Bethesda Internationals

05 Aug. '05. Inter has once again been accepted in this nice local tournament hosted by Olney Soccer on the excellent Freeman fields in Olney, MD. In addition to Inter, a number of quality D1 teams from the local area (RR's, Ajax, MATT Crew & FCH Premier AC 91W) along with several top Region1 teams (Jersey Crew Celtics, SSC Munich & Hota Academy 91) will be competing for top honors in this year's tournament. With the return of most of its players from last year's roster and the addition of two new talented/key players, Inter is eager to reverse its anemic showing last year and strongly contend in this year's event. Below are the accepted teams: - Annandale Red Devils (VA) - Bethesda Ajax (MD) - Bethesda Roadrunners (MD) - FC Bucks Dynamo (PA) - Harford Milan (MD) - Hota Academy 91 (NY) - Inter Bethesda (MD) - Jersey Crew Celtics (NJ) - Manassas Crew (VA) - Mclean MPS Thunder (MD) - MSC Badagers (MD) - Olney Arsenal (MD) - PA Classics White '91 (PA) - Pittsburgh Blue Demons (PA) - Premier AC 91W (VA) - Severna Park Attackers (MD) - Stronghold Munich (NJ) - Team America 91 Red (VA) - UCSC Fire (MD) - Vienna Redhawks (VA)

13 July '05. Nearly all Inter players will be attending summer training camp at St. Margaret's School in the small, picturesque town of Tappahannock, VA, about 100 miles south of Washington, DC, during 17-22 July. For the past two years Inter players have been attending the training camp at this private college prep/boarding school for girls on the banks of the beautiful Rappahannock river in the historic Tidewater area. Previously, Inter players have attended the summer training camp at American University. This is the first year that a large number of Inter players (14 of 16) will be attending the summer residential camp together. It should prove to be a very productive and positive experience for players to strengthen their bond as teammates and friends as well as sharpen their soccer skills together.

12 July '05. After an intense 5 days of scrimmage sessions between players from different ODP state teams within Region1 at the "ID" Camp at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ, during the week of 8-12 July, 4 x 91's and 4 x 92's from Maryland were selected to the Region1 Camp to be held at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME, 24-28 July. Of the 5 Inter players who attended the ODP "ID" camp (1 x 91 and 4 x 92's), Nick A. (92) made the final cut and will be heading to the Region1 Camp at Bowdoin next week. Congratulations to Nick for earning a spot in the Region1 pool of players, some of which will be identified for further selection to the upcoming National Camp in December. Also, Congratulations to the 91's (Matt S./BAYS 91, Jamie M./RFC '91, and Michael B. & Kyle/FREE Titans); and, to the other 92's (Jeremy R. & Zach/FREE Titans and Joseph G. & Lester D./POT Fusion).

13 Jun. '05. Inter Bethesda finished the spring season in 2nd Place with a record of 7-2-0, its best standing in D1 since moving up from D2 in the fall 2003. Although 3 of the top/strong teams have either moved up an Age Group to U14 (RR's & MSC United) or left NCSL to the VCCL (RFC '91) during the past several seasons, there are still some very talented and excellent teams that had been battling for the division championship this spring, such as the Freestate Titans, who beat Inter Bethesda in the MD State Cup final, 1-0, to win the Championship, and who also earned NCSL Division 1 Championship with a 9-0-0 record this season. Congratulations to the Titans for a remarkable spring season in NCSL league and MD State Cup play, as well as tournament play winning their club's icebreaker tournament and Columbia Memorial Day tournament. Good Luck to the Titans in representing the State of Maryland in the Regionals 25-26 June. And, Congratulations to Inter Bethesda players for improving from MD State Cup Semi-Finalist in 2004 to Finalist in 2005, and for earning 2nd Place in a very competitive D1 division.

12 Jun. '05. Inter's last game of the season brought them to Baltimore (Owings Mills) to play the always hard-working and strong BAYS 92 team. The match was rescheduled from the week before due to Inter's participation in the MD State Cup final match against the Freestate Titans, who would earn the Championship with a 1-0 win over Inter. It was a hot, bright and sunny day at Deer Park ES where the pitch was much better (although the grass was sorely in need of cutting) than most of the poor fields up at Mercer County Park in Windsor Hills, NJ, where 6 of Inter's players (and 2 BAYS' players) just returned from an ODP tournament only minutes before kickoff. In the 1st half, the BAYS had the bright sun in their eyes and played Inter evenly for most of the half, shooting once on goal with Ben starting as GK, and committing 5 fouls while Inter made only a single shot on goal, with 2 corner kicks and 2 fouls, and the half ended in a scoreless tie. With the sun in their eyes in the 2nd half, Inter stepped up its attacking/counter-attacking with a furious 10 shots on goal, 2 corners and 7 fouls, while the BAYS were held to just a single but effective shot on goal and 6 fouls. At about the 13 minute mark, Skylar launched a nicely placed corner kick into the goal mouth about 6 yards out where Mati positioned himself perfectly to kick the ball past the defenders/GK and into the net. Around the 22 minute mark, Inter stopped a BAYS attack and countered upfield where SKylar made a crisp pass to find Ebo around 20-25 yards out and he fired a hard shot into the left side of the net past the keeper. Several minutes later, the BAYS made a very nice counter attack of their own, passing and moving the ball upfield to a player who skillfully dribbled the ball into and between Inter's defenders in the center of the goal mouth about 10-15 yards out, where he then sent a nice strike to the right of the net past Nat who had no chance to attempt the save. With about 2 minutes to play, Inter again was on the attack when a long pass was sent upfield and Nicholas deftly headed/flicked the ball forward into the goal mouth about 10 yards out where Ebo (whose tank was filled with extra high-test octane today) collected the ball, dribbled several steps forward and as the keeper came out to challenge the ball, Ebo scooped up the ball over the keeper into the net for Inter's 3rd goal. End of match, 3-1, Inter.