Youth Soccer

While most soccer enthusiasts are focusing on the 15th World Cup this Fourth of July weekend, the Columbia Darby -- an under-16 boys soccer team -- will be eyeing a U.S. Youth Soccer Association Eastern Regional Championship and a berth in next month's national tournament.Columbia (22-2), which advanced to the national qualifier by defeating Olney of Montgomery County, 3-0, in last month's Maryland State Cup title game, will take part in the four-day tournament, which begins tomorrow at three sites in New Jersey.

Send recreation results to tworgo@tribune.com . Include teams, scores, highlights and players first and last names. . Greater Laurel United Soccer Club U-6 co-ed: Newkirk's Kickers 3 (Zachary Akyeampong, Reuben Guerrero) Lynch's Ladies 3 (Malina Simmons, Anya Lynch) Gans Gougers 1 (Jordan Dean, Ayden Robertson) Scott's Tots 1 (Dylan Cowdery, Dalton Dwyer) U-8 girls: Wild Lightning 6 (Hana Majid, Kaitlyn Gebhardt) Orange Tigers 1 (Nevea Jones, Danielle Harris)

SPRING YOUTH SOCCER gets under way in earnest this weekend with, 14 teams of Under-9s and U-10s from Columbia playing in the second annual Columbia March Mania Tournament in Laurel. This event for short-sided teams, seven players to a side, involves 32 teams and is being conducted in conjunction with the Laurel Boys and Girls Club. Each team will play a minimum of three 25-minute games at Laurel's Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School off Route 197. Columbian Rita Sallam, registrar for Soccer Association of Columbia-Howard County (SAC-HC)

Et cetera Bays Dynasty soccer ranked No. 1 in nation The under-12 Bays Dynasty boys soccer team has been ranked No. 1 nationally, according to gotsoccer.com. The squad earned the ranking by winning four of the largest fall tournaments in the Northeast, posting a clean 16-0 tournament record, while remaining undefeated in league play. "With gotsoccer.com currently ranking thousands of teams throughout the United States, this achievement is something in which this team can take great pride.

WHEN YOU'RE feeling a little down and stressed, there's nothing like a gift of $5,000 to make your day. Sometimes, people in sports do, in fact, look after one another, despite impressions you might get from the overpaid pros these days. Just ask the Savage Boys and Girls Club. Even in terms of that five-sport, all-volunteer club, the five Gs aren't really that much money, most years. But the timing - a one-time grant that arrived last week - couldn't have been more appreciated. The money, earmarked for the club's struggling soccer program, came from the Soccer '94 Foundation in Washington.

The county's fall rec season for youth gets under way in earnest this weekend as most local soccer programs, along with the county boys' and girls' traveling soccer leagues, begin.And, the Carroll County Football League starts its 1991 schedule this weekend with a full slate of games.Last weekend, the Mountain Valley Football League, a multicounty youth football loop, which includes teams from Mount Airy, Taneytown and Gamber-Smallwood, opened up, as did the Carroll County Men's FallSoftball League.

Can you hear it? The Thunder is getting louder. The Soccer Association of Western Howard County was formed in 1991 with one travel team for boys under age 10. But the club - Howard's "other" sizable youth soccer organization - grew steadily throughout the decade and changed names, taking on the name Thunder Soccer Club five years ago. Things really began to heat up about three years ago, though, when the club had grown to 17 age-group teams. Several factors combined to spark growth . Today, the Thunder is fielding 45 to 50 travel teams, depending on whether it is the fall or spring season.

Five Baltimore-area youth soccer players will get a taste of international competition when they travel to Italy next week with the other members of the U.S.A. Thunderbolts.The Thunderbolts, a 13-year-old boys soccer team comprised mostly of regional-level Olympic Development Program players from Maryland, Washington and Virginia, will compete against some of Italy's top youth teams in a series of exhibition games.In Italy, the team will stay as guests of A.C. Milan, the 1995-96 Italian national champions, at the Collegio San Francesco, a 14th-century monastery used as a school and sports center for Italy's premier youth soccer teams.

TWO MANCHESTER teens who were selected by top-notch youth soccer clubs in the fall are on their way to regional championship games at Niagara Falls, N.Y. From June 29 through July 3, Heather Tomko and Will Bach will represent Maryland as they compete against teams from a 13-state region from New England to Virginia that includes about 1 million young soccer players. Heather and Will, both 16, have been friends since the earliest days of soccer at North Carroll Recreation Council. Heather plays forward on the varsity team at North Carroll High.

In Howard County, it's a ritual. As sure as the seasons, as spring and fall approach, hundreds of households return to the fields each weekend. Children don uniforms, shin pads and cleats. Water bottles are filled and lawn chairs are unfolded on the sidelines. Soccer season has been upon us for weeks. It's a passion -- part of the county's fabric of life.So taken with the fervor in which Howard embraced the game, Sports Illustrated in 1989 dubbed the county "the Heartland of U.S. soccer." The designation was well deserved at the time.

