NEFC

Friends of NEFC-South Coast:

As the 2009-2010 soccer year ends, our offering on the South Coast is starting to really expand quickly, with numbers soaring and our program offering growing.  To close the year, I wanted to share with you some of this past year's accomplishment, but also our history for our newer families to give them a little insight into who we are, and how we got to where we are today! 

First, the story of where we’ve been…

A long time ago, I coached a couple of teams in this region of the state for a different organization.  While I was in the South Coast, I was impressed at the raw ability of the players here, as well as the passion for the game.  At the time there weren’t any quality organizations in the South Coast providing talented players with exposure to the highest levels of youth soccer.  As a result, very few of these talented players from the region were capable of playing for strong college programs, or advance to higher levels of soccer, despite so many talented players starting out.

Fast forward to a few years later when I was a Staff Coach for Scorpions Soccer of Braintree...at the time we had helped establish that organization as the top Girls Soccer Club in the state, and were looking to expand our offerings.  Since we were already getting all of the talented players in our area, one way we looked to expand was to offer satellite programs to attract players from different geographies.  Our first was in Plymouth and it was immediately successful.  I shared my experience in the South Coast with my superiors at Scorpions, and they thought it was a good idea to explore a satellite operation in Dartmouth.  We initially had trouble finding a good candidate to lead the initiative, so the club assigned me to see if I could get it started!

The ‘Scorpions-South’ Junior Academy started in Dartmouth for the Fall of 2007. 

That first year was difficult!  We were lucky to get 5 or 6 kids out to a given training session that first year.  But we had a core of dedicated players training to be their best!

Among the six or so players who actually paid us and registered for the program were Sarah Vieira (now Red Rovers), Nicole Fernandes (now Red Raiders), and Nicole Gidley (now Red Lightning).  Here we are at a winter training session at Champions in New Bedford:

 

Left to Right:  Nicole Gidley, Sarah Vieira, Lauren Casella, and Nicole Fernandes

 

A little later that winter we were joined by Kelly McManus (now Red Lightning), and Raquel Santos (now Red Raiders). 

Though never officially joining, we were occasionally visited by players like Jen Wheaton, and even once by Sydney Silva and Sam Medeiros (all current Red Lightning players).  For the most part however, it was a humble affair.  There were sessions when I would make the trek to Dartmouth to train 2-3 players.  And once it was even just Raquel and I! 

 

 

Nicole Gidley v Sarah Vieira in an Academy session

 

In our attempts to improve the program, we found that there was trepidation in joining our program since we were initially only interested in training young players to potentially one day join one of our Scorpions Elite teams in Braintree.  This was not as attractive an option to many, and since they could play for a local club for their entire youth career, the Scorpions Junior satellite was not as option.  For year 2 of our program, we decided to field teams.  Tryouts weren’t hugely successful, but after some running around, hours on the phone, and a bunch of summer evenings holding extra tryouts, two teams were born:  The Scorpions U10 and U11 South Girls teams.

 

Scorpions U11 South Girls – Champions at the Stars Cup!

Despite limited time playing together, the U11 South Girls did a great job in their first year together.  I wouldn’t describe it as a team that grew out of our Academy (Kelly McManus and Nicole Gidley were the only registered Academy members, with Jen Wheaton the only other regular attendee), but they worked hard to become skillful and were competitive with everyone they played.  They were champions at their first tournament (the Stars Labor Day Tournament, admittedly in a lower division).  Based on their performance, they were placed in the highest division at the Nashua Columbus Day tournament, and finished as runners-up! 

Meanwhile our Academy fell just short of 20 registered players, and we had a good core of players in our U10 team.  Things were starting to pay-off…although slowly!

 

The Scorpions U11 South team faced the mighty U11 Elite Scorpions in the final of the Nashua tournament.  That year the Elite Scorpions were the top team in Massachusetts, so it was a great accomplishment for our girls to face that level of competition.

 

Pics of the Scorpions South U11 Team, from the left:  bottom Skylar, Sam, and Alexis, top Casey, Abby, and Cassie at Scorpions July Camp; Nicole Gidley and Kelly McManus in action, our first Academy Graduates!

 

An early Junior Academy session, from the left Elizabeth Mayo, Lindsey Bedard, and veterans Sarah Vieira and Nicole Fernandes

 

At the end of the 2009 Spring season, there was a leadership shakeup at Scorpions, and since my opinions of the new leadership were well known, I was given the blessing to take the South Satellite and move on if I decided to leave the organization (of course this became disputed later, but we won’t get into that…).  Eventually we came to an agreement with a new club, NEFC, to become their South Coast regional satellite. 

