“The end justifies the means,” Italian philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli once wrote. For two local youth teams, the means— hard work and dedication throughout a trying season—definitely justified the end result of championship trophies.
In last week’s Soccerloco Surf Cup in San Diego, a roster sprinkled with Malibu High School varsity soccer players prevailed in the boys U18 gold division championship as DMSII Academy defeated Bay area soccer club Marin FC ’96 2-1. The victory marked a major achievement as the Surf Cup is considered one of the top three club tournaments in the country.
“I was excited for the boys,” DMS11 Academy coach Eric Savitsky said. “They were exhilarated and appreciated how difficult the challenge was.”
More than 80,000 fans attended the 33rd annual iteration of the three-day tournament, which showcased hundreds of club teams from U10 to U18.
Led by MHS seniors-to-be Tyler Savitsky, Ethan Flor, Cameron Silbar and twins Jacob and Jonah Gooden, DMS11 Academy has accumulated a 22-7-5 overall record and a ranking of No. 55 in the country and No. 5 in Southern California for U18.
The Malibu crew helped DMS11 Academy take down four opponents in pool play and the semifinals, leading to a dramatic championship game. After going down 1-0 in the first half of the title game, DMS11 struck in the second half to tie and force overtime. After two 10-minute overtime sessions finished scoreless, the game went to a penalty shoot-out, where DMS11 won 4-3 on penalty kicks to capture the title.
The five Sharks have been playing together since their days in AYSO. Coach Savitsky created DMS11 Academy when the boys were age 11 and six years later they had finally reaped the rewards of the hard work they had put in.
“These boys put in 10 years of hard work. They’ve been working so hard for so long,” Savitsky said proudly. “It’s always nice to see them develop and be successful at the club and high school level. They will have a great senior year no doubt.”
Malibu Tide wins baseball title
After five months of competition in the Malibu Little League, 10 members of the 9-10 All-Star team came together to play one more time in the “Strike Out Lou Gehrig’s Disease” baseball tournament in Moorpark the weekend of July 26-28.
The Malibu Tide won the U10 division with a thrilling 8-7 victor y against the Thousand Oaks Bulldogs. The Tide won four out of five games, outscoring its opponents 45-25 and gaining some well-deserved recognition.
“This was our first legit tournament and we did well,” Malibu coach Geoff Stern said. “Instead of people wanting to play Malibu in the first round, now they don’t want to play us.
“The boys just came together. They played well as a team and it was a total team effort.”
Stern decided to enter the team into the summer tournament because of his desire to see a Malibu team potentially do well in the Little League playoffs in two years when the boys are 12 years old. Advancing to play in San Bernardino for the Western Regionals or at Williamsport, Penn., for the Little League World Series would be a dream come true for MLL.
“Our goal is to commit for the next two-and-a-half years to put together the best team possible and see what happens,” Stern said.
The Tide defeated Chatsworth JBL, 9-5, and the Knapp Ranch Rattlers, 15-0, before losing to the Simi Bullets, 10-5, in pool play. In the semifinals, the Tide eliminated the Encino All-Stars 8-3 before taking down undefeated Thousand Oaks for the championship.
Trumann Gettings pitched the first three innings and didn’t give up a run while recording five strikeouts. Trey Meadows had a bases loaded-clearing triple to give Malibu a 5-2 lead. Russell Kish’s run-scoring double put Malibu up 8-7 in the top of the sixth and final inning.
Liam Lynch caught two complete games on the last day in what Stern described as a “Herculean performance.” Joshua Stern came in and closed the door in the bottom of the sixth for the save and the tournament title.