Bernard J. "B.J. " Land, a Coca-Cola executive and physical fitness buff who coached youth soccer and lacrosse teams, died Monday of a cardiac arrest at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Hunt Valley resident had recently celebrated his 53rd birthday. Family members said that Mr. Land, who was known as "B.J.," had returned Sept. 2 after a long bike ride and suffered a cardiac arrest that was caused by coronary artery disease, which he was unaware that he suffered from. He remained in a coma until his death.

The Greater Laurel United Soccer Club is holding registration for winter and spring programs. The GLUSC will donate $10 from each registration to an effort to build a classroom library being spearheaded by GLUSC coach and Eisenhower teacher Nulty Lynch. Winter registration includes training with coaches from Challenger Professional British Soccer. Cost is $80 for eight training sessions. Sessions are 45 minutes of technical training followed by 30 minutes of fun, free-form indoor soccer.

Longtime D.C. United midfielder Santino Quaranta, an Archbishop Curley graduate, is retiring from MLS at age 27 to work full time with a youth soccer club he helped create and to assist a substance abuse program that helped turn around his life and career four years ago. "As a soccer player, you're expected to push it until you're 33, 34 years old," he told The Washington Post on Sunday. "That's not me. This is it. My gut and heart were telling me, and I'm at peace with it. " Quaranta, a Baltimore native who signed with MLS at age 16 and spent 10 of his 11 seasons in Washington, was let go by United last week.

Soccer SCYA Storm 5, Maryland City Mustangs U-9 girls 2 (Samantha Ferrer, Sophia Bellofatto, Zoe Butler) U-12 Mustangs 3 (Sara Crouch, Brittany Johnson, Jaila Canzater), Storm 0 5-6 Mustangs Mini-Kicks: Blue Jays (Luke Dahlen, Jaidyn Alford, Maurice Ray Jr.) played Green Dragons (Cristian Sosa-Rodriguez, Jose Quintanilla) Mustangs U-14 boys 4 (Caleb Likekele, Jay Venit, Danny Castillo), Bayshore Cosmos 2 Mustangs U-8 Super Strikers 5 (Elias Jones)

The Greater Laurel United Soccer Club, an all-volunteer organization, is currently registering players online for the spring soccer season, which begins late March/early April. Those who register by Nov. 5 pay only $60. The league is for players ages 4-18, and offers single-gender teams. Players play at least half of each game. Teams practice once or twice weekly, and games are on Saturday, with occasional Sundays and weeknight evenings. Practices and games are on fields in the greater Laurel area.

McDonogh junior soccer standout Mike Gamble, regarded as one of the top youth soccer forwards in the country, has made a verbal commitment to play at Wake Forest University. Gamble led No. 6 McDonogh (18-6-1) to a runner-up finish in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association 'A' Conference this season, scoring 28 goals and adding 10 assists. The Eagles fell to No. 1 Gilman, 1-0, in Sunday's championship game. "At first, I didn't really know much about [Wake Forest], but when I went down and talked with the coaches and some of the players, I liked the campus and had a great feeling about it. It was somewhere I wanted to be," said Gamble.

Youth soccer Bays under-15 boys top Ariz. team to win national title The Baltimore Bays earned their fifth national title in the past four years when the under-15 boys beat the Sereno Soccer Club of Arizona, 2-0, in the U.S. Youth Soccer national championship Saturday in Lancaster, Pa. Mike Gamble, assisted by Christian Wolff, and Malcolm Harris scored for the Bays. It was the youth organization's seventh national championship overall. The under-19 boys seek an eighth title today when they play NASA Elite from Georgia.

Two youth soccer teams from Baltimore and one from Columbia will open play today and tomorrow in Phoenix, Ariz., each just two victories away from age-group national championships that will be decided by the weekend.The three teams all won Maryland State Cup titles earlier this spring and then U.S. Youth Soccer Association East region titles in competition in Erie, Pa. The East region extends from Virginia north through Maine.Girls titles also will be decided in Phoenix, but no Maryland teams qualified this year.

Et cetera U.S. routs France, 92-65, to win 1st FIBA U-17 tourney Rolling undefeated through the inaugural FIBA Under-17 world championship, the U.S. girls (8-0) capped their impressive performance with a 92-62 win Sunday over host France (5-3) in the gold-medal game of the tournament, which is run by the international governing body of basketball. For a fifth time in the eight-game tournament, all 12 U.S. players scored, led by 20 points and six assists from Ariel Massengale . USA Basketball Showcase: Kevin Durant scored a game-high 28 points to lead the White squad past the Blue 114-96 on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Soccer AC St. Louis withstands heat, Palace Baltimore, 1-0 With temperatures reaching 106 degrees Saturday at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, AC St.Louis (4-10-4) used a goal by Mike Ambersley in the 74th minute to earn a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace Baltimore (5-9-4) in the USSF 2nd Division. Palace Baltimore's two shots on goal were by Japanese midfielder Tsuyoshi Yoshitake . Palace's next game will be Saturday against the Montreal Impact in Boyds. D.C. United: Danny Allsopp scored three times to help D.C. United beat second-tier English team Portsmouth, 4-0, at RFK Stadium.