Christopher James

Alcoa boys soccer coach Tom Gorman still doesn’t have that win over Eric Turner, but he’s getting closer.
It wasn’t that long ago that Gorman, the 2009 Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association boys soccer coach of the year, was begging the Bearden coach for games.
Turner, whose led the Bulldogs to three Class AAA state titles, did some skills work with Gorman when he was a youth goalkeeper in Oak Ridge. Gorman got the Alcoa job a couple years ago and gave Turner a ring.

“I don’t think you remember me, and he’s like ‘I do.’ I’m like, ‘Please play me. We’ll come on senior night and get spanked,’ and we did,” Gorman said. “Since then, he’s wanted to play. The last two have been 1-0 to them so I hope we give them at least a reason to play us.”
Monday’s narrow loss is just another measure of the Tornadoes’ improvement under Gorman. Bearden beat Alcoa 8-0 two years ago. Last year, Alcoa lost 1-0 in Knoxville on the last day of the regular season before going on a run to the Class A/AA state title match. This year’s rematch came on the first day of the season and, while the result is no different, Gorman hopes this is a springboard for another run to Murfreesboro.
“If we came out and won 3-0, it’d be really hard to coach this team,” Gorman said. “Right now they’re frustrated and they’re upset, which is good. Hopefully they’ll forget about it tonight and we can start training again later this week.

Here’s an interesting story to get you through the holiday doldrums. Remember back when the Maryville College volleyball and women’s soccer teams were playing in the NCAA tournament over in Texas? Scots volleyball coach and athletic director Kandis Schram had some surprise guests for her team’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA second round against Southwestern in Georgetown.

“We’re standing there and I mean their crowd was huge, not hostile, but it’s loud and all of a sudden when they’re calling our team in the announcement I hear this roar,” Schram said. “I look up and our women’s soccer team flew into San Antonio, got two vans, drove over to watch us play. It was incredible.
“It was about an hour and 40, probably 45 minutes, but the fact that they came a day early, gave up practice time to come and support us was an amazing experience. I was so proud at that point as an athletic director. They came in just jogging, ‘woah!’. It was our 30 kids or whatever and coaches compared to, across the net, a buttload of students. They were loud. They were boisterous. They sat behind our bench and cheered for us the whole time. It was neat.”
Despite the cheering section, the Scots dropped the match and two days later the women’s soccer team was sent home as well, losing to Trinty. It was still a fun trip for soccer coach Pepe Fernandez.
“We flew into San Antonio then jumped into vans and rode over to watch the volleyball game,” Fernandez said. “The girls started talking about it and I said, ‘Guys, what’s the chance we’re going to see one of our other teams in an NCAA tournament where we’re this close?’ We had a great time. (They volleyball team) looked like they were pretty excited to have some fans there.”

There’s two-a-days and then there’s the Pepe Fernandez way.
The Maryville College men’s and women’s soccer coach began his fall training camp Wednesday with six-a-days.
You read that right: six-a-days.
Fernandez is running three practices a day for both his men’s and women’s team. Add on conditioning drills at 7 a.m., and that’s quite a day. I spoke with Fernandez shortly after 5 p.m. when he finally left the field for the day.
“I’d rather be out there than inside causing trouble,” Fernandez said.
The Scots got most of all six sessions in Wednesday, save for a rainout of the last 45 minutes of the women’s midday practice. It’s a short camp for MC with the season opener for both soccer teams just 13 days away on Sept. 1.

Fernandez opened his men’s camp with a roster of 37, the biggest turnout he’s ever had on opening day. A solid incoming class looks even bigger thanks to four transfers. At one time this summer the veteran coach had a feel for his starters, but after practice Wednesday he had too many names on the board.
“There’s 24, 25 guys that can play out there,” Fernandez said.
The Scots picked up Jake Holt, who scored two goals for Roanoke last season, and Tommy Webster, who played for East Tennessee State in 2008, as transfers in the off-season.
Fernandez will have a Junior Varsity team this year, but with that much talent on the field, he said there still will be some heavy subbing. (Hear Fernandez on “platooning” his players.)

Fernandez will need some of that depth in goal to start the season. Bryan Walker will miss the first two games of the year thanks to a red card in last year’s Great South final. Chris Penn will fill in at the back.
“It’s Chris’ chance to get in there and shine and be the starter and show that he is a starter,” Fernandez said.

