Baltimore Bays Chelsea U-18s beat Potomac, extend unbeaten streak to 18
By Jimmy LaRoue
After a slow start to its Development Academy season that saw Baltimore Bays Chelsea’s Under-18s lose four of their first five matches in the fall, the Maryland club has uncorked a strong unbeaten streak in the spring that has now extended to 18 games after a 5-0 weekend win over Potomac.
For Bays Chelsea, that’s the second win in two weeks over Potomac, shutting out their cross-state rivals by a combined 8-0.
In the most recent win, Bays Chelsea’s Michael Gamble opened the scoring in the fifth minute, and then Richard Greensfelder got the first of his two goals in the ninth minute. Jeremy DeGraffenreidt followed up with a goal for Bays Chelsea five minutes later before Greensfelder got his second in the 20th minute. Ishmaiah Calwrie capped off the scoring with an 85th-minute goal.
Bays Chelsea has gone 16-0-2 since March, including a run of 7-0-1 in Mid-Atlantic Division games and stands 17-4-2 overall. The club’s U-16s are no slouches either, also picking up a 5-0 win against Potomac and is in second place in the division.
In other area action:
With a six-point weekend on the road in Virginia, Charlotte Soccer Academy’s U-16s take over the first place spot in the Atlantic Division of the Development Academy.
Charlotte picked up a 2-0 win over Richmond Strikers Saturday, and followed up with a 3-1 win Sunday over McLean Youth Soccer.
Against the Strikers, Charlotte got goals in each half from Tomas Hilliard-Arce (13th minute) and Kipp Carriker (79th minute) to seal the win.
CASL Chelsea FC Academy, meanwhile, picked up a single win over the weekend, a 5-0 result Sunday over Virginia Rush, putting it just one point behind Charlotte. Rush, meanwhile, has finished its academy season.
The last two weekends of the academy season will be key to determine first place in the division, with CASL closing out on the road June 10 at Richmond Strikers and June 16 at McLean, while Charlotte has a week off before its final two games, non-division matchups against Concorde Fire and Birmingham United.
Fusion plays the Strikers and McLean on June 9 and June 10, respectively. Wins in both of those matches will give Fusion sole possession of third place in the division.
North Carolina Fusion had a 14-goal outburst in two Development Academy wins over Virginia Rush Saturday, and managed to make it a clean sweep of Virginia teams with wins against the Richmond Kickers Sunday.
In Saturday’s U-16 match, Rush took a 1-0 lead in the first half on a goal from Andrew Ott in the 36th minute. The lead held until the 56th minute, when Andre Fortune II scored the first of his three goals in a four minute span, tallying his second a minute later, and then a third goal in the 59th minute.
Chandler Chappell extended Fusion’s lead to 4-1 with a goal in the 76th minute, and two minutes later, Donovan Japp added to Fusion’s lead. Hunter Allen then closed out the scoring with a Fusion goal in the 82nd minute for the final, 6-1 margin.
In Saturday’s U-18 matchup, Fusion got off to a strong start and never looked back, as Warren Marshall opened the scoring in the second minute. Fusion added four more goals before halftime, including two from Taylor Adler and two more from Myles Mansfield and Alec Rotunda. Fusion tacked on three more goals after the 80th minute from Samuel McBride (81st minute), Hassan Kouyateh (86th minute) and Alex Rosenbower (89th minute).
Fusion had a tougher time in Sunday’s matches against the Kickers, but still managed wins.
Fusion’s U-16s once again fell behind, as the Kickers’ Grayson Smith opened the scoring in the 10th minute. Quinton Verchick equalized for Fusion in the 31st minute. The scored stayed at 1-1 until Andre Fortune II got his fourth goal of the weekend in the 57th minute.
The Kickers, though, leveled the match two minutes later on a goal from Matthew Crider. The score held until the 79th minute, when Fusion’s Matteo Busio scored what proved to be the match winner.
Other games involving local academy teams this weekend:
U-16s
D.C. United 2, Potomac 2
McLean Youth Soccer 1, North Meck SC 1
U-18s
D.C. United 5, Potomac 0
McLean Youth Soccer 3, North Meck SC 1
Charlotte Soccer Academy 2, Richmond Strikers 1
North Meck SC 4, Richmond Strikers 3
Charlotte Soccer Academy 2, McLean Youth Soccer 0
For complete Development Academy results and standings, see below:
[ +Development Academy schedule/results ]
[ +U-16 Standings ]
[ +U-18 Standings ]
