Ohio Galaxies fall just short at Presidents Cup
The Ohio Galaxies FC 05-06 North returned from the soccer Presidents Cup in Wichita, Kansas, just short of a national title, falling 2-0 in their third game of the Cup to end up just short of qualifying for the championship game.
The team which is made up of players from all around the area including Tippecanoe finishes a long run of success over their careers.
“A team like this when you have been together for a long time, sometimes they become seniors and they choose not to play spring club ball,” said Galaxies coach Matt Owen, a 1988 Tipp grad. “I had a conversation after last year, they immediately said they were all coming back and that made it that much more special. They had unfinished business and wanted to put together a national run if things fell into place.”
“They took it into their high school season, and they had that feeling that we could do this. I thought their batteries could have been depleted, they were beat up after their long state run but they were resilient and determined and it was all of them. I didn’t have to do much motivating. It was the last rodeo for this group, and it has been awesome.”
This Ohio Galaxies team had to battle two other Galaxy teams through the season who were playing a level ahead of the North team, but they competed with them which made them more effective when it counted.
“There were times we would scrimmage them and compete and beat them, and it showed a lot for a group of small-town kids,” Owen said. “I wanted to give these kids the best opportunity they could to play at the next level.”
The Galaxies opened their play with a 2-1 victory over the top national seed from Florida.
“All three teams we played were as fast or faster and skilled as we were,” Owen said. “We didn’t have room for error. We played such great team defense and by halftime, I realized we matched up well with them and it was all about getting great opportunities.”
Caleb Ransom scored the first goal to give Tipp a 1-0 lead at half, then scored in the second half when Luke Hamaker from Miami East who made a nice finish. Florida scored late but the Ohio squad held on.
“We spent a lot of emotion during that game and that carried to our second game against Montana and struggled with energy,” he said as they tied 0-0. “Michael Jergens had three great games in goal, and he saved some point-blank opportunities.”
Heading to game three they knew they just needed a tie or win to advance to the finals.
“They were just better than us that day and we dodged a few bullets, but they scored in the second half,” Owen said. “We were trying to get the equalizer, but we had to play man down due to a red-card and that was hard. We gave up a late goal and lost 2-0.”
“The speed at regional and nationals was incredible, but they kept getting better and took on every single challenge.”
Tipp went on a 10-1-1 run in the tournament and missed the national finals by one game, which says a lot about the resiliency of this team according to Owen.
The roster included seven players from Tipp - Michael and AJ Jergens, Carson King, Caleb Ransom, James Miller, Evan McIntyre, Hudson Owen. Als, on the roster includes AJ Holderman and Luke Weber from Butler, Hamaker and Devon Abshire from Miami East, Justin Bejarano Cruz and Noah Gathany from Shawnee, Noah Brush from Newton, Sabastian Casteblanco from Stebbins, Fabian Salinas from Tecumseh, and Owen Vance from Greenon.
The Galaxies finished 21-2-2 overall on the season.
“I am very thankful for the community and their support and the parents of the kids we have coached all of these years,” Owen said. “Having Coach Slyman on the sidelines the past two years has been great, he makes me feel younger than I am.”
