Development Academy: D.C. United sweeps matchup with Baltimore Bays Chelsea

By Jimmy LaRoue

D.C. United continued to exert its early dominance in Development Academy play this season, picking up a pair of wins over Beltway rivals Baltimore Bays Chelsea.

United’s U-18s scored a 3-0 win over Bays to move to 4-1-1 on the season, putting itself in a three-way tie for first place with McLean Youth Soccer and PA Classics. United has an Atlantic Division-high 19 goals this season.

Abdi Yusef scored his first two goals of the season while Michael Seaton added his second goal of the season in the win.

Yusef opened the scoring in the 15th minute on an individual effort, ripping a 20-yard blast, giving United a 1-0 lead at halftime. Yusef and Seaton then scored four minutes apart in the second half to seal the win.

“This was a very strong team performance,” said United U-18 coach Nolan Sheldon on the club’s website. “I’m happy for Abdi Yusuf and Michael Seaton, as both guys worked very hard for the team throughout the match and each deserved their goal(s). The overall team discipline and commitment to defense was excellent and the clean sheet was well deserved. We’re looking forward to a weekend off and then focusing our efforts on our match versus Potomac.”

United’s U-16s, despite going a man-down for the last half-hour of the match on James Filerman’s second yellow card of the match, held on for a 1-o win over Bays Chelsea, making a lone goal from Jean-Christophe Koffi in the 16th minute stand up for the win. For Koffi, it was his third goal of the season, with the win keeping United’s record spotless at 6-0-0 and six points clear of the three teams tied for second in the Atlantic Division–FC DELCO, Bays Chelsea and PA Classics.

“As expected, it was an extremely competitive match,” said United U-16 academy coach Tom Torres on the club’s website. “Our defensive group was put to the test, even more so with having to play down a man for the second half. Goalkeepers and defensive players rarely get the glitz, but this positive showing was a culmination of that group putting in a lot of hard work at training, and staying organized and disciplined throughout the entire match.

“They were exceptional, and we were proud of the entire team’s efforts against a quality opponent, but the group in the back definitely stood out.”

United will be off next week before playing Oct. 28 against Potomac at Long Bridge Park in Arlington.

In other academy action this weekend, the Richmond Kickers U-18s (2-2-2) put together a strong defensive performance in a scoreless tie with PA Classics (4-1-1) Saturday. The following day against FC DELCO (3-2-1), the Kickers took a 1-0 lead on Hunter Simons’ 40th minute goal, but DELCO’s Michael Desiderio tied the match on the first of his two goals just before halftime, and added what proved to be the game-winner in the 77th minute, with George Tsirukis adding a late goal in DELCO’s 3-1 win.

The Kickers’ U-16s (0-6-0) were shut out twice over the weekend, falling to PA Classics 3-0 Saturday and to FC DELCO (4-1-0) 4-0 Sunday. In Saturday’s loss, the Kickers trailed just 1-0 going into halftime from a Justin Torres goal in the 38th minute before DELCO’s Andrew Mannon and Christian Pulisic scored in the second half to put the match out of reach. In Sunday’s loss, DELCO got a hat trick from Doyle Tuvesson, who has eight goals in five matches this season, four of those this past weekend.

Facing the same two clubs at Striker Park, the Richmond Strikers U-18s (0-4-2) tied FC DELCO (3-2-1) Saturday 1-1. After a scoreless first half, Benji Pullen put the Strikers up 1-0, but in the waning stages of the match, Tsirukis scored to tie the match. Sunday, the Strikers fell to PA Classics (4-1-1) 2-0.

In the U-16s matchups, the Strikers lost a close 3-2 match to DELCO (4-1-0). The Strikers fell behind early, as Austin Riddick put DELCO up 1-0 in the fifth minute. Armin Efendic added a 33rd minute goal to give DELCO a two-goal lead before the Strikers’ Jonathan Cullom scored just before halftime to cut the lead in half, However, Tuvesson scored in the 47th minute to give DELCO a 3-1 lead. Though Gil Topaz scored his second goal of the season a minute later, it wasn’t enough and the Strikers (3-3-0) ultimately fell just short of tying the match.

Sunday, the Strikers’ U-16s fell in a tight match, 1-0 to PA Classics on a 37th minute goal from McKinley Curran.

Virginia Rush, lost U-16 and U-18 academy matches to Players Development Academy.

PDA’s U-16s (2-1-1) defeated Rush (1-3-0) 6-1, getting first half goals from Yannick Ntone Kouo, Jared Stroud and Conlan Kemmerer to fuel the win. Another goal from Noah Snyder and two more from Daniel Barbir provided PDA with a comfortable margin. Alexander Kim scored Rush’s only goal in the 55th minute.

The U-18 matchup between the two clubs was much tighter, but PDA (4-0-0) still pulled out a 2-1 win. Max Kroschwitz put PDA up 1-o in the 35th minute, but Tyler Branchizio tied the match for Rush (0-3-1) five minutes later. Five minutes into the second half, Alec Neumann provided PDA with what proved to be the match-winner.

In U-16 academy action Saturday, McLean Youth Soccer (1-5-0), meanwhile, fell 1-0 to the Tab Ramos-coached NJSA 04 (3-2-0) on a fifth minute goal from Joshua Goldstern.

It was a similar result for the U-18s, as NJSA 04 (3-2-0) used an 18th minute goal from Thomas Farrell to hand McLean (4-1-1) its first loss of the season, 1-0.

On Sunday, Potomac’s U-16s and U-18s both suffered losses to Match Fit Chelsea, with the U-16s going down 3-1 and the U-18s falling 2-1.

In the U-16 matchup, Potomac (0-4-1) went up on a 39th minute goal from Matthew Gillis. However, Match Fit Chelsea (3-3-0) struck back with three second half goals in the space of 20 minutes to pull out the win. Jake Areman scored first in the 56th minute, then Tarek Fayed scored 10 minutes later and then Tyler Stowell capped off the scoring in the 76th minute.

Match Fit Chelsea’s U-18s went up 2-0 on goals from Jake Heroux (31st minute) and Ajani Phillips (41st minute) before Potomac’s Sunny Chhatani’s 56th minute goal cut the lead in half. However, Match Fit Chelsea (1-5-0) was able to hold off Potomac (0-5-1) and secure the full three points and its first win of the season.