Talented But Young Spartans Look To Repeat Last Year's Success

For fans of the La Cañada boys soccer team, the news as the 2010-11 season gets underway is as similar as the natural ebbs and flows of the sport itself. The storylines surrounding the Spartans are good and bad, up and down, filled with highs and lows. 

Good news: the team is coming off of a tremendously successful year, one which featured a 23-3-1 record, a 16-game winning streak, and a deep run into the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs (the Spartans reached the quarterfinals before falling 1-0 to Salesian, in overtime). There is a precedent for success.

Bad news: Nine seniors are gone from that successful 2009-10 team.

Good news: Neither of last year's top two goal-scorers were seniors.

Bad news: Only one of those two goal-scorers returns this year. Cameron Meeker, who scored 33 goals as a junior, chose to dedicate himself this year to Cosmos Academy of the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC).

Good news: Spartans coach Barry Ritson sees plenty of talented players ready to step up and take on the scoring load that Meeker carried a year ago.

"A lot of these kids play at the highest level," said Ritson, who in his other job is the coaching director of the LAFC. "They each play in the highest-bracketed club for their age group. Last year's team was good, but this team is going to be very good as well."

Likely leading the way will be Matthew Cannata, who was the Pasadena Star-News' All-Area boys soccer player of the year as a junior. Cannata won the honor despite being outscored by his own teammate, Meeker.

"Matthew's very creative, he's very skillful," Ritson explained. "Meeker's a different player; he's strong, he can finish. Matt creates opportunities, and he's at the top of his game right now."

More good news: Ritson said there are plenty of scorers, some new and some returning from last year, ready to take over the scoring role left open by Meeker.

Back from last year's team are Danny Thompson and Arash Mahboubi, the latter of whom Ritson said "could be the best player in our division right now."

Thompson also should be an integral part of La Cañada's plans.

"He was hurt in our quarterfinal against Salesian last year," Ritson said. "If he'd played, we possibly would've won that game. That's how important he is."

And new to the team this year is Brian Newmanfeld, who missed last year while focusing on club soccer (L.A. Galaxy Academy). Along with Thompson, Cannata, and Mahboubi, Newmanfeld helps form a foursome that Ritson is certain will score a lot of goals.

"I like them to pass and move and be creative," Ritson said. "That's not possible without a strong defense, but fortunately we're very difficult to break down defensively."