It’s yet another big weekend down for Development Academy, particularly in the Atlantic Division and North Carolina.

Both CASL Chelsea and Charlotte Soccer Academy remain within range of the Virginia Rush and McLean Youth Soccer (U16 and U18 respectively) as the hunt for the division crown continues.

And both sides are set to square off this weekend needing wins to climb the ladder.

“We have a lot of respect for Charlotte as a club, and these are always games that usually mean a lot within the standings,” CASL Academy coach John Bradford told TopDrawerSoccer.com. “For the games this weekend, it’s just one more step for us to try and continue to do better in the division and to compete.”

It wasn’t too long ago that the two sides met at the end of April, with Charlotte’s U18s winning 3-0, and the U16s canceling each other out by a 1-1 score line.

Of the two sides, CASL is in healthier shape for the wild card chase, while Charlotte is more dependent on securing a spot in the Dev. Academy via a top two finish in the division.

Regardless of that, it’s sure to be another entertaining clash between the two sides that now are extremely familiar with each other.

“A lot of the boys know each other, growing up playing against each other and have played with each other in various different kinds of teams,” Bradford said. “There’s familiarity that breeds into more competitiveness. We always want to do well in every game, but the in-state games always mean a lot, not only for pride amongst the state but as well as the standings each year.”

West Conference

Two Los Angeles clubs are heading to the Pacific Northwest for a chance to boost their out of conference record. The LA Galaxy and Chivas USA are both traveling up to take on Crossfire Premier and Seattle Sounders.

Much is at stake for Chivas USA’s U16s, in need of an improved points per game average in order to contend for a spot in the playoffs via the Wild Card. Seattle’s U18 team is in the same boat, trailing the De Anza Force and Vancouver Whitecaps in the Northwest Division, and boosting its point total out of conference would be a huge boost.

Chivas Academy coach Mike Munoz expects a challenging trip.

“It’s always fun to head up to the Northwest to play against two very difficult opponents,” he told TopDrawerSoccer.com. “Both present different challenges for different reasons – the one thing you can always expect playing Seattle teams is big, strong athletic [players], very difficult to play against, aggressive, very good on set pieces…It’s a different challenge than what we see in the SoCal Division, but it’s something that our players have to learn how to play against.”

The Galaxy’s U18 side, featuring talented players like Jaime Villareal, Justin Dhillon and Sebastian Velasquez, and fresh off a recent trip to Spain, is going to provide a stiff test for Seattle and Crossfire.

Pateadores, which has slim hopes of chasing down Chivas, LA Galaxy or Real Salt Lake-AZ in the SoCal U18 Division, hosts the San Diego Surf this weekend.

East Conference 

Out east, the Division races are just starting to heat up with a packed schedule in May. D.C. United is set to welcome a pair of Pennsylvania clubs with PA Classics and FC Delco visiting the Washington metro area. Brett Campbell poses one of the biggest threats to United’s defense for the Delco U18s.

Both PA clubs are also set to visit the Baltimore Bays during their trip south, with the Delco-Bays matchup representing the top two teams in the Mid-Atlantic Division at this point. Yaw Amankwa, Romilio Hernandez and Michael Gamble represent three of Baltimore’s top U18 players who all need to come up big this weekend.

For some clubs, it’s still very early in the race for the Liberty Division crown. The top two teams of the U18 division are set to clash as Albertson takes on FC Westchester. Albertson’s leading scorer Jake Freeman continues to heat up, looking to build on a three goal performance in two games last weekend.

The New York Red Bulls, which has only played one division game thus far, get a chance to climb the standings with a pair of games, hosting Met Oval and the NY Cosmos Academy.

Central Conference

A pair of MLS Academy sides is traveling to St. Louis for a quartet of important games in the Frontier Division.

St. Louis Scott Gallagher welcomes both the Colorado Rapids and Sporting KC to town. So far for the U16s, Scott Gallagher’s Missouri team is leading the Division thanks to the offensive contributions of Austin Panchot, Mark Segbers and Tommy Barlