Javanon Regional Results
Day 1 Summary
Day 2 Summary
Day 3 Summary

Congratulations to U16 Javanon 92 Boys - Region II Champions!

Dec 2007 / January 2008

Jenna Goblirsch (90 Girls) Named Ms. Soccer 2007 & NSCAA All-American

Samantha Heucker, Charlotte 49er's midfielder and former Javanon 89 girls player named SoccerBuzz Fourth Team Freshman All-American

The Education of Ray Burse
By Steve Hunt

September 11, 2007 FRISCO, Texas -- The last six weeks have provided a real education for FC Dallas goalkeeper Ray Burse. But that education hasn't been limited to solely between the lines.

To be sure, there has been some real on-field learning. Burse made his competitive debut for FC Dallas on July 24 in SuperLiga against CD Guadalajara, and has started five games in all competitions.

Then on August 26, Burse traveled back to Ohio State University to receive his degree in American History. Burse had shuttled back and forth between Frisco and Columbus in April and May on off days to attend class, and then took correspondence courses from OSU along with classes at a Dallas-area institution.

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NATHAN MARKS Tabbed Preseason C-USA Defensive Player of the Year

IRVING, Texas -- Kentucky senior defenseman Nathan Marks has been named the Conference-USA preseason Defensive Player of the Year, as voted on by the league’s coaches and announced by the conference office.

Marks played in 19 games in 2006, starting 17. He was named second-team C-USA a year ago after leading a UK defense that ranked second in the league and 23rd nationally with a 0.78 goals-against average.....

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Javanon 90 Boys (U17) Advance to Regional Semi-Finals before falling to Rockford Raptors (IL) in final minutes 1-0

Read Tyler's Daily blog from the Region II Championships

July 30, 2006 - Des Moines, Iowa
Javanon 87 Boys win U19 National Championship!

Javanon 87 Boys completed their quest as National Champions with a 3-2 victory over Arsenal FC(Cal-South)! Danny Walcott's early goal in the 4th minute set the pace for Javanon. Dustin Downey added to the count with a beautifully driven ball in the 42nd minute, just before the half. Patrick Pittenger was sent off in the 68th minute leaving 10 players to hold the 2-1 lead. A Darren Yeagle goal in the closing minutes (89th minute) sealed the victory and a USYSA National Championship.

July, 2006
KYSA Recognizes Joe Williams as 2006 Coach of the Year and Kevin Bick as 2006 Boys Player of the Year

Congratulations to Joe Williams, the KYSA Coach of the Year. Joe has coached at Javanon for 15 years. Most recently he coached the 91 Boys and will coach the 89 Boys this coming year. Congratulations also to Javanon 91 Boys player Kevin Bick, the KYSA Boys Player of the Year. Kevin was recently invited to the U17 National Team camp at the Home Depot Center, followed by trips to Germany and Spain.

02/01/2006 4:22PM
Connolly: The reluctant goalkeeper By Marc Connolly / Special to MLSnet.com

FCD draftee Ray Burse, Jr., became a goalkeeper when he enrolled at Ohio State. (Major League Soccer)
Every time his club coach, Claudio Maldonado, told Ray Burse, Jr., to play goalkeeper, he'd cringe on the inside. Here he was the top striker in Louisville -- and arguably the top player in the whole state of Kentucky -- and he was being forced to throw on a long-sleeve shirt, gloves and block opponents' shots rather than terrorize the other team's goalkeeper. "I hated him for it," jokes Burse, shortly after attending his first team meeting with FC Dallas. "But he said he always saw something in me as a goalie even when I was scoring goals and being successful as a field player."

Despite having to spend time off and on in the goal with his club, Burse played all but one of his four seasons in high school as a striker, which is exactly the way he wanted it. While he wasn't the type of player who scored goals in bunches, he was always the type that made the finishing pass to setup the goal. And he enjoyed that playmaker role. After all, he excelled at it enough to garner both NSCAA and McDonald's All-American honors while at St. Xavier H.S. -- an athletic powerhouse in the Bluegrass State, but one known for swimming, tennis and basketball (New Jersey Nets forward Scott Padgett is a product) much more than its soccer program.

