Girls Development Academy East Conference Recap: June 9-10, 2018

Regular season play wrapped up over the weekend in the U.S. Soccer Girls Development Academy East Conference. While some sides were looking to shore up their playoff positioning, others were simply looking to end the season on a high note.

Here is how the playoffs work: In the U-15 and U-16/U-17 age brackets, the top three sides from each division automatically qualify for the postseason. In addition, 11 Wild Card spots are allocated across the three geographic conferences (Central, East, and West) with Points Per Game serving as the ranking barometer. U-18/U-19 is a little different, with two teams from each division qualifying and an additional two Wild Card spots being allocated.

All three age brackets will go through a draw on Thursday to determine the group stages. In U-15 and U-16/U-17, there will be four pots that teams will be drawn out of (Pot 1 top eight seeds, Pot 2 9-16, Pot 3 17-24, and Pot 4 25-32) into eight groups. No two sides from each division can be placed in the same groups. For the U-18/U-19 age division, teams will be drawn into four groups of four with the top four sides advancing to the knockout stage.

The Girls’ DA playoffs will start on June 23  at the SoCal Soccer Complex in Oceanside, California. The U-18/U-19 Academy Championship will take place on June 29. As for the U-15 and U-16/U-17 age divisions, the semifinals and finals of this year’s tournament will take place on July 9th and the 11th at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City.

Full Schedule / Results | Summer Showcase / Playoffs Info

U-15

Cedar Stars Academy-Monmouth (12-15-4, 40 points) finish in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with a 4-0 win over PA Classics (11-19-1, 34 points). Olivia Carney scored all four goals for Monmouth, pushing her season total to 23 on the season. She ends the season tied with Madeline Pirrello of NYCFC for sixth among all players in the East Conference. Goalkeeper Braylee Walters made several key stops in the second half to preserve the clean sheet, her club’s fourth shutout and second in as many games.

Despite the loss on Sunday, Classics did end the weekend on a high note earning a 2-0 win over the Washington Spirit Academy-Virginia (1-25-4, 7 points) on Sunday to cap their 2017-2018 campaign. A pair of second-half goals from Maggie Groh (53′) and Hannah Blodget (57′) gave Classics the lead late with about half an hour left to play. Goalkeeper Elliott Breech and defenders Carly Fairchild, Jenna Daveler, and Haydn Paxton (all 80 minutes) preserved the clean sheet for Classics. The win snapped the Classics’ three-game losing streak.

+READ: Girls Development Academy East Conference Recap | June 2-3, 2018

Orlando Pride Academy (14-13-4, 46 points) just finished outside of the Wild Card but they did end the season on a winning note, defeating United Soccer Alliance (3-26-2, 11 points) 5-1. Forwards Jenna Austin (7′ and 13′) and Lauren Nichols (15′ and 53′) each scored a brace for the Pride while midfielder Madison Jones added a fifth goal in the 62nd minute. Although USA did get one back via a Hannah Burandt strike in the 36th minute, credit to Pride goalkeeper Isabella Hernandez and defenders Natalia Jimenez, Mai Jensen, MacKenzie Anuska and Ana Solovjov (all 80 minutes) for working as a tight defensive unite to hold the lead.

West Florida Flames (10-18-3, 33 points) earned their 10th win of the season in dramatic fashion, defeating the USA 1-0. Sophia Gesuale provided the match-winner for the Flames in the 80th minute, her fourth of the season. After a difficult run in April, the Flames have ended the regular season in positive form, winning each of their last three matches and outscoring their opponents 6-1.

RESULTS

Atlantic 
PA Classics 0 | Cedar Stars Academy-Monmouth 4 (06/09)
Washington Spirit Academy-Baltimore Armour 0 |PA Classics 2 (06/10)

Southeast
United Soccer Alliance 1 | Orlando Pride 5 (06/09)
West Florida Flames 1 | United Soccer Alliance 0 (06/10)

AUTOMATICALLY QUALIFIED (Seed/Region)
Sky Blue- PDA (1/Atlantic)
NTH Tophat (4/Southeast)
New York City FC  (7/Northeast)
Charlotte Soccer Academy (9/Southeast)
Penn Fusion Soccer Academy (10/Atlantic)
Concorde Fire (12/Southeast)
FC Virginia (17/Atlantic)
Boston Breakers Academy (18/Northeast)
Oakwood Soccer Club (20/Northeast)

WILD CARD ENTRANTS (Seed/Region)
FC Stars (5/Northeast)
Weston FC (6/Southeast)
NC Courage (7/Southeast)
FC Fury NY (11/Northeast)

U-16/U-17

PA Classics (8-17-6, 30 points) finish the season in fifth place in the Atlantic Division after their 1-1 draw with sixth place Cedar Stars Academy-Monmouth (6-21-4, 22 points). Abigail Doyle gave Classics the lead very early with her goal in the sixth minute, her seventh of the season. It looked like they might get out of the match with all three points. However, Monmouth forward Olivia Ramiz put an end to that hope with her game-tying goal in the 60th minute. Ramiz’s goal was her team-leading 10th of the season.

Things got a bit tougher for Classics on Sunday as they fell 6-0 to Washington Spirit Academy-Baltimore Armour (6-23-2, 20 points). It was a big day for Leyah Hall-Robinson, who scored five goals (2′, 10′, 14′, 36′, and 55′) to lead her side to victory. She has split her time this season between the U-16/U-17 side (four games) and U-18/U-19 side (20 games), scoring a combined 32 goals in the process (10-U-16/U-17 and 22 U-18/U-19). Armour’s sixth and final goal came from Giovanna Sweeney in the 82nd minute. The goal was her second at the U-16/U-17 level this season (She has also played 14 matches at the U-18/U-19 age bracket).

