The 2008 Showcase of Champions boys’ soccer tournament is being held this weekend at Klein High School. The three-day round-robin style tournament is hosting 14 teams from Houston and surrounding cities.

Of Friday’s matches, the Athlete’s Connection caught the Klein Oak vs. St. Thomas game. The Panthers of Klein Oak defeated St. Thomas 4-1.

Klein Oak’s Antonio Rocha took control of the ball at the start of the game. After only two minutes, Rocha had two goal attempts, but overpowered the ball. Forward Blake Milton attempted a goal but was blocked by St. Thomas’ defender James Lassen. Milton eventually earned control of the ball again and scored with 25:15 left in the half.

St. Thomas didn’t have its first shot on goal until halfway through the first half. Addison Roy kicked a hard shot that was just a hair too high, hitting the top of the goal and falling into the hands of Klein Oak’s goalkeeper.

Klein Oak had three more attempts at scoring as did St. Thomas. Then with 15 seconds left in the first half, St. Thomas’ midfielder Makis Minetos kicked in a goal to tie the score at 1.

“The thing we’ve been trying to work on is connecting with the passes. We were forcing the ball and we had a lack of communication,” said Klein Oak coach James Alleman.

The Panthers came out after the half and scored three more goals. First to score was forward Alejandro Loredo at 35:05.

After going down one goal, St. Thomas’ goalkeeper Alex Rusciano had a big save to keep from trailing by two goals.

But at 9:00, Milton scored his second goal of the night to make it 3-1. Following Milton was defender Jesus Morteo at 1:00.

“I’m happy that they played a pretty good game today,” said Alleman. “I think they kind of got lucky on some (goals) and caught the other team sleeping. Other than that, we need to work on our defense and offense.”

In its 16th year, the goal of the Showcase is to present the finest soccer talent in South Texas to as many college coaches as possible, according to the Klein High School Boys Soccer Booster Club.

“The showcase has always been really good as far as competition,” Alleman said. “When the teams get here, they are always ready to play. We get to see a lot of other teams play and teams that aren’t even in our area.”

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