The second day of action at the adidas Men’s Blue Chip Showcase kicked off with a majority of the games being played on the grass fields at Oxford Community Park. The greater Cincinnati area has seen some inclement weather in the past few days, but the Kings Hammer Academy staff worked tirelessly to make sure the grass fields were in the best shape possible.

Here’s a look at some of the action that took place in today’s showcase games:

U16

The Carmel United SC Elite team battled one of the host sides as they squared off against Kings Hammer Academy Red.  Carmel appeared to be comfortable back on the grass surface and controlled most of the possession in the second half.

Carmel midfielder Daniel Mooney showed that he wasn’t just a strong body, sending perfectly placed balls through the Kings Hammer defense for a better part of the half.

Mooney also showed that he wasn’t afraid of taking defenders on and beat multiple players while leading the offensive attack for Carmel United.  Kings Hammer Academy tried to answer the powerful Carmel United attack by playing through midfielder Mitchell Bernert, who showed good vision moving into the attack and found his forwards on multiple occasions. 

Despite a heroic diving save on a Carmel United free kick, Kings Hammer goalkeeper Charles Leanhart was unable to keep the clean sheet.  Carmel United SC would go on to defeat Kings Hammer Academy by a score of 2-0.

Two state number one teams squared off when the Grand Rapids Crew Juniors from Michigan took on the St. Croix FC Red Bulls from Minnesota.

The Crew Juniors were anchored in back by defenders Alex Ruddock and Peter Brown who kept the St. Croix Red Bulls attack at bay for a majority of the game.

That wasn’t necessarily an easy task as they faced the speedy Crew Juniors forward, Kristofer Broughton.

The right-side attacker nearly put Grand Rapids ahead as he broke free from the back line on a breakaway, only to have his shot go just over the post.

As time was winding down in this physical matchup, Grand Rapids Crew Juniors thought they had won the game when they finished a strike with only five minutes left on the clock.

St. Croix Red Bulls had other plans though. The attack for Red Bulls started with midfielder Keegan Kennedy, who had been picking apart the midfield and back line all day. Red Bulls were able to find the back of the net with just two minutes left and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Another Minnesota team was in U16 action today as St. Paul United took on Ohio Galaxies FC.

Galaxies dominated the pace of play in the first half, controlling the ball in the midfield and limiting St. Paul United’s chances at goal. Galaxies midfielder Peyton Mowery was calm and composed on the ball as much of the play went through him in the middle. On more than one occasion Mowery was able to find his teammate Tristan Lyle, who was unlucky not to finish a decent strike from distance in the first half.

The bright spot for St. Paul United came in the form of the tall and strong target forward, John Eiden. Although St. Paul was unable to create many decent scoring opportunities, Eiden used his speed and strength to create his own chances. The goals were hard to come by for both teams though and the match ended in a 0-0 tie.

U17

After scrapping for a tie on the turf against Ambassadors FC on Friday, the Dallas Texans looked to see if they could get a win on the grass surface. It wouldn’t be easy though as they were squaring off against a Michigan Wolves-Hawks team that was coming off a 2-0 win on Friday.

Playing on one of the few fields where the wind actually played a factor, the Texans looked to capitalize on having the wind at their back in the first half. They were able to take a 1-0 lead into halftime and looked to defend that single goal advantage in the second half.

Texan midfielder Bo Day was aggressive and looked to go forward nearly every time he touched the ball. Day was able to find great combo play with forward Wesley Osborn. The Michigan Wolves-Hawks looked to their quick forward, Lyiah Dunn, for an answer to the Texans goal and nearly got it in about the 70th minute.

Dunn was able to charge a back pass to the Texan keeper and got the slightest touch on the ball, unfortunately the equalizing goal was cleared off the end line and the Texans held on for the 1-0 win.

In other U17 action, LDC United faced off against Lexington Futbol FC in what would turn out to be a fairly one-sided game.  Lexington Futbol FC was able to hold off the LDC United attack in the first half, but coming out of halftime United was feeling confident that they would get the goal that they needed.

The first of many chances in the second half for LDC United came when midfielder John Lopez played a free kick onto the head of forward Ryan Wolf, who headed the ball just wide of the post.

The LDC attack continued to press on through the play of midfielder Ryan Doyle who played dangerous balls diagonally over the back line multiple times. Wolf was finally able to get on the end of a Doyle through ball and found himself one-on-one with the keeper. Wolf may have been lucky to finish as he pinged his shot off the keeper and into the goal.

LDC United could have scored on many other opportunities, but the final score line would read 1-0.