+READ: Girls Development Academy East Conference Recap | May 26-27, 2018

In the Northeast, New York City FC (18-9-4, 58 points) narrowly defeated Sky Blue-NYSC (9-20-2, 29 points) to hold on to their third and final playoff spot in the Northeast Division. Things appeared to be going NYCFC’s way early with Madeline Pirrello (7′) and Kailey Brenner (33′) giving NYCFC a 2-0 lead early. But NYSC got a bit of luck late in the first half when they were awarded a penalty kick opportunity. Erica Petrie made the most of her opportunity, burying her chance and putting her side within one in the 38th minute. NYCFC extended their lead once again in the second half when Pirrello earned her second of the match in the 77th minute. Pirrello, who played her first U-16/U-17 match of the season last week, (she has played 29 matches for NYCFC’s U-15 side this season) now has 25 goals this season across all age groups. NYSC did get back to within one in the 88th midfielder after another penalty kick goal, this time scored by Joyce Ryder. But NYCFC held on to earn their eighth win in 10 matches (8-1-1).

In the Southeast, United Soccer Alliance (20-9-2, 62 points) enters the playoffs in fine form having defeated Orlando Pride Academy (7-18-6, 27 points) 5-0 on Saturday. Kendal Johnson got things started early for USA with her goal in the fifth minute, her third of the season. Olufolasade Adamolekun (41′, 47′, and 81′) and Monique Perrier (56′) added four more goals to put things away for USA. Adamolekun’s three goals gives her 26 on the season, which in puts her in sixth among all players in the U-16/U-17 age group. Perrier’s goal was her third of the season.

RESULTS

Atlantic
PA Classics 1 | Cedar Stars Academy-Monmouth 1 (06/09)
Washington Spirit Academy-Baltimore Armour 6 |PA Classics 0 (06/10)

Northeast
Sky Blue-NYSC 2 | New York City FC 3 (06/06)

Southeast
United Soccer Alliance 5 |Orlando Pride 0 (06/10)

AUTOMATICALLY QUALIFIED (SEED/DIVISION)
Penn Fusion Soccer Academy (6/Atlantic)
NTH Tophat (7/Southeast)
Sky Blue-PDA (8/Atlantic)
Boston Breakers Academy (10/Northeast)
FC Virginia (11/Atlantic)
FC Fury NY (12/Northeast)
Concorde Fire (14/Southeast)
United Soccer Alliance (16/Southeast)
New York City FC (20/Northeast)

WILD CARD (SEED/DIVISION)
IMG Academy (1/Southeast)
Washington Spirit Academy-Virginia (2/Atlantic)
Oakwood Soccer Club (9/Northeast)
Charlotte Soccer Academy (11/Southeast)

U-18/U-19

The Boston Breakers Academy (24-3-1, 73 points) finished their run through Northeast Division play with an exclamation point, dispatching Long Island SC (4-20-1, 13 points) 14-0. MaryKate McGuire led the way with six goals (10′, 12′, 48′, 50′, 56′, and 59′) while Gabriella delPico (27′, 34′, and 52′) and Catherine Barry (37′, 41′, and 86′) supplied a hat trick. The Breakers remaining two goals were scored by Olivia Hicks (65′) and Lily Matthews (82′). Their 14 goals were two shy of their team-best from March 10, when they defeated Empire United 16-1.

New York City FC (17-8-3, 54 points) defeated Sky Blue-NYSC (6-20-2, 20 points) 5-1 to end their 2017-2018 regular season in second place in the Northeast Division. NYCFC leaped out to a 4-0 lead in their Tuesday tussle with Sky Blue thanks to goals from Katrina Kurtz (25′), Victoria Muller (33′ and 49′), and Audrey Lee (55′). A goal from Hilaria Aurora Hernandez put Sky Blue back to within three with her goal in the 73rd minute. But NYCFC slammed the door shut on any comeback attempt with Rebecca Jarrett‘s strike in the 86th minute.

+READ: U.S. U-20 WNT places first at Tournoi Maurice Revello Sud Ladies Cup

FC Stars (12-14-0, 36 points) finish in fourth in the Northeast with their 3-0 win over Empire United (1-24-3, 6 points).

Finally in the Southeast Division, the United Soccer Alliance (11-13-4, 37 points) ended regular season play with a pair of wins on the weekend. On Saturday they defeated the Orlando Pride (7-18-6, 27 points) 3-0. They followed it up on Sunday with an equally impressive result, a 6-1 win over the West Florida Flames (6-19-3, 21 points). The USA attack scored five unanswered goals in the first half with Jisette Baquet (7′, 18′, and 23′) knocking in a hat trick and solo goals coming from Thai Quallich (29′) and Monique Perrier (38′). Julianne Hester put the game back to within four for the Flames with her goal in the 50th minute, her fourth of the season. But Jaclyn Gilday extended the lead back to five with her strike in the 75th minute.

Northeast
Sky Blue-NYSC 1 | New York City FC 5 (06/06)
Boston Breakers Academy 14 |Long Island SC 0 (06/09)
FC Stars 3 | Empire United 0 (06/10)
FC Stars | FC Fury NY (06/15)

Southeast
United Soccer Alliance 3 | Orlando Pride 0 (06/09)
West Florida Flames 1 | United Soccer Alliance 6 (06/10)

AUTOMATICALLY QUALIFIED (SEED/REGION)
NC Courage (3/Southeast)
Boston Breakers Academy (4/Northeast)
Sky Blue-PDA (5/Atlantic)
NTH Tophat (8/Southeast)
Penn Fusion Soccer Academy (11/Atlantic)
New York City FC (14/Northeast)

WILD CARD (SEED/REGION)
Concorde Fire (2/Southeast)