18599: (Hermantin)Palm Beach Post-Lakes buoyed by Haitian duo (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Lakes buoyed by Haitian duo

By Steve Dorsey, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 12, 2004



WEST PALM BEACH -- Realistically, Palm Beach Lakes' boys soccer team was due
to take a step back this season after losing the area's second-leading
scorer in Richardson Fils.

But reality did not account for Fabrice Noel.

Practicing with an improving, but painful thigh bruise Wednesday, Noel
kicked a ball across the field, ran a figure eight through two defenders,
and came out on the other side to receive his pass before anyone else could
touch it. Coach Adam Spangenthal just had to laugh as his junior star
striker provided a glimpse of the speed that had propelled Noel to an
area-leading 32 goals -- eight more than Fils had last season.

"He's magical," Spangenthal said.

But Noel is just half of a duo off the Haitian Junior National Team that has
led the Rams to a 17-1-3 record.

Noel left his immediate family in Haiti less than a year ago to live with an
uncle and cousin in West Palm Beach, where he also joined his friend and
former teammate, senior midfielder Frantz Francoise, at Palm Beach Lakes.

"I had been in contact with him, and I told him, 'If you come to my school,
I know what we can do,' " Francoise said.

What they did was help the Rams go undefeated until the district
championship against Wellington in which Noel was "not himself" because of a
deep thigh bruise he had suffered in the Rams' 19th game.

"Usually he can face three guys and it's no problem," said Francoise, who
has 18 goals and 18 assists this season. "Last game, they only needed one
guy to stop him."

As a result of that district loss, the Rams' path to the state finals starts
on the road tonight against John I. Leonard (10-7-4). The condition of
Noel's thigh likely will have some say in the result, and if his exciting
play in practice is any indication, his injury is a thing of the past.

"I'll be good," Noel said.

Both players came to the U.S. with aspirations of playing Major League
Soccer. In the fall, Francoise will play for Franklin Pierce (N.H.) College
and kick for the football team, where he hopes he'll be noticed by the New
England Revolution or even the New England Patriots.

Asked if they had developed a camaraderie on the field, Noel and Francoise
broke into wide grins that personify the team's levity.

"Sometimes I just pass him the ball, and I don't even look," Francoise says
as he turns around to demonstrate, and they both laugh.

In a 6-0 rout of Wellington in January, Noel scored three goals in the first
half off Francoise assists. In the second half, they switched positions and
Francoise ended up with three goals, all off Noel passes.

"Fabrice leads by example with his effort on the field," Spangenthal said.
"His motor is constantly running. Francoise is more methodical in his
approach. He dissects you a little bit, finds your weakness, and then takes
advantage of it.

"Their energy elevates the whole team."

jonathan_kay@pbpost.com

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