To Life!

•

SPORTS

Soccer Stars

JCC Maccabi players make a strong return.

Steve Stein

Special to The Jewish News

T

hey played eight games in three
days in oppressive heat and
humidity. They lost their goalie to
an injury. And they won the bronze medal in
a 10-team tournament.
It was a memorable JCC Maccabi
Games in Baltimore for the Metropolitan
Detroit Maccabi Club boys soccer team,
the first boys soccer team fielded by
Detroit since 1999.
"What a great group of kids, and what a
great accomplishment," said Rick Kirsch,
who coached the Detroit team along with
his son Scott.
Detroit faced Baltimore White in the
bronze medal game without goalie Kam
McVittie, who hurt his foot in the previous
game that day. With Ross Kepes playing
goalie for only the second time in his life,
Detroit beat Baltimore White 5-4, avenging
an earlier 7-4 loss.
As the jubilant Detroit players were
receiving their medals, McVittie came back
from the hospital on crutches to join the
celebration.
Connor Sakwa scored three goals and Ben
Smith-Helman added two for Detroit in its
victory over Baltimore White, which gave
Detroit a 4-4 record for the tournament.
Jacob Brody, Aviel Keidar, Samuel Kepes
and Alex Steinberg also played for Detroit,
as did Seth Bryien and Tai Rosen from
Philadelphia. The Philadelphia boys joined
the Detroit team in Baltimore, filling two
open roster spots.

Detroit coach Scott Kirsch is headed to
the University of Michigan this fall after
playing soccer for Bloomfield Hills Andover
High School for four years. The midfielder
was named to the Division 2 All-State hon-
orable mention list twice.
In other Detroit Maccabi news:

Net Order
The Detroit volleyball team won a bronze
medal in Houston. And now for the rest
of the story: Detroit lost just two games in
eight matches and its record was better than
gold medalist Dallas and silver medalist San
Francisco.
How did Detroit pull off those feats? It
went 5-0 in pool play and beat New Orleans/
Birmingham 25-14, 25-13 in its first playoff
match. Then it ran into Dallas. Detroit lost
25-17, 25-19. It rallied from a 20-8 deficit to
make the second game close.
Rallies were the story of Detroit's bronze
medal match against Houston White. Detroit
fell behind in all three games before win-
ning 25-23, 25-21, 25-19.
Captains Julie Schare and Taylor Henkin
were Detroit's leaders. Also on the team were
Carly Amhowitz, Hannah Berman, Jolie
Greenstone, Marissa Katz, Jesse Kepes, Leah
Popkin and Jessica Stern. Ken Bertin and
Steve Click were the coaches. Gennifer Roth
and Dr. Sheldon Stern worked with the team
in practices before it headed to Houston.
Besides scoring points on the volleyball
court, the Detroit team read and did other
activities with underprivileged children at
a Houston YMCA during a Maccabi Days of
Caring and Sharing morning.

The Detroit softball players posed for a team photo.

Detroit goalie Kam McVittie (leaping), Alex Steinberg and Samuel Kepes
help clear the ball.

Silver Stars
A 62-51 loss to an older, bigger Miami team
in the gold medal game didn't take any lus-
ter off Detroit's achievements in the boys age
15-16 basketball competition at the Maccabi
Games in Orange County, Calif.
Detroit won the silver medal in the 30-
team field despite having six 15-year-olds
on its roster.
Guards Jake Olds and Eric Fishman com-
bined for 43 points against Miami. Also on
Coach Barry Bershad's Detroit team were
Adam Goldman, Jarret Levine, Josh Levine,
Brandon Potash, Alex Scharg, Steve Scharg,
Andy Schwartz and Steve Silverman. Steve
Fishman was Bershad's assistant coach.
Detroit recorded four victories in eight
games, defeating Pittsburgh by 20 points in
the semifinals.

Danny Boy
Danny Weiss put on quite a show in the
Detroit boys age 13-14 basketball team's 54-
33 victory over St. Louis in Baltimore. Weiss
poured in 35 points as Detroit rallied from
an early 9-0 deficit to earn one of its two
victories in six games.
"We didn't have as much size and expe-
rience as the other teams:' said Detroit
coach Steve Weiss, Danny's father. "Under
the circumstances, I was proud of how
hard we played. We did as well as could be
expected."
Danny Weiss was the only Detroit player
with previous Maccabi experience. He led
the team in points, rebounds and blocked
shots.
Detroit's roster also included Miles
Gordon, Seth Goldman, Steve Lebenbom,
Joey Leshman, Jack Nathan, Alex Sklar and
Andy Sonnenberg. Steve Weiss' son Mitchell,
a former Maccabi athlete, was Detroit's
assistant coach.

Softball Survives
Girls softball is alive and well at the Maccabi
Games. A vigorous effort by coaches and

other supporters convinced Maccabi offi-
cials not to drop softball in favor of girls
lacrosse after 2007, so seven girls softball
teams hit the diamonds in Houston.
Most were combined teams. Detroit/
Atlanta lost its first two games, won two
straight, then dropped a 4-3 extra-inning
heartbreaker to Philadelphia that stopped it
from competing for a medal.
Detroit/Atlantis coaches were Ron
Silberstein and Ellery Diem. Michelle
Friedman, Rachel Klisman, Emily Sherbin,
Amy Silberstein, Morgan Silver, Sarah
Thomas, Emilie Weiner and Emily Zussman
represented Detroit. There were three play-
ers from Atlanta.

On Track
Detroit's Nicole Meisner won gold medals in
the girls age 13-14 100-, 200- and 400-meter
dashes in track competition in Orange
County. Meisner also won gold medals in
relays.
Emily and Rachel Chocron (girls 13-14),
Jenny Pickman (girls 13-14) and Michael
Hyman (boys 15-16) also won gold medals
in relays for Detroit.

Golf Gold
Detroit golfers won gold, silver and bronze
medals in Houston. Brad Goldman earned
a gold in the four-man best-ball scramble,
Steven Neville won a silver in the closest-
to-the-pin skills competition, and Adam
Zuppke took home a bronze from the four-
man best-ball scramble.

Homes Wanted
Host families, volunteers, participants
and sponsors are needed for the 2008 JCC
Maccabi Games in Detroit, which will be
held Aug. 17-22. Contact Games Director
Karen Gordon, (248) 432-5482 or
kgordon@jccdet.org .

Please send sports news to

sports@thejewishnews.com .

September 6 • 2007

49