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South Jersey Barons Press Release - www.sjbarons.com

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

CLARK, NJ - The South Jersey Barons Under-17 team finished in a 1-1 draw with Inter Milan last week in an exhibition game in Clark, NJ.

Ryan Finley, who became the youngest player to ever score a goal for the Ocean City Barons PDL team this past season, opened the scoring thirty minutes into the match. Kevin Curran sent a pass down the right wing for Finley, who dribbled in and scored from a tight angle to put the hosts up 1-0.

Inter Milan, who is the defending Italian Serie A Under-17 champions, answered five minutes later with a goal by Filippo Fracaro to tie the game up.

Andrew D’Ottavi was in goal for the Barons in the first half, and was replaced by McKenzey Scott after the break. Both goalkeepers played well against some dangerous Inter attacks, but it was Scott that made some great saves, including a few late point blank stops to keep the game level.

A few highlights from the match included MJ Nestor who wowed the crowd with some flip throw-ins, a couple of which lead to scoring opportunities for his team.

Kameron Teel received some post-game praise for his hard work on the offensive end, creating chances for the hosts.

The Barons continued to put on the pressure in the final minutes with their best chance coming from Alec Golini. Golini got behind the defense and was one on one with the Inter Milan goalkeeper, who came out to cut off the angle. His shot was stopped, but the rebound fell to Golini’s high school teammate, Ryan Finley, whose shot was cleared off the line by the Inter backline.

Curran nearly had the game-winning goal in the final five minutes, but his left-footed drive just curved wide of the upper corner of the goal.

The last chance came with just seconds left in the match when Voltaire Escalona led a four on three break. He took a shot from about 12 yards out and put it just wide of the post.

The stands were packed with 2,800 fans to watch the two teams square off at Arthur Johnson High School.

"I am extremely pleased with the organizational aspect of the event, the great hardcore, enthusiastic standing room only crowd," said Aldo Tripicchio, the president of Inter Club Facchetti of New Jersey, which organized the exhibition game.

He added, "We were also pleased that the Chief Operating Officer of Inter F.C., Mr. Ernesto Paolillo, was present at the game, a clear sign that Inter is interested in establishing a strong relationship with U.S. Soccer."

Mr. Paolillo has invited members of the Barons organization for a future visit to Milan to see the home of the Italian champions, which is promising for a potential relationship between the two clubs down the road.

"It was a monumental performance by the Barons boys," said Neil Holloway, the general manager of the Barons PDL side. "I think that Inter were a bit shocked about how competitive we were. We also felt it was important to get every player in the game to give them an opportunity to experience a game like this."

Lee Herron and Ryan Williams, a pair of coaches from Reading Football Club in the English Championship, were coaching the Barons squad along with Holloway and were very proud of the team’s performance.

"The Barons lads were fantastic," said Herron. "They were a credit to the organization and their country, and showed that football in the U.S. is of a very high quality." The Reading coaches, who were in South Jersey for the Barons Academy Camp this past week, said afterwards that some of the Barons players could get the opportunity to travel to England to train with the Reading F.C. youth academy.

This friendly was the first of two for Allievi Nazionali, with a match against the New York Red Bulls Under-17s on Saturday. The games lead up to "Inter Village", the main event of Inter Milan’s trip to the United States, which is organized by Inter Club Moratti, a New York-based fan club led by president Stefano Turriciano. Inter Village will take place August 23-24 in New York City and will give young players an opportunity to learn directly from youth coaches from the Italian champions. The event will be held at Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village, NY and features games, clinics, and free Inter Milan merchandise.