On Thursday, with the Development Academy playoffs fast approaching, we profiled the five most impressive U18 turnarounds from last season to this season. Today, the spotlight swings to the U16 age group and five more programs that’ve posted marked improvements over last season.

St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri

2012-13 finish: 8-13-6; 11th place (Central Conference; Mid-America Division)

Currently: 12-5-4; 3rd place (Central Conference; Mid-America Division)

Notes: With just 34 goals from 27 games last season, it wasn’t much of a surprise that SLSG Missouri finished three spots from the bottom in their division and whiffed on the last postseason spot by 13 points. The difference this season is holistic. Missouri already equaled its goals total from last season in six fewer games, and the emergence of Sean Gouveia, who has a team-leading seven goals, has been a boon to the attack. Still, the focal point of this team is its razor-sharp back line, which has given up a paltry 17 goals, the best total in the entire Central Conference. As a result, Missouri is 13 points clear of the postseason cutoff and will assuredly make the playoffs.

MORE: DA’s top U18 improvements | Dev. Academy Standouts | Dev. Academy Scoreboard 

BSC CT Academy

2012-13 finish: 1-21-3; 12th place (East Conference; Northeast Division)

Currently: 8-6-3; 4th place (East Conference; Northeast Division)

Notes: Talk about rags to riches. BSC won one game all of last season, a 2-1 result over San Juan SC, which finished with a 6-16-6 record. Only the winless San Antonio Scorpions U16 side would’ve finished below BSC last season on a unified academy table. Further, they only scored 14 goals and surrendered an academy-worst 103. In 25 games. With that in mind, the improvement encompassing the entire squad is incredible. Through 17 games, BSC is currently clinging to the Northeast Divison’s final playoff spot with 27 points from 17 games. The defense has improved in massive leaps, which means they’ve given up just 25 goals to this point. BSC may not be leading their division, but that kind of year-to-year improvement is almost unheard of.

Vancouver Whitecaps

2012-13 finish: 8-17-3; 6th place (West Conference; Northwest Division)

Currently: 14-4-6; 1st place (West Conference; Northwest Division)

Notes: MLS academies typically don’t stay down for long, especially ones with the developmental reputation of a program like the Vancouver Whitecaps. And so here we are. The Whitecaps U16s lost 17 of their 28 games last season, and their 57 goals allowed was third-worst in the entire conference. After finishing 26 points off the playoff pace, the ‘Caps have been the picture of resurgence this year. Vancouver leads a very good division - including the Sounders, Earthquakes, Crossfire Premier and De Anza Force - by four points through 24 games thanks to a conference-best 56 goals. Aymar Sigue’s emergence as a prime goalscoring threat - he has a team-leading 10 goals to this point - has been a key contributor.

Strikers FC

2012-13 finish: 6-16-6; 8th place (West Conference; Southwest Division)

Currently: 12-5-5; 3rd place (West Conference; Southwest Division)

Notes: The Southwest Division is a proverbial meat grinder at the U16 level. Chivas USA, Real Salt Lake-AZ, the LA Galaxy and Real So Cal are typically some of the most loaded youth teams in the country, so the bottleneck to the postseason through this league is particularly severe. That’s why the rise of Strikers FC this season is doubly impressive. Strikers were second-from-bottom in the Southwest Division last season with just 24 total points, but that’s swung violently in the other direction this season. Strikers will certainly make the playoffs as a wild card this season thanks in part to a salty defense and a robust attack that features Shinya Kadono (15 goals) and Robert Knights (11 goals).

Kendall SC

2012-13 finish: 9-13-3; 8th place (East Conference; Southeast Division)

Currently: 19-5-5; 2nd place (East Conference; Southeast Division)

Notes: Kendall wasn’t terrible last year, but an eighth-place finish that left them well out of the playoff discussion forced the club in an offseason hunt for answers. Based on this season’s returns, it would appear they’ve found a few. Kendall had surpassed last season’s win total by the end of January, and they’ve climbed toward the top of the divisional table this season to duke it out with Weston FC for the league title down the stretch. A well-rounded attack (59 total goals) has characterized this side, which features five players who’ve scored between six and eight goals this season. The leader of that pack is Andree Costa, a versatile winger who can play on either side.