Europe boys soccer: AFNORTH boys cap unbeaten season with II-North championship

Lakenheath High School sophomore Chris Davis, left, and International School of Brussels sophomore Alex Haigh fight for a loose ball Saturday at the two schools' final conference game at RAF Lakenheath. ISB, the regular-season champion, won 4-2. (Ben Murray / S&S)

Lakenheath captain David Parent, left, and ISB junior Yuri Pereira vie for the ball Saturday at the two schools' final conference game at RAF Lakenheath. (Ben Murray / S&S)

AFNORTH capped an unbeaten regular season with authority Saturday by nailing down the Division II-North boys soccer title with an 8-1 victory over visiting Mannheim in Brunssum, Netherlands.

David Pohl, who spent half the game playing defense, scored three times for AFNORTH (5-0-2), which heads to the European Division II tournament Wednesday through Saturday in Ramstein. AFNORTH will be seeded second behind defending European Division II champion Black Forest Academy (6-0-1).

Kaan Ercan had a goal and two assists for AFNORTH, which also got a goal and an assist from Chris Eden.

Mannheim (0-6-1), held to one shot on goal in the first half, scored on a breakaway by Rickey Gardner. Gardner, according to AFNORTH coach Greg Blankenship, made 15 saves as the keeper in the first half.

In other boys games of note Saturday:

BFA 6, Vilseck 0: At Kandern, Germany, six Falcons scored as Black Forest Academy wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the Division II tournament.

Heidelberg 2, Ramstein 1: At Heidelberg, Sean Kerber put two headers into the net on corner kicks by Matt Orlowsky as the Lions rallied to claim the No. 2 seed in Division I.

“It was a well-played game,” said Heidelberg coach Larry Heintzman, whose team fell behind the defending European D-1 champs 1-0 early. “Ramstein is a machine.”

Heidelberg (6-1, 5-1) finished out of first place in the regular-season race for the first time this century. ISB claimed the league championship with a 7-0, 6-0 record and will be the No. 1 seed in this week’s Division I tournament at Ramstein. Ramstein (4-2-1, 4-2) is seeded No. 3.

ISB 4, Lakenheath 2: At Lakenheath, England, four Raiders scored to cap ISB’s perfect season. Lakenheath, Division I runners-up in 2005, will take a 3-3 league mark into this year’s tourney.

Alconbury 5, Menwith Hill 1: At Alconbury, Andrew Hunt and Cristian Felice each had a goal and an assist as the Dragons claimed the III-North crown. Both teams will play in the Division IV tournament at Ramstein.

Hohenfels 8, Ansbach 3: At Ansbach, Anthony Marshall scored two goals and assisted on three as the Tigers clinched the III-South conference title.

Hohenfels (5-1, 4-0 III-South) is the probable No. 2 seed for the Division III tournament behind three-time defending champion American Overseas School of Rome.

Bitburg 2, SHAPE 2: At Bitburg, Brian Schwenneker scored both goals for Bitburg (3-2 II-North). SHAPE, which got two assists from Claudio Giraldi, finished 3-1-2 in league play.

Soccer scoreboardInterdivisional

Bamberg 2, Würzburg 1

(Saturday at Würzburg)

Halftime—1-1

Goals—Bamberg: Jake Dominic, T'Andre Stuckey; Würzburg: Christian Jaegar.

Assists—Bamberg: Daniel Herring, Barrett Simmons; Würzburg: None reported.

Saves—Bamberg (Chris Fiscus) 10, Wuerzburg (Bill Johnson) 15.

Noteworthy—Bamberg will enter European Division III tournament 4-2 overall; Würzburg enters the D-1 tourney 0-7.

Division I

ISB 4, Lakenheath 2

(Saturday at Lakenheath)

Halftime—International School of Brussels 2, Lakenheath 2

Goals—ISB: Roope Elojarvi, Junki Ogawa, Turi Pereira, Chris Ireland; Lakenheath: To Remien, Chris Davis.

Assists—SB: Ireland; Lakenheath: None reported.

Saves—ISB (Gabriel Perez) 7, Lakenheath (Carl Snapp) 7.

Noteworthy—Division I regular-season champ ISB (7-0, 6-0) has top seed in European D-1 tournament. Lakenheath will take 4-3, 3-3 marks into the event.

Heidelberg 2, Ramstein 1

(Saturday at Heidelberg)

Halftime—1-1

Goals—Ramstein: Sean Bannister; Heidelberg: Sean Kerber 2.

Assists—Ramstein: Reynaldo Crossdale; Heidelberg: Matt Orlowski 2.

Saves—Ramstein (John Keith) 9, Heidelberg (Joe Wilhelm) 4.

Noteworthy—Both Kerber goals came off headers on corner kicks by Orlowski, reported coach Larry Heintzman, whose Lions improved to 6-1, 5-1 in D-1 and earned the second seed in the European tournament. Ramstein, the defending D-1 champs, will take a 4-2-1, 4-2 mark and the third seed into the event.

Kaiserslautern 2, Wiesbaden 2

(Saturday at Kaiserslautern)

Halftime—Wiesbaden 1, Kasierslautern 0

Goals—Wiesbaden: Hakan Demircan, Patrick Barrenechea; Kaiserslautern: Alex Jimenez, Taylor Allaire.

Saves—Unavailable.

