Sports 02-29-2012

EHS Roundup

Crimson Tide skaters face Medford tonight

The Everett High boys hockey team will embark on its Journey to the Tourney tonight (Wednesday)  against Greater Boston League rival Medford. Face-off time is 8:00 at the rink in Stoneham.

The Crimson Tide are seeded third in the Division 1 North Sectional with a 13-5-2 record. Medford, the GBL champion which sports an 8-12 mark, is the 14th and final seed in the North Sectional.

The teams met twice in the regular season, with Medford taking their first encounter 5-0 early in the year, but Everett battling to a near draw in a hard-fought 4-3 contest the second time around.

EHS girls ready for tourney play

The Everett High girls basketball team was set to open play in the Division 1 North Sectional of the state tournament last night (Tuesday) at Lynn English as the Independent was going to press.

The Lady Crimson Tide, who finished with a 10-10 record, were seeded 15th in the North Sectional with English seeded at No. 2. However, although English, which was the undefeated champion of the Northeastern Conference, has been ranked consistently as one of the top five girls teams in the state all season, Coach Tammy Turner and her crew were conceding nothing as they prepared to take the floor last night.

“We saw some game films of English and the girls feel confident that they can play with them,” said Turner. “We’ll have a few surprises for English and we’ll make some special adjustments on defense to contain their top scorers.”

The Lady Crimson dropped their season finale by a 40-33 margin to Marblehead last week. After a slow start that saw Everett trail by a 15 point margin at the half, 26-11, the Lady Crimson Tide fought back after the break to close the gap.

Tori Cyrus and Taylor Sweeney topped the point chart with 10 points each, followed by Savannah Spinney with seven and Daphnica Nazaire with six.

Brazilian United soccer group sends team to national tournament

Everett is known far and wide for its football program but Futsal – which is a 5–on-5 indoor soccer game – is growing in popularity in the city.

The Brazilian United FC (BUFC) 12-under team, consisting of seven athletes from Everett, traveled to Overland Park, Kansas for a national tournament and came home with a third-place finish.

League President Zenito Almeida said that BUFC is in its second year as a youth indoor and outdoor youth soccer program in Everett and has close to 50 players.

BUFC’s five teams (ages 10 through 14) compete in the Massachusetts Premier League [MAPLE]. The players train indoors at the old Everett High School gymnasium and outdoors at the field located behind the Madeline English School on Woodville Street.

Almeida said that indoor soccer [futsal] is booming in the United States. “It’s different than outdoor because it’s fast paced and more goals are scored. The field is the size of a basketball court and there are five players on each side. The game originated in Brazil.”

Almeida is the goalkeeper trainer for the BUFC team that competed in the national tournament. The other coaches are Marco Meireles, president of player development, and Guihlermo Garcia.

The players on the team are Patrick Almeida, Gabriel Meireles, Chris Garcia, Italo Souza, David Alfaro, and goalkeepers Alyson Santos, and Rafael Martins.

“I’m very proud of our 12-Under team,” said Almeida. “There were 150 teams from all over the country there. We drove all the way to Kansas and it was a great time for all the kids.”

BUFC will begin its outdoor season in April and continue through July. Meireles, a former professional player in Brazil, said there are plans to start a girls soccer division and a high school boys team. The fee for BUFC players is $100 per month and includes a training uniform and one-on-one instruction.

For more information about BUFC, please visit www.brazilianunitedfc.com.

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