The art of staying healthy got a lot of attention on the first day of camp for the MC women. The Scots lost three players to Anterior Cruciate Ligament injuries down the stretch last year, likely costing them in their 3-0 loss to Lynchburg (Va.) in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
“We hadn’t had one in four years, which is pretty amazing in girls soccer,” Fernandez said. “We hope we just ran into a little bit of bad luck.”
Fernandez used ACL exercises at the end of each practice Wednesday and the school’s training staff was out talking to players about how to land and step correctly. (Hear Fernandez on ACLs)

MURFREESBORO — CAK 4, Alcoa 2, Final
Alcoa caps its most successful season in school history with a second place finish in class A/AA. CAK’s possession game was simply too much. Check tomorrow’s editions for more from Richard Siegel Park.

CAK 4, Alcoa 2, 67th minute
The Warriors’ Stevie Thompson makes it 4-2 in the 67th minute off a give-and-go in the box. The task is made tougher for the Tornadoes now.

CAK 3, Alcoa 2, 55th minute
CAK goes back on top in the 55th minute off a Philip Chesney score. The senior sent the ball into the roof of the net off a corner kick. Once again, the Tornadoes are burned on a ball bouncing around the box.

CAK 2, Alcoa 2, 51st minute
Alcoa ties it on a free kick from Austin Stone in the 51st minute. Mitchell won the free kick by making a run and getting sandwiched about 25 yards from goal. After Mitchell faked a shot, Stone blasted the ball past the keeper.

CAK 2, Alcoa 1, Half
The Tornadoes have conceded far too much possession in this first half with Sam Thompson. Derrick Brodus and Mitchell rarely getting a touch. With the Warriors keeping the ball at Alcoa’s end, Brodus and Mitchell have been marooned at midfield for much of the half. Thompson just made one of his two runs the entire game. After coming within a few yards of the penalty box, the senior was double teamed and dispossessed. Thompson just threw his arms up in frustration.

CAK 2, Alcoa 1, 19th minute
The Warriors strike again, just four minutes later when Chris Pifer strikes off a corner. The ball bounced around in the box before the senior roofed one past Womac. CAK is really pushing past the defense, winning the corner when David Platillero made a sharp cut past the backline.

Alcoa 1, CAK 1, 15th minute
Jake Ragland ties it in the 15th minute with a shot across his body right by the penalty spot. Ragland ran through a Matt Franklin tackle, split the defense and ripped one past Adrian Womac.

Alcoa 1, CAK 0, ninth minute
Andrew Mitchell opens the scoring in the ninth minute, controlling a ball to the left of the box and pushing it into the net. Once again, Alcoa has conceded most of the possession but one quick touch has the Tornadoes on top.

Pregame
Minutes before kickoff, the referees reappear in borderline pink jerseys. That’s one problem solved. Kickoff in moments.

MURFREESBORO — Finally a Spring Fling contest this week with a true press box here at the Richard Siegel soccer complex stadium. Alcoa is preparing for its class A/AA state championship match with Christian Academy of Knoxville and senior Andrew Mitchell will be in the starting lineup coach Tom Gorman tells us. Gorman said Mitchell has responded well to treatment but he doesn’t know how long the forward will be able to go in his final high school match. Overcast skies can only help.

“If it was sunny out, I’d be a bit more concerned,” Gorman said.

Today’s forecast calls for scattered thunderstorms but the showers have held off thus far. 

We’ve also just seen the referees arrive on the field and they are wearing the same shade of black as Alcoa’s road uniforms, which could make for some confusion. It’ll be interesting to see what happens. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. in the east.

MURFREESBORO — The TSSAA’s Spring Fling took the Alcoa soccer team for a wild ride last night during the evening session at Richard Siegel Park in Murfreesboro. The Tornadoes advanced to tonight’s class A/AA semifinal on the strength of a 6-5 penalty kick win after 110 minutes of soccer left the score tied at 1-1.
This morning, Maryville’s doubles team of Ryota Yoshida and Lucas Kelley advanced to the class AAA semis with a 6-1, 6-2 win over DeMarion Turner and Nathan Tempco of Germantown. The Rebels took the win on the very same court where they lost the state championship a year ago on a code default.
Maryville begins semifinal play at 4 p.m. this afternoon back at MTSU. The Alcoa soccer team faces Hume-Fogg at 8 p.m. back at Siegel Park.