Wrath shut out North London
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Tillsonburg Titans Wrath U11 boys soccer team, sponsored by Paul Davis Systems Restoration Specialists, have moved up from the mini fields.
But they haven’t quite graduated up to full-size fields yet.
“It’s an intermediate field,” said Paul Davis Systems coach Peter McDowell. “It’s a hybrid – it’s for LDT, long term player development.”
The 18-yard penalty box is regulation size, but the length and width of the field have been reduced.
“It’s a little shorter, a little narrower.”
The bigger fields, said McDowell, are too big for the U11 age group, because ideally they want more touches on the ball.
“When the 11-year-olds are playing on a full-size pitch, there’s not enough touches on the ball. We want touches so the kids get better.”
The Wrath reached out and ‘touched’ North London 3-0 Friday night at the Tillsonburg Soccer Club, handing NL it’s first loss of the London District Youth Soccer League season.
Tillsonburg, 2-1-1, moved up to midpack. Undefeated London St. Thomas Croatia Red lead the L6 U11 Gus Fabrikis division with a 5-0-1 record.
“Over the next three weeks we’re going to catch up – this (North London) was the second-best team.”
Josiah VanGurp scored twice for Tillsonburg and Jacob Bailey converted on a corner kick play.
“Both my southpaws – our lefties,” said McDowell, who saw a lot of encouraging plays Friday night, including right-footers who were striking the ball with their left foot.
“To me that is fantastic because it shows the boys are willing to try new things and get a win. I saw seven or eight left-foot kicks from right-footed players tonight.”
A coachable team, said McDowell, assisted by Mark Locker and manager Rob Fabi, the Wrath are picking up skills at an accelerated rate.
“I’m not saying that we’re going to win any Club Championships, but the Challenge Cup is what we want to win. Last year we were close.”