COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy

Los Angeles Storm forward and star player Ross Shunk greets fans after his three-goal performance against the Lancaster Rattlers on Friday night. The Storm played their home opener at Citrus College Stadium.

A STORM IS BREWING

It’s Friday night and traffic is moving all throughout the San Gabriel Valley. But at Citrus College Stadium in Glendora, there is no traffic at all, just back and forth action on the soccer field.

The Los Angeles Storm was in town and behind forward Ross Shunk’s hat trick of goals, put on a show for the 1000-plus in attendance en route to a 3-1 victory over the Lancaster Rattlers in Friday night’s home opener.

“It was awesome,” Shunk said. “The fans were great and they were real loud.”

Shunk got the Storm off to a quick start as his first of 3 goals came within the first 3 minutes of the contest. The goal was the result of Shunk executing a header off a corner goal directly into the net.

Nearly 25 minutes later, Shunk struck again and combined with the Storm’s defensive play through the opening half, the home squad took a 2-0 halftime lead.

“It’s always great to play at home and get the crowd behind you,” said Storm midfielder Tony Beltran, a Claremonter and a member of the US Under-20 National Team. “It’s very important to get off to a strong start because it opens things up.”

The Storm’s lead was sliced in half at the 56-minute mark when Lancaster’s Martin Galvan scored. Twenty-four minutes later, the home crowd did its part, beginning a chant of “L-A Storm! L-A Storm!” that immediately led to Shunk’s 3rd goal.

Putting the Storm ahead, 3-1, with less than 10 minutes left to play, Lancaster did not have enough time to recover and dropped its 7th game of the season.

“Weve got to play for the full 90 minutes—there were times where we dropped off a little bit. But we showed perseverance,” said Chris Volk, Storm head coach. “Ross had an incredible performance. A hat trick doesn’t happen very often, especially at this level. I think we put on a good show for our fans.”

 

In the early years

The L.A. Storm are a second-year team in the United Soccer League’s Premier Development League. An amateur Under 23 league featuring 63 teams spread out within 4 conferences, the PDL serves as a development ground for elite soccer players.

In 2006, the Storm relocated from Springfield, Missouri to southern California and joined the USL as a first year franchise in the Western Conference.  The owners of the franchise are Robert Gomez, Josh Hodges and Rafik Tadros.

“We brought out the franchise last year right before the league started and we still had a good season,” Mr. Hodges said. “Each year, we’re hoping to grow a little more and become a more professional organization.”

With soccer a part of the owner’s lives and also a hobby for their children, the 3 decided to give it a go for a local franchise that would allow adult male soccer players the opportunity to play competitive soccer with a chance of being signed by a Major League Soccer (MLS) squad such as the Los Angeles Galaxy. Former Storm goalkeeper Lance Friesz is one such player that was signed by the Galaxy earlier this year.

A greater focus of the owners is to provide a competitive brand of soccer locally that would expose kids to a professional level of the sport and also be a family-friendly outing.

“We want to give kids the chance to see a good level of soccer at a reasonable price,” Mr. Gomez explained. “We’re not doing this as an investment but we’re doing this because we love it. So we’re hoping that parents get their kids out there and I think they’ll be blown away by what they see.”

 

Play for the joy of the sport

Like the women’s Claremont Stars squad in the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL), the players on the Storm are not paid to play. Another similarity to the Stars is the commitment that the owners of both teams have toward engaging the local community.

“We want to get out in the community and work with the schools and the youth organizations,” Mr. Hodges said. “We want to give back.”

Already 4 games into the season, the Storm have a 2-2 record with both wins coming at home. The Storm will be holding a soccer academy and soccer camp during June and will also have a major showdown at Citrus College Stadium on June 26 against  the Club Deportivo Chivas USA team.

Six of the Storm’s 7 games in June will take place at Citrus College with only one home game on the schedule for July. Ticket prices are $8 general admission ($12 for the Chivas USA game), while kids ages 5 and under and also kids who wear a soccer jersey, get in free.

The progress of the Storm’s 2007 season will be featured in future editions of Sporting Life.

—Landus Rigsby

L.A. Storm Team Roster 0 - Patrick Lane - GK 1 - Trevor Hunter - GK 2 - Tony Beltran - MF 3 - Bryan Fakkema -MF 4 - Daniel Ardon - D 5 - Leigh Craven - MF 7 - Brock Smith - D 8 - Alex Bengard - MF 9 - Morten Marthinsen - F 10 - Cito Soriano - F 11 - Matt Evans - MF 12 - Joel Crompton - MF 13 - Joseph Pacheco - D 14 - Ben Oliver-Swan - D 15 - Matthew Hodges - MF 16 - Julian Robles - D 17 - Justin Woodward - D 18 - Andrew Villalobos - MF 19 - Jacob Shumway - MF 20 - Tony Ramirez - MF 21 - Amir Shafii - D 24 - Ross Shunk - F 25 - Patrick Thurston - D Head Coach: Chris Volk Assistant Coach: Ralph Perez

L.A. Storm 2007 Schedule June 1 - Orange County Blue Star 7 p.m. June 9 - Southern California Seahorses 7 p.m. June 15 - Fresno Fuego 7 p.m. June 17 - Bakersfield Brigade 7 p.m. June 24 - Ventura County Fusion 7 p.m. June 26 - Club Deportivo Chivas USA 7:30 p.m. June 29 - San Fernando Valley Quakes 7:30 p.m. July 1 - Lancaster Rattlers 6 p.m. July 5 - Southern California Seahorses 7:30 p.m. July 7 - Bakersfield Brigade 7 p.m. July 20 - Ventura County Fusion 7:30 p.m. July 22 - Orange County Blue Star 2 p.m. Games in bold = home games; all home games played at Citrus College Stadium*