The idea of forming an annual winner-take-all $1 million tournament has spread from basketball to soccer, and a few players with local ties have been a factor.
Organized by many of the same folks that made The Basketball Tournament an annual event on the American calendar, The Soccer Tournament is going on this weekend in Cary, North Carolina, one of America’s soccer hotbeds.
The 32-team, 7-on-7 TST began with group play to set up a 16-squad elimination bracket. The championship match is at 3 p.m. Sunday on CNBC.
TBT employs the Elam Ending, where a target score is set after the end of timed play. Each game must end on a basket, whether it’s a field goal or free throw.
TST is similar. After 40 minutes of play, the target score is set — one more goal than the leading team’s current total. For example, if Team A leads 6-4 as the clock expires, the first team to 7 will win the match.
Former William & Mary players Marcel Berry and William Eskay have been key contributors for Newtown Pride FC, a team based in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, that reached Saturday night’s semifinals.
What a walk-off for Newtown Pride FC!
📺 @TST7v7 and @peacock pic.twitter.com/D8x4ZooRK6
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) June 3, 2023
Ex-Old Dominion and Major League Soccer defender Alex DeJohn is playing for Conrad & Beasley United, which advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals. That team was formed by former U.S. national team players Jimmy Conrad and DaMarcus Beasley.
The Virginia Dream squad included numerous players with UVA connections, but didn’t advance from the group stage.
‘Czech’ this out: While his alma mater, Gloucester High, gained a surprising state baseball tournament berth, Brett Lindsay has become one of the top players in the Czech Republic.
He is batting .360 with five doubles, a triple and two home runs for the Jablonec Blesk team. The Blesk tied for second place in the league’s first phase, gaining one of four spots in the “Extra League Superstructure” phase. The top two teams in that phase will gain promotion to the Extra League, the nation’s top pro league.
The former Eastern Mennonite All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference shortstop, who played in college from 2018-22, is tied for the league lead with 17 RBIs and is second with 22 hits. The Czech season will continue through much of October.
Warrior Games Challenge: Christopher Ratliff of Virginia Beach is among more than 250 seriously wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans at the Department of Defense Warrior Games Challenge, which began Friday and run through June 12 at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego.
Ratliff, an Aviation Electronics Technician Airman in the U.S. Navy, will be competing against athletes from the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force and U.S. Special Operations Command. He will take part in cycling, field events and sitting volleyball.
“Participating in the Warrior Games is a way to be active despite my limitations,” Ratliff said in a report by the Navy Office of Community Outreach’s Rick Burke.
ODU Community Day: Old Dominion’s men’s basketball program announced that it will host its first Community Day on June 17 from noon to 3 p.m.
The activities to be announced will be hosted at Menchville High in Newport News, the alma mater of Monarchs third-team All-Sun Belt player Chaunce Jenkins.
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What’s coming up
Wednesday: Virginia Beach United welcomes Christos FC of Baltimore to Virginia Beach Sportsplex for a USL League Two match at 7 p.m.
Thursday: The Peninsula Pilots are at War Memorial Stadium in Hampton to face their newest key Coastal Plain League baseball rival, the Tri-City Chili Peppers at 7:05 p.m.
Saturday: The Pilots play host to the Wilson Tobs at 7:05 p.m. at War Memorial Stadium. … The Heritage Humane Society FURever Homes Runs, including 8- and 5-kilometer events, are based at Jamestown High and are part of the Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix. The day starts with a 1-mile fun run at 8 a.m.
