Dev. Academy Finals Week: U-15/16 Solar Chelsea, RSL AZ advance to title match at BBVA Compass Stadium
HOUSTON – Solar Chelsea SC defeated De Anza Force and Real Salt Lake AZ topped Texans SC Houston to advance to Saturday’s championship game at the 2012-13 Development Academy Finals Week.
For Solar Chelsea, it marks the club’s first appearance at a Finals Week title match after its older group took fourth place in last season’s event. Real Salt Lake AZ also is making its first appearance in the title game. The U-15/16 squad took third place at the 2010-11 Finals Week.
Saturday’s championship match takes place at 6 p.m. CT on Saturday, July 20, at BBVA Compass Stadium, the home of Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo. The game originally was scheduled for 6:30.
It will be broadcast live on ussoccer.com.
Solar Chelsea SC 3, De Anza Force 0: Solar Chelsea’s Toryima Asom scored a 22nd-minute goal off of an Alan Winn cross and Asom assisted a Nathanael Rennhack goal in the 52nd minute to lead the squad to the championship match. Brock Dudley capped things off with a long-distance strike in the 73rd minute that hit the upper right corner of the goal, with the Solar Chelsea supporters and bench erupting in elation. Solar Chelsea (2-0-1, 7 points) entered the match needing a win to take its group as De Anza (1-1-1, 4 points) was tied first in points but De Anza the goal differential advantage heading in. De Anza will play in the third-place game on Saturday against the Houston Dynamo at 10 a.m. CT at the Houston Amateur Sports Park.
Real Salt Lake AZ 1, Texans SC Houston 0: Real Salt Lake AZ notched a spot in the Development Academy Finals Week championship game with a win against Texans SC Houston. Following a scoreless first half, Real Salt Lake AZ’s Damian German broke through with a header to take a 1-0 lead in the 60th minute. Texans SC Houston faces the Crew Soccer Academy Wolves in the seventh-place game on Saturday.
Albertson SC 2, Houston Dynamo 0: Both teams entered the match with a chance at qualifying for the title game. However, neither got the bounces necessary to make it through while Albertson earned its second consecutive win. Kevin Arriola and Michaelangelo Sini scored on either side of halftime to give Albertson a 2-0 lead it would not surrender. Albertson will face the Colorado Rapids at 4:30 p.m. CT on Saturday in the third-place match at the HASP. The Dynamo will face De Anza Force in the fifth-place game.
Colorado Rapids 2, Crew Soccer Academy Wolves 1: Colorado took points from its third consecutive game at Finals Week. The Rapids maintained their stingy ways on defense and did not allow a goal from the run of play for a second consecutive game. Jovanni Chavez and Victor Ralph provided the offense for Colorado, putting the team up 2-0 after 45 minutes. CSA Wolves was unable to find the offense to get back in the game, but Kosti Moni converted his 62nd-minute PK attempt to break up the clean sheet. The Rapids take on Albertson in Saturday’s third-place game, while CSA Wolves faces Texans SC Houston in the seventh-place game.
