42 | NOVEMBER 14 • 2024
J
N
F
rom introducing themselves
to each other just before their
first game to gold medal
winners.
That’s the amazing story of the
multi-delegation 16U girls soccer
team coached by West Bloomfield
resident Alex Vinter that won a gold
medal at the JCC Maccabi Games
hosted by Detroit this summer.
Players from Detroit, Cleveland,
New Orleans, New York and New
Jersey were on the 12-member
team.
Their journey to the gold medal
was one of redemption. The team
(let’s call it Detroit for simplicity’s
sake) beat two teams in the medal
round that it had lost to earlier in
the competition.
Detroit fell behind and won in
overtime in each medal round
game. It didn’t allow a goal and
scored three goals in the two
overtime periods. Overtime lasted
30 minutes in each game and didn’t
end with a sudden-death goal.
“This really was a great group of
girls. I had a blast coaching them,”
Vinter said. “They supported each
other emotionally and during
games. Win or lose, they remained
positive with each other.
“In the last two games, they rose
up as a team to play some great
soccer. It was some of the most
exciting soccer I’ve had the privilege
to coach.”
Detroit went 2-2 in the games
it played before the medal round.
How did it win the gold?
“I’d like to say the magic was my
coaching, but that’s not true,” Vinter
said. “It took us four games to get a
feel for what everyone does. We lost
10-5 to Toronto in the last of those
four games, but I feel we started to
jell at the end of that game.”
Vinter did some juggling to fill
the positions, but he didn’t need to
worry about the goalie. Detroit’s
Natalia Ben-Ezra filled that spot.
“I was lucky to have an
experienced goalie,” he said. “That’s
the most specialized position on the
field.”
New Orleans’ Liliane Arjmand
was the team’s leading scorer. She
scored in overtime in each OT
game.
Detroit’s Charlie Rokicsak should
have been playing in the 14U age
Back-to-back overtime victories earned a
JCC Maccabi Games gold medal for a
16U girls soccer team with players from
Detroit and four other delegations.
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS
GIRLS SOCCER
Hello, I’m
Your Teammate
ALL PHOTOS HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED
Jenna and Alex Vinter
and their gold medals.
The 16U girls soccer gold medal
winners gather for a team photo.
Charlie Rokicsak receives a Midot
Medal from Alex Vinter after the 16U
girls soccer gold medal game.