Jimmy's back in town

By Peter Brewington

By Peter Brewington

Times-Democrat Staff Writer

One wasn’t sure what to expect from Stu Pierson’s little pickup soccer team.

The local coach had assembled the best men's unit he could recruit from the immediate area. Playing under the name Fauquier United, they included former college players, some from Latin America, and members of Pierson's cohesive club team that operated under the name Real Montana Azul.

Pierson also had Fauquier High boys soccer coach Phil Roper, an all-state player “in the day” at FHS.

Not all Fauquier United's uniforms matched, but they looked fundamentally sound.

In the end, however, younger, fresher legs prevailed.

FCSC Magnum, billed as one of the top youth men's soccer teams on the East Coast, lived up to its billing with a 5-1 victory last Friday at Liberty in a friendly exhibition game designed to raise money for the LHS girls soccer team.

“As far as not having played together, we played a heck of a game. That 2-1 score should have held up, we ran out of gas,” said Pierson.

One draw for many fans at Kip Hull Field was the return of former Liberty High stars Mike Handlin and Andy Smith, and Jimmy Simpson of Fauquier.

Handlin plays at Rutgers; Smith is a football player at James Madison; and Simpson plays at the University of Virginia.

All three started for Magnum, with Simpson looking notably dangerous at attacking midfield. Every time he got the ball, Simpson turned right at the United defense and attacked on the dead run. Skills like that got Simpson called into the U.S. National Under-18 team during his Falcon days.

“I tore my ACL in September,” said Simpson, who appears recovered and hungry to get his promising career going again.

Simpson, Handlin and Smith have been club teammates before and were excited to join Magnum, which is trying to win the State Cup this summer as a U19 team. “It's good to get the team back together again,” Simpson said.

Magnum coach Bill Lanza was pleased that Pierson could pull together such a skilled team able to give his young, hungry guys a game. Former Radford University player Paul Harrington scored for United as they kept it close early. Roper had a wonderful long pass that almost led to a goal. “They were older, but it was fun,” said Lanza.

If each team was represented by a car, Lanza’s was a late model Porsche, while Pierson’s was a vintage Volvo.

Looking zippy for the entire 9-0 minutes, Magnum broke away from a 1-1 tie almost immediately after halftime with a series of goals. A wicked angled sizzler by C.J. Sapong (JMU) three minutes into the second half proved to be the game-winner.

“We ran out of gas,” said Pierson, the new boys soccer coach at Wakefield School

Carlos Perez, Jake Arnold (two goals) and Kyle Ikeda also scored for Magnum.

The game raised approximately $600 for the LHS girls soccer team.