The most ridiculous youth soccer goals and saves of 2012
U.S. Youth Soccer narrowed down its list of submission for Goal of the Year and Save of the Year to 10 apiece, and voting is live on USYouthSoccer.org until Jan. 15. Winners will be named at an Indianapolis awards gala on the organization's Twitter feed on Jan. 18.
Without further ado, youth soccer's 2012 Goal of the Year nominees are:
The Mini Bike: Tanner Giles-Tucker of U16 Pachuga FC Dragons (Silver Springs, Md.)
The One-Legged Double Deuce: Cole Venner of U13 Nordic Premier (Burlington, Vt.)
The Looping Launch: Devin Underwood of U16 Almaden United (San Jose, Calif.)
The Tandem Bike: Farei Mutatu of U13 TNT Dynamite (Lansing, Mich.)
The Girl with the Backwards Head: Lindsey Mayo of U18 Brentwood Premier (Brentwood, Tenn.)
Three Heads and a Little Blast: Zion Gray of U16 Concorde Fire Elite (Snellville, Ga.)
The Secondhand Lob: Lawrence Karpeh of U15 Challenger Crew (Oberlin, Ohio)
The Holy Heel: Nikosi Burgess of U15 Dix Hills Heat (Deer Park, N.Y.)
The Long Pass One Blast: Leah Comiskey of U16 PA Classics (Lancaster, Pa.)
The Patriot Missile: Will Cohen of U15 Cup Crew Jrs. (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Burgess' ridiculous back heel tip over his head to himself was sublime, although the crotch-grabbing celebration from Gray was pretty enjoyable, too.
And, now, the youth soccer nominees for 2012 Save of the Year:
The Triple Whammy: Sami Skibell of U11 KCFC Sporting (Overland Park, Kan.)!
The Glue Glove: Will Rosenbaum of U16 PSC Coppa Arsenal (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.)
The One Lord-A-Leaping: Davis Byrkit of U17 VSI West Florida Flames (Trinity, Fla.)
The Punch Bowl: Katherine Liston of U17 Internationals (Lakewood, Ohio)
The Desperation Dive: Luke Whelan of U17 North Atlantic Soccer (Roswell, Ga.)!
The Frog Hop: Zachary Federowicz of U15 FSA Utd. Nazy (Plainville, Conn.)
The Go-Go-Gadget Arms: Nick Costa of U15 Challenger Crew (North Royalton, Ohio)
The Stolen Base: Alexis Carpenter - U17 Cleveland Utd. (North Ridgevile, Ohio)
The Switchback: Phillip Mourikes of U16 Scottsdale Utd. Blackhawks (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
The Lob Job: Alison Jahansouz of '95 Region IV ODP (Huntington Beach, Calif.)
While Skibell's 3-for-1 special was insane, Whelan's diving stop of a rebound was just too good, if only for the fact that for a brief second the kid thought he had the easiest goal in soccer history. But don't be swayed by other votes. Different strokes for different folks.
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