Noteworthy—Wiesbaden is 1-4-2 overall, 1-4-1 in league play. K-town is 1-4-1 in each.

Division II

AFNORTH 8, Mannheim 1

(Saturday at Brunssum, Netherlands)

Halftime—AFNORTH 4, Mannheim 0

Goals—Mannheim: Rickey Gardner; AFNORTH: David Pohl 3, Alex Hartung, Jack Telega, Kaan Ercan, James Perea, Chris Eden.

Assists—Mannheim: None; AFNORTH: Ercan 2, Eden, Pohl, Perea, Ben Peters, Tobias Schick, Nemanja Ivanovski.

Saves—Unavailable.

Noteworthy—AFNORTH (5-0-2, 4-0-2) clinched II-North league championship. According to Lions coach Greg Blankenship, David Pohl, Ben Peters, Brock Blankenship and Mait Mikkelsaar anchored a defense that allowed Mannheim just shot on goal in the first half. Pohl then moved to the attack, “producing 10 quality shots and three goals when teamed with Chris Eden.” Blankenship said. Mannheim will take 0-6-1 overall record into this week’s D-2 tournament.

BFA 6, Vilseck 0

(Saturday at Kandern, Germany)

Halftime—Black Forest Academy 2, Vilseck 0.

Goals—BFA: Serge Ukety, Toby Williams, Nathan Howell, Judson Godbold, Andy Olson, Robert Jung.

Assists—None reported.

Saves—Unavailable

Noteworthy—Defending D-2 dhamp BFA takes 6-0-1 overall and 5-0-1 II-South mark into this week’s European tournament. Vilseck fell to 0-6 overall and in II-South.

SHAPE 2, Bitburg 2

(Saturday at Bitburg)

Halftime—1-1

Goals—SHAPE: Andre Brugman, Daniele Coccia; Bitburg: Brian Schwenneker 2.

Assists—SHAPE: Claudio Giraldi 2; Bitburg: None.

Saves—SHAPE (Phillip Border) 10, Bitburg (Robert Hernandez) 8.

Noteworthy—SHAPE will take 4-1-2 overall and 3-1-2 II-North mark into the European D-2 tournament. Bitburg is 2-2-2, 2-2-1.

Patch 3, Hanau 2

(Saturday at Vaihingen, Germany)

Halftime—Hanau 1, Patch 0

Goals—Hanau: Emanuel Appiah, Patch own goal; Patch: Zach Hoffer 2, Flavius Zarmecia.

Assists—None reported.

Saves—Hanau unavailable, Patch (Mike Beuckens 2, Archie Barnes 10) 12.

Noteworthy—Patch is 4-3 overall; 4-2 in II-South. Hanau (3-3-1, 2-3-1) got good defensive play from Stephen Oen and Fulgencio Beken.

Division III

Hohenfels 8, Ansbach 3

(Saturday at Ansbach)

Halftime—Hohenfels 5, Ansbach 1

Goals—Hohenfels: Anthony Marshall 2, Idressa Soumaroro 2, Lucas Hoss, Ian Newell, Kenny Oberlin, Duncan Smith; Ansbach: Charles Simeon 2, Jeff Augustia.

Assists—Hohenfels: Marshall 3, Newell, Karl Hoch; Ansbach: Tyler Sherman, Robert Flagg.

Saves—Hohenfels (Chris Tsemellis) 9; Ansbach (Tyler Sherman 8, Brian Edwards 1) 9.

Noteworthy—Hohenfels (5-1, 4-0) clinched III-South crown. Ansbach is 0-3-1.

Baumholder 1, Giessen 0

(Saturday at Baumholder)

Halftime—1-0

Goal—Ryan Horton.

Assists—None.

Saves—Giessen (David Pepelski) 14, Baumholder (James Lampe) 10.

Noteworthy—Baumholder is 1-4-1 overall and 1-2-1 in III-South going into European D-3 tournament; Giessen is 2-3-2, 1-3-0 going into the D-4 event.

Alconbury 5, Menwith Hill 1

(Saturday at Alconbury)

Halftime—Alconbury 2, Menwith Hill 1

Goals—Menwith Hill: Unavailable; Alconbury: Andrew Hunt, Dominick Sherenko, Cristian Felice, Rick Mateus, Max Reuning.

Assists—Menwith Hill: None reported; Alconbury: Felice, Hunt, Jared Cash.

Saves—Unavailable.

Noteworthy—Alconbury clinched III-North championship at 3-0, and will take 5-2 overall record into Europeans; Menwith Hill is 0-7 overall, 0-3 in league. Both will compete in Division IV.

Italy

Aviano 2, Vicenza 0

(Saturday at Vicenza)

Halftime—1-0.

Goals—Junior Velez 2.

Assists—None.

Saves—Aviano (Mike LeGree) 4; Vicenza unavailable.

Noteworthy—Aviano and Vicenza will take 1-4-1 records into European tournaments; Aviano will play in D-2, Vicenza in D-3.

Milan 9, Sigonella 2

(Saturday at Sigonella)

Halftime—Milan 4, Sigonella 2

Goals—Milan: Pado Garaboldi 4, Ali Al-Shabab 2, Gughi Carraro, Leo Buscaini, Gianmarco Casiraghi; Sigonella: Sam Corey, Tom Barry.