The only reason that Burse ended up going to Ohio State as a goalkeeper recruit and not as a forward was because of an ankle injury he suffered at the end of his senior season of high school before the start of his under-17 year with his club team, Javanon SC. He didn't want to miss the post-Christmas trip to Orlando to play in the adidas Disney Showcase, so he said he'd play goalkeeper as a way to get onto the field. "I wasn't mobile at all," he said. "So all I could do was stay in the goal for that tournament."

Fortunately for the Buckeyes coaching staff, they saw the same type of potential in Burse as a goalkeeper as Maldonado did. So, in essence, Burse traveled up to Columbus in 2002 without much goalkeeper training at all. He was simply a tall (6-foot-1) and athletic kid who had a knack for getting a hand on balls that other goalkeepers couldn't. Besides that, he was raw. His angles were poor and his awareness in the box was shabby at best. "I still had a field player's mentality during my first year or so of college," he said. "I felt like I could make a mistake and it wasn't a big deal. You do that as a forward. But as a goalie, you simply cannot make a mistake. It took awhile for that concept to really sink in."

One of the great luxuries of playing in a city that is home to a Major League Soccer club is the access Burse had to watching professional players on a regular basis. He started off his time at OSU as just another fan at Crew Stadium. But during the summer between his sophomore and junior seasons, he was asked by then-Columbus Crew assistant coach John Murphy to come and train with his goalkeepers. It was exactly the type of golden opportunity he needed to advance as a goalkeeper. "Murph was really my first (goalkeeper) coach," he said. "I was in there with the Crew all summer. I mean, it was about as awesome of an experience that anyone in college could ask for. It was overwhelming for me at first, but I started getting used to it. It opened a whole new world for me."

Burse said that he learned as much from Jon Busch that summer as he did from Murphy, as the All-Star goalkeeper tutored him on every facet of the game. "Busch really went out of his way to help me," he said. "I was a college kid, so he didn't have to do that, but he did." That same summer, Burse got a call out of the blue from Glenn "Mooch" Myernick, the top assistant coach for the U.S. national team. He explained that they would need a third goalkeeper to come in and train with Kasey Keller and Jonny Walker during the week leading up to the U.S. team's World Cup qualifying match with Grenada. The next thing Burse knew, he was partnering up with Keller during stretching exercises and doing everything the two U.S. goalkeepers were doing in training. Needless to say, it was the highlight of his career, and the event that sparked his interest even more in developing his game in order to one day have a shot at playing as a professional. "I knew I was not on their level," said Burse. "Not many people are on Keller's level. But I had a feeling that one day I could be near that level. That's what motivated me the most from training with those guys."

The 21-year-old has progressed a lot since that summer of 2004. He ended up having a standout career at Ohio State with a total of 13 shutouts, a 1.11 goals-against average and 162 saves. It puts him on a list of goalkeepers that OSU head coach John Bluem has helped develop at both Fresno State and in Columbus, including David Kramer, Mark Dougherty and, his goalkeeper coach as a senior, Jon Lowery. Lowery, for one, believes that Burse can go on and achieve success at the next level. "Right off the bat, anyone will notice his athleticism," he said. "That's what blew me away when I got here last winter. I'm not surprised at all that he was the first goalkeeper selected in the draft because we felt last year that we had one of the best in the country.

And because Burse has not only been a full-time goalkeeper, his upside is similar to that of last year's No. 2 selection overall, Brad Guzan, who also was a standout field player before focusing solely on goalkeeping when he reached the college level. "Ray-J is part of a new breed of goalkeepers," said Lowery, who spent time as an understudy to Adin Brown on the Tampa Bay Mutiny in 2001. "As a former field player, he has exceptional foot skills. His distribution is one of his strengths. He's only going to get better at everything else at the next level." That's the thing with Burse: He's so new to the position, that he's practically a project. But one that the FC Dallas faithful will probably get a glimpse of sooner than later.

Burse will also now have the luxury to train under former Portsmouth goalkeeper Alan Knight, which he is looking forward to greatly. "I researched him on the Internet," said Burse of Knight, who played for 22 years with the same club before retiring in 2000. "Let me tell you this: He was The Man when he played. He'll be a wealth of knowledge for me as a goalkeeper, which is exciting." How about that: the words "goalkeeper" and "exciting" in the same sentence out of Burse's mouth.

Maybe he owes his old club coach an apology.

Marc Connolly is the managing editor of ussoccerplayers.com and regularly writes to MLSnet.com. Marc can be reached at marc@oakwoodsoccer.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.

Some soccer enthusiasts soon will have a new place to practice and play in eastern Jefferson County.

Javanon Soccer Club, a private youth organization, plans to build two fields by next spring on nine acres on Rehl Road near Tucker Station Road and the Blackacre Nature Preserve. In five or 10 more years, an indoor practice facility will be added, Javanon general manager Ali Ahmadi said. "It will probably take us all of that time to hatch all of our eggs, to get those fields up and running," he said.

The cost of the fields isn't known because the project is still being planned, but Ahmadi estimates each field will cost about $100,000. He said he doesn't have an estimate for the indoor facility. No one spoke against construction of the fields during a hearing last week before the Louisville Metro Board of Zoning Adjustment. It agreed to give Javanon the permit it needs to build the fields in an area zoned residential and to have a sign by the road.

"We felt like it was a good use of the land, would be good for the community, (and) good for the children who would be playing there," said Steve Porter, a board member for the Tucker Station Road Neighborhood Association. He spoke in favor of Javanon's plans at the hearing. Javanon has promised to comply with the neighborhood's request to have a meandering sidewalk to allow part of the property to grow wild, promoting grass, bushes and vegetation, and to not have lights.

"We like the fact that at night you can look up into a very dark sky," Porter said. The soccer club also will erect a four-board horse fence around the fields, which would allow the grassy area and wild vegetation to be seen from the road. Pauline Povey, who lives on Tucker Station Road, said she has no problem with the soccer fields. Povey said she and other residents initially feared increased noise, more traffic and loitering. But after attending a neighborhood meeting with Javanon leaders, Povey said she is comfortable with the proposed fields. The soccer club seems "to be pretty much upfront about what they're going to do," she said. The soccer fields are "a nice addition to the neighborhood," said Sharon Ernst, who lives on Rehl Road. "Instead of having another large business right there, it will be kind of a nice park setting, something to bring young people into the area."

Javanon's construction plans come almost five months after a Metro Parks plan to allow Javanon to operate Louisville Soccer Park was scrapped. Other local soccer organizations were concerned that Javanon would limit their use of the park. Metro Parks is doing its best to maintain the fields, "but the reality is that they don't have the resources to do the job," Ahmadi said.

Metro Parks charges $30 for each game played at Louisville Soccer Park. That charge and other fees, however, do not cover field maintenance, which involves filling in holes, striping and cutting the grass, and leveling the field, said Metro Parks spokesman Jason Cissell. The city tries to provide "very workable soccer fields," Cissell said, but "if the soccer community expects something beyond that, they're going to need to have some involvement in that."

About a month ago, Metro Parks talked to frequent users of Louisville Soccer Park, including Javanon, about working together to keep the parks at the level the soccer organizations prefer. The relationship would be similar to the city's park adoption program in which business offer money and communities provide manpower to spruce up neighborhood parks, Cissell said. The groups generally agreed, he said, and they may meet again next month to discuss the partnership.

