forry scored for Solar at the 59-minute mark, the only goal of the tournament given up by Loyola Blakefield's goalkeeper Tim Peitsch. But the Bays closed out their second title in two years by outshooting Solar, 16-6.

Peitsch was named the tournament Golden Glove winner while Griggs won the Golden Boot award.

Issue 3.31: July 31, 2008