Development Academy: FC Dallas U-16s stay undefeated, hand SKC first loss of season

By Jimmy LaRoue

FC Dallas’s U-16s continued its perfect run of form to start the 2012-13 Development Academy season, handing Sporting Kansas City its first loss of the season, 6-0, on the strength of four goals from Santiago Agudelo.

Ryan Gaugham opened the scoring for FC Dallas in the 39th minute, and the match remained 1-0 at halftime. Sebastian Gordillio extended the lead for the home side in the 50th minute.

Agudelo, who had only entered the match in the 41st minute, then began his prolific display.

Two minutes after Gordillo’s goal, Agudelo scored the first of his four goals. He added three more goals within a 10-minute span (67th, 69th and 77th minutes) to allow FC Dallas to run away with the win.

Agudelo now has eight goals on the season.

FC Dallas, at 6-0-0, leads the Frontier Division with 18 points, while SKC, at 4-1-2, sits in fourth with 14 points.

In the Mid-America Division, Vardar SC Freiburg (7-0-3, 24 pts.) kept pace with idle Crew Soccer Academy Wolves (8-0-1, 25 pts.), rallying from a one-goal deficit against Crew Soccer Academy (4-3-3, 15 pts.) to win 2-1 and stay within one point of the division lead.

Nathan Kohl opened the scoring for CSA in the 31st minute, but Vardar SC Freiburg got two goals after halftime from Robert Cort (53rd minute) and Nash Popovic (79th minute) to secure the win.

In the Atlantic Division, D.C. United U-16s (8-0-0, 24 pts.) continued its fine form and has pulled out to an eight-point lead over second place Baltimore Bays Chelsea (5-1-1, 16 pts.) after a 3-0 win over Virginia Rush (1-5-0, 3 pts.)

United got first half goals from Julian Cummings (22nd minute), Jean-Christophe Koffi (34th minute) and Gerson Umana (37th minute) and held off Rush (1-5-0) for the win. Koffi now has six goals on the season, while Umana has a team-high eight goals. Koffi added two assists, while Umana assisted on Koffi’s goal.

“The boys played a solid match,” said United U-16 coach Tom Torres on the club’s website. “They did not give their opponent much room to find a rhythm. Playing in the other team’s end is something we continuously demand of the players, and they were very successful in that aspect this week. With two tough northern road matches before the Showcase, we will need to make sure the boys continue to put a lot of work into training.”

Orlando City YS U-16s (4-0-1, 13 pts.) suffered its first blemish of the season but still held on for a 1-1 tie against Georgia United (4-0-2, 14 pts.) and a share of the points. Neither team has lost yet to start the season, but both trail South Carolina United Battery Academy (5-1-0, 15 pts.) on points in the Southeast Division.

Northwest Division U-16 leaders De Anza Force (7-0-0, 21 pts.) was off, but Southwest Division leaders Real Salt Lake AZ (6-0-2, 20 pts.) had a six-point weekend after a pair of wins, 4-1 over 10-man Strikers FC (2-4-2, 8 pts.) and 2-1 over Pateadores (2-4-1, 7 pts.). Damian German led RSL AZ with a pair of goals (37th, 40th minutes) in the win over Strikers FC, while Sebastian Saucedo (9th minute) and Moises Rodriguez (77th minute) also scored in the win.

In Sunday’s win over Pateadores, Tigran Tiraturyan opened the scoring for RSL AZ in the 23rd minute. The lead held until Pateadores got an 82nd minute goal from Thomas Padia. But three minutes later, Jose Navarro scored the game-winner.

In U-18s, just two teams remain perfect, San Jose Earthquakes (5-0-0, 15 pts.), who have a two point lead over De Anza Force (4-2-1, 13 pts.) despite playing two fewer games. San Jose’s U-18s picked up a 4-1 win over San Juan Soccer Club over the weekend.

After the two teams exchanged goals a minute apart in the early stages of the match (Jesus Garcia for San Jose in the 9th minute, Logan Magonigal in the 10th minute for San Juan), San Jose went ahead before the break on an Elisama Padilla goal in the 39th minute. Emilio Huerta extended San Jose’s lead shortly after halftime on a goal from Emilio Huerta (48th minute). Eleven minutes later, Chad Radulovich closed out the scoring with a goal, providing for the final margin.