Present day

Our little South Coast program had a great 2009-2010 year.  Here is a little summary of our programs/groups and accomplishments:

Youth Academy

From our humble beginnings with 6 registered players, up to 19 in our second year, with almost all players from Dartmouth, the South Coast Academy this year registered over 40 boys and girls!  Academy players this past year were from the following South Coast communities:  Wesport, Rehoboth, Portsmouth, Lakeville, Tiverton, Fall River, Somerset, Rochester, New Bedford, Dartmouth, and Mattapoisett.

U9/U10 Academy Indoor/MASC team

For the first time, we decided to field teams for our younger Academy players, and these groups were immediately successful.  During our first indoor league, the girls got off to a slow start, but recovered to become Teamworks indoor league champions!  A subset of this group participated in the MASC spring league this past season, and despite most of the team playing 'up' (the team was true U9's apart from two U10's), the team went on to compete successfully, and even went undefeated at the MASC U10 spring tournament in June, going on not even to concede a goal in their four games!

NEFC Red Rovers (U10 Girls)

Our U10 team is called the Red Rovers.  Players on the Red Rovers are from the following communities:  Dartmouth, New Bedford, Fall River, Rochester, and Mattapoisett.  This group trains mostly in the Academy program, although they are already starting to make waves as a team!  The Red Rovers started their existence on fire, going undefeated in the Cranberry Cup this summer, and then winning all but two of their league gamesthis year.  Locally they spent the winter indoor season at Teamworks, where they demolished the competition en route to two undefeated seasons.  The Red Rovers begin true competitive play in MAPLE next year as U11’s.

 

U11 Girls – NEFC Red Raiders

Our U11 team is the Red Raiders.  Players on the Red Raiders are from the following communities:  Dartmouth, Westport, Assonet, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, and Fall River.  The Red Raiders are probably our first ‘Academy developed’ team, since half of the squad started out in our Academy as U10 (or younger) players.  After going undefeated in their first season in MAPLE, they finished fifth in the MAPLE U11 Girls Blue division, MAPLE’s highest competitive level.  They are the ONLY top division MAPLE team based in the South Coast in any of the younger MAPLE age groups, and only a handful of South Coast girls teams have ever played in MAPLE’s top division.  The Red Raiders were finalists at this summer’s Cranberry Cup, runners-up at the CFC invitational in Connecticut, and finalists at the Delta FC Memorial Day Invitational.  To finish their season, the Red Raiders were the only South Coast based U11 team (boys or girls) to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Andre Cup (top tournament in Massachusetts for U11 teams).  Congratulations to the Red Raiders and their families on this great accomplishment!

 

U12 Girls – NEFC Red Lightning

Red Lightning at the NEFC Preseason Tournament in March

Our U12 team is known as the Red Lightning.  Players on the Red Lightning are from the following communities:  New Bedford, Carver, Lakeville, and Dartmouth.  Since having a successful first year together as U11’s, they have been facing top quality competition at tournaments this year, including the Stars Cup in Lancaster, and the CFC Invitational in Connecticut.  They were Cranberry Cup Red Division Champions this Summer, semifinalists in the NEFC Preseason Tournament this March, and finalists at the Delta FC Memorial Day invitational .  They also qualified for the Paul Irwin Cup this season, securing there position in MAPLE's second division for next fall.  They are currently the top rated South Coast Girls U12 team,  ranked as the #5 team in Massachusetts by GotSoccer (the leading rankings website).  Congratulations to our first South Coast team on an excellent season!

 

South Coast iRec Spring Soccer League

And our new program, the iRec Soccer League, started this year!  The iRec program is an instructional and recreational soccer league for players in the South Coast.  Our first year's program trained over 70 players!  

Thank you!

For 2010-2011, NEFC South Coast hopes to field 8-10 teams, and has already expanded our coaching staff.  From this point forward our little project is going to bear little resemblance to what it looked like only a year or two ago, when it was just one coach and a bunch of talented young players.  While our program will never quite be the same, we hope that the growth and prosperity of the organization will only lead to greater things to come!

The NEFC affiliation will also be a great benefit as NEFC South Coast players and families have already been exposed to what the future holds for this organization.  There is an excellent staff and plan for development in place that will provide unparalleled opportunities for players on the South Coast.

Congratulations to all of our NEFC South Coast families on helping us get to this point and a big shout out from your director for all of your outstanding support and commitment.

Good luck moving forward in 2010-2011!

Kindest Regards,

Patrick Marino

NEFC-South Coast Director