Development Academy: Northeast Division U-16s a tight bunch at the top

By Jimmy LaRoue

The Under-16 Development Academy’s Northeast Division is proving to be a highly competitive one at the top of the standings, but the top three teams all kept pace with wins over the weekend.

The New York Red Bulls (6-0-1), last year’s U-16 champions, dominated against last place South Central Premier (0-7-0), winning 9-0. Oakwood Soccer Club (6-0-0), meanwhile, kept its perfect record intact with a 2-0 win Sunday over BW Gottschee Academy (3-3-1), and Albertson SC (7-1-1), which has played nine matches on the season, defeated FC Westchester (2-4-2) 3-1.

Alexander Tejera had a hat trick in a six-minute span of the second half for the Red Bulls, but they were already up 4-0 by halftime on the strength of goals from Derrick Etienne (7th minute), Nathaniel Odusote (38th minute) and a brace from Harrison Steadman (26th, 45th minutes). Anthony Viteri added onto the scoring in the 51st minute, with Tejera’s goals coming in the 64th, 67th and 70th minutes, and Dante Perez tacking on the ninth and final goal in the 72nd minute.

In the Atlantic Division, D.C. United’s U-16s (8-0-1) suffered its first blemish of the season, but still managed a 2-2 tie to FC DELCO after they were unable to hold an early two-goal lead. United remains nine points ahead of FC DELCO (5-1-1) and Baltimore Bays Chelsea (5-1-1).

Tejera now has six goals on the season, with Etienne and Steadman with five.

Oakwood, meanwhile, broke open a scoreless game with Matthew Vasquenza’s 57th minute goal, and 12 minutes later Alexander Wrona scored Oakwood’s second and it held off BW Gottschee Academy for the win.

Albertson fell behind 1-0 to FC Westchester on Tetsu Tonegawa’s 12th minute goal, but Arthur Bosua equalized a couple of minutes before halftime. An own goal from FC Westchester goalkeeper Rob Strain put Albertson up 2-1, and Kevin Arriola closed out the scoring in the 65th minute for Albertson in a match that saw four FC Westchester players get booked with yellow cards, and Brandon Curtis get sent off with a straight red card.

Crew Soccer Academy Wolves held off Chicago Magic 1-0 to move to 9-1-1, using a 9th minute goal from Samir Sabanovic. Vardar SC Freiburg, having played one more game, is a single point behind at 8-1-3 after its own 1-0 win over Chicago Fire, the lone goal coming from Robert Cort in the 42nd minute.

In the Frontier Division, FC Dallas moved to 7-0-0 after a 2-1 win over Colorado Rapids–all three goals coming in the first half. Aaron Meyer opened the scoring in the 7th minute for FC Dallas. Edward Venta-Yepes tied the match for the Rapids in the 40th minute, but two minutes later, Santiago Agudelo scored what proved to be the game winner for FC Dallas.

U-18s

Though off this week, Southeast Division first place Weston FC (7-1-1) has posted five consecutive shutouts and has six overall in nine matches going into this weekend’s match against Kendall SC. Second place CASL Chelsea FC Academy split a pair of games, losing its first of the season 1-0 Saturday to South Carolina United Battery Academy (4-1-2) and following that up with a 1-0 win Sunday against Orlando City (1-5-1) on the strength of a 63rd minute goal from Evan Deycaza.

In the Northeast Division, the Red Bulls (5-0-2) tied South Central Premier (2-3-2) 1-1, with Bryan Moya opening the scoring for the Red Bulls in the 39th minute. South Central’s Mu’ammar Camara tied the match in the 62nd minute. Albertson, having played two more games than the Red Bulls, defeated FC Westchester 3-1. After a scoreless first half, Jack Young opened the scoring for FC Westchester 10 minutes after the break, but a minute later, Franky Villegas tied the match, setting off a three-goal in 12 minute flurry for Albertson SC that pushed it to a win.

PA Classics (7-1-1) remains on top of the Atlantic Division on points after a 1-0 win over last place Potomac (0-9-1).

In the tightly bunched Mid-America Division, Chicago Magic (8-3-0) split a pair of games, defeating Vardar SC Freiburg (6-3-3) 2-1 Saturday, and falling 1-0 to Crew Soccer Academy Wolves (6-2-2) Sunday. The top six teams all have 20 points or more, with Shattuck-Saint Mary’s Soccer Academy (8-4-0) tied on points with the Magic for the division lead after a pair of wins over the weekend–2-1 over Internationals and 3-0 over Crew Soccer Academy. Michael Bajza and Lucas Satuffer scored late for Shattuck-Saint Mary’s to rally for the win over Internationals, while Eddosa Muhammed scored a pair of second half goals two minutes apart (56th, 58th minutes), and Ricardo Lopez-Espin added another in the 76th minute to seal the win over Crew Soccer Academy.

In the Frontier Division, Sporting Kansas City (6-2-0) fell for the second consecutive match after opening the season with six straight wins, this time falling 4-0 to Solar Chelsea SC (5-2-1), who closed the gap with SKC to two points. Real Colorado (5-3-2), with a chance to move into first on points over the weekend, could not take advantage, falling 1-0 to Andromeda and tying Dallas Texans 0-0.