Louisville needs quality fields, Ahmadi said. And even though Javanon is using some of its resources on the Rehl property, Ahmadi said he is still willing to help plan, develop and maintain a new soccer park for local organizations

In the Lodi Regional (near Akron, Ohio), Javanon FC took top honors in the U14 Super Group, with Joe Williams’ team defeating Ohio FC 3-1 in the finals.

"Our team played pretty well under the conditions. It was hot and humid all week," Williams said. "The other team was short in numbers because of another event so they were at a disadvantage. I thought both teams showed exceptional skill and talent out there."

Ryan Garvey opened the scoring with a header for Javanon off a corner by Kyle Schickel. Schickel turned from provider to finisher to make it 2-0 with a goal early in the 2nd half, running onto a through ball from Nathan Driggers and putting it into the back of the net. Ohio pulled one back on a corner kick (scorer?) before Tony Wilbar provided the final goal for Javanon, half-volleying in a cross from Jacob Kemper.

Defensive midfielder Turner Uligian was cited by Williams for a tireless effort in the center of the field, with goalkeepers JC Cotton and Cody Russell, and back line players Kevin Bick, Ryan Garvey, Paul Althoff and Timmy Shane also receiving praise for the team's group defensive effort.

Javanon is also slated to compete in the U.S. Youth Soccer Region II Championships later this month in South Dakota and will open against the same Ohio FC team.

Darren Yeagle, a former Kentucky Youth Soccer ODP player and current Javanon 87 team member has been chosen to attend the US Soccer Under 20 National team camp at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL the week of February 11-20. Darren was one of 26 players called into camp by Head Coach Sigi Schmid in preparation for the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championships in Holland June 10-July 2. Of the 26 players selected Darren is one of five players that are not currently playing in college or at the professional level.

Darren was a two year member of the Kentucky ODP 87 Boys state team and was also a member of the US Youth Soccer Region II Pool for two years.

Trinity's Yeagle was voted Mr. Soccer 2004 for the KHSAA by the state's coaches. He also was named an All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, as well as to the All-Region IV team. Yeagle was named 1st Team All State in both 2004 and 2003.

Yeagle, who scored 36 goals and had 15 assists in 24 games for his Trinity High School team, has committed to play college soccer for the Indiana University Hoosiers. Whether playing at midfield or attacking in the offense, he possesses explosive speed and great skills. He is also a long-time member of the highly regarded Javanon 87 boys competitive team, which has won the Kentucky Youth Soccer Association's State Championships in 2004, 2003, 2001, 2000, and 1999.

Kevin Bick opened the scoring for Javanon. An indirect kick had been awarded to the Louisville side for a handled backpass to the keeper. After it was touched by a teammate, Bick curled a shot with the outside of his foot, placing it just inside the far post for a 1-0 Javanon lead. Ten minutes into the 2nd half, Ryan Garvey finished from a corner kick by Kyle Schickel to give Javanon a 2-0 lead.

Magic continued to press and Ryan Stokes got one back, running onto a nice diagonal pass and then finishing. Javanon, which had solid play from Turner Uligian all weekend, also continued to create chances and were denied by a series of good saves from Josh Lambo, while Javanon keeper JC Cotton also came up big.

Magic coach Mike Matkovich complimented the work rate of the Javanon team."They never stopped pressing and they played the pressure well," Matkovich said. "This is part of the learning process and they learn that you have to be able to make decisions quickly as you play at a higher and higher level."

Javanon coach Joe Williams was also pleased with his team's play. "Technically these kids are pretty good. Tactically they are starting to understand a little more," Williams said. "At Javanon we try to teach the kids to play a little, and one thing I try to enforce is the importance of creative play. We want to dictate the style of play."

Both coaches expressed satisfaction that the game was well-played and clean. Matkovich noted the loss was his team's first since a recent trip to Belgium that was a true learning experience.

The teams will play again this fall in the Region II Premier League, and it woudln't be a shock to see them meet next summer at the Region II Championships.

87 Boys defeat Rochester Rhinos and Dallas Texans, in rematch of National Semi-Final

"A Tragedy..."