Silverbacks Amateur Club Teams play in Charleston and Baton Rouge
Over Memorial Day weekend three Silverbacks Amateur Club teams traveled out of Georgia to represent the Atlanta Silverbacks in two different tournaments. Vicious Silverbacks, a men’s team, and PH Silverbacks, a coed team, went to the historical town of Charleston, SC to fight their way to the top in the annual Lowcountry Soccer Festival. Although the trip was a great way to celebrate the Memorial Holiday neither team saw victory in the tournament. After winning the Amateur Cup and Over 30 Cup title for the state of Georgia, the Over-30 Silverbacks high tailed it to Baton Rouge, LA to compete in the Region 3 Championship.
Over-30 Silverbacks were looking to be crowned the Region 3 Champions and move on to represent their region in the national tournament. This year’s draw of teams included Florida, North Texas, South Texas and Louisiana. Over-30 Silverbacks challenged Florida for their first game and jumped out to an early lead, but by half time Florida scored to even the match. With the game tied at 1-1 and only seconds remaining on the clock, Florida was awarded a penalty kick which saw the Over-30 Silverbacks lose 2-1. Next the Over-30 Silverbacks matched up against South Texas and ended the game in a 3-3 draw. Louisiana took advantage of the fatigued Over-30 Silverbacks who secured three goals in the first 30 minutes of the match. Following an Over- 30 Silverbacks line-up change the fast paced game was at 3-2. During the second half, Over-30 Silverbacks lit the gas and fired three unanswered goals to bring them to a 5-3 victory. Unfortunately by the Over- 30 Silverbacks’ last match Florida had already secured enough points to win the tournament and the Over-30 Silverbacks tied against North Texas.
Back on the East coast Vicious Silverbacks competed against Raleigh Rage in the round-robin stage of the Lowcountry Soccer Festival. Raleigh Rage took the lead 3-1 in the first half of the game, but Vicious Silverbacks found new spirit late in the match and caught up to Raleigh’s 3-1 deficit. Ron Osterloh scored the tying goal as the clock wound down to bring the match to a 3-3 draw. Game two saw Vicious Silverbacks finish at a 1-1 draw against local team Frampton and Associates. Vicious was able to advance to the semi-finals with a 1-1 draw against a Richmond, VA native team the Lions Express. Vicious Silverbacks suffered their first loss in their last game of the tournament-another Atlanta team the Screaming Pelicans- proved too much for Vicious Silverbacks beating the squad 1-0. With the first half scoreless Vicious Silverbacks kept trying for the back of the net with too many unsuccessful attempts the Screaming Pelicans scored ending the tournament for Vicious Silverbacks.
The PH Silverbacks had a disappointing 1-2 record and did not advance out of the first round in the Lowcountry Soccer Festival. The first match for PH Silverbacks was quite competitive and resulted in a scoreless competition against Post Game FC. Although PH Silverbacks played very solid throughout the first half they lost momentum after their key offensive threat, Gareth O’Sullivan, was taken out due to an injury. In their second appearance of the tournament PH Silverbacks came out strong against McAlisters and went up 1-0 with Allan Davie scoring the lone goal. PH Silverbacks held strong and appeared to be coasting towards their first win when a controversial red card was issued to one of their players. The penalty resulted in a free kick which was taken by one of their opponent’s female players (2 points) which snuck in to make the score 3-1. PH Silverbacks was unable to recover with only minutes left on the clock and ended up losing the match. The final game for PH Silverbacks resulted in a crushing loss for the team. Being down by three points the opposing team took full advantage of PH Silverbacks and continued to rack up points leading PH Silverbacks to a 7-0 loss. The Charleston heat could not be blamed for the tragic performance by the PH Silverbacks.
All three teams returned to Atlanta after the long soccer filled weekend. The summer league at Atlanta Silverbacks Park is in full swing with most players from the three squads playing throughout the week. The Amateur Club consists of 15 adult teams throughout Atlanta's top amateur divisions. The men's side includes nine teams in the ADASL and one team in Liga Lawrenceville. The women's side includes five teams in the GAWSA. The Silverbacks Amateur Club will host men’s team tryouts on the 24th and 31st of August and women’s team tryouts on the 10th and 14th of August. For more information on Amateur Club tryouts email annette.izquierdo@atlantasilverbacks.com or visit the amateur club homepage.
