Belpre at Athens

[pkp76]

Belpre 5-0-1...what's up with Belpre soccer? Athens cruised past Alexander last night, 3-1 and stands at 3-0-2 going into the Thursday Belpre game. The two ties came against strong teams, especially Chillicothe.

Is Belpre that improved or have they played really weak teams? Please educate the soccer forum.

[darKnight]

belpre has been playing really weak teams this year. for instance they beat morgan 7-2, where when warren played morgan the game was a blowout. warren easily won the game 13-0, with most starters only playing a total of 20 minutes the entire game. this shows that belpre plays very weak inferior teams and will struggle immensely when they play any team of good quality.

[mister b]

This is Belpre's 4th year as a varsity sport and it is a co-ed team. Many "good" or "high quality" teams started out this way. You don't build a program by scheduling teams that are going to beat you 10-0 every time.

The players are learning, improving and having fun. If we don't meet or live up to what others expectations are, we aren't worried about it.

Athens is much better than Belpre. They have teams for boys and girls, including JV. That is what we hope to achieve in the future.

[satchmo]

Mister B and all,

Congratulations to Belpre for their success so far this season. Anyone who has been around soccer in this part of the state for a while knows that you have to work your way up despite lots of obstacles from all sides. I saw your team twice last year and was impressed with their dedication and enthusiasm despite lopsided scores. Soccer is a great game and we should all appreciate and applaud those who want to experience it. We all have to start somewhere, so don't forget what it was like for those that went before you to build your own program.

I, too, look forward to the day when Belpre can field both boys and girls teams. You are headed in the right direction!

Good luck on Thursday.

[soccerfanatic]

Well said satchmo and Mister B. I also know darknight is just trying to state his viewpoint and probably didn't mean any disrespect.

Belpre is scheduling teams of comparable experience and school size. They should be proud of their season and I'm happy to see them doing well. It's not necessary for others to try to beat them down on other topics because they have some success, no matter who they play. Various teams have had to make the long, slow climb to become more "successful" programs. Many of us are still in that process... yes, we might be doing better against other Southern Ohio teams, be we're all trying to reach the level of elite Columbus programs that are pretty far ahead of us.

Just like it's not fair for Columbus teams to look down their noses at us, let's not do the same with fellow Southern Ohio teams. Everybody has to start somewhere. Also, don't forget many programs hit a dip in quality at times and have to be built back up too. Athens only had four wins in 2005, Jackson was still establishing their program as recently as the late 1990's , Warren and Logan were getting beat by double digits in the late 1990's for a short time period, and even Marietta had a down year in 2002 when Athens beat them twice and Marietta couldn't even muster a shot on goal in the second game. We've all had tough times and no one blamed our programs at those times for scheduling games that we could learn from and gain confidence.

Good luck from the Athens folks to Belpre this season. Keep playing hard and congratulations on your season. We're happy for you.

[mister b]

satchmo and soccerfanatic...

very well said.

Final score...

Athens 5 Belpre 0.

I think the score last year was 11-0 and 9-0 at the half. This year it was 2-0 at the half.

Athens has a very good program. Someday, Belpre hopes to be as good as the Bulldogs are. Their coach is good and so are the players. They play their positions very well, talk to each other and do the little things right. Belpre playing Athens is a good learning experience for the team each year.

Best of luck to the Bulldogs the rest of the year.

Belpre returns to the pitch on Monday at Alexander. Another very good team that the Eagles are excited to play against and learn from.

LETS GO EAGLES!!!

[pele]

well i don't have a problem with belpre tring to build their program up. no matter what level you play at, that is always going to be your goal but it seems to me that belpre's exchange student is the ONLY reason for their success. hence having 17 goals in only a handful of games. again i'm not trying to bash belpre but it just simply appears that their "program" has not really improved they've just been fortunate in having a star player.

[satchmo]

I saw the game tonight and I can say that as a team, Belpre has definitely improved. Athens threw a lot of shots at them, and their keeper played much better than last year - he has learned to better position himself and didn't come off his line nearly as much as he did before. He had a ton of legitimate saves and one of the Athens goals was a PK. If you look at the scores from other games, you'll see that Belpre hasn't been giving up a lot of goals - last year they lost to Athens by double digits.

The keeper was really busy because his supporting cast is inexperienced and there isn't much depth. They hustled and played hard, but physically can't match up with Athens, who can sub a half dozen at a time. But it was obvious they have shown considerable improvement.

As for the exchange student, he was not much of a factor tonight. Their #00 was more effective at penetrating and got off the best shots, along with #4, who hit the bar just after half.

Considering that Belpre is only in their 4th season with a small group of dedicated players, I'd say the program overall is better than last year. If they could get the numbers to create some depth, they could be even more competetive. Only being down 2 at half, they were far from a walk-over.

Good game, Eagles and good luck the rest of the way.

[pkp76]

Absolutely. Belpre was really in the game for a good part of the first half and continued to play purposeful soccer throughout the entire match. Hats off to the coach and their hard working team.

These kids have come a long way since last year!

[pele]

[quote="soccerfanatic"]yes, we might be doing better against other Southern Ohio teams, be we're all trying to reach the level of elite Columbus programs that are pretty far ahead of us.

Just like it's not fair for Columbus teams to look down their noses at us, let's not do the same with fellow Southern Ohio teams. [quote]

If you all will remember, Warren was ranked in the top ten in the sate just two years ago.

[SEsportsBA]

I believe that that top ten state ranked team didnt even make it out of sectionals.

[defender08]

Alright, let's not start bashing. Belpre is improving, they will be better with time. They've come a long way in a short amount of time, and having a league to improve the skill of their youngsters is a major advantage. No, that team didn't make it out of sectionals but still to have an area team ranked in a state poll is something to be proud of.

to pele: It doesn't matter how you win pretty or ugly..as long as you get the Win. If that win comes on the back of a an individual player then so be it. I'm sure that not all of your teams wins have come with an entire group effort, but the effort of one or two players stepping up in the moment. If Belpre's exchange student can help and teach his teammates to be better soccer players then that's great. Sometimes it's easier to listen to instruction from someone closer to your own age rather than an older coach.

Good luck to Belpre, may you continue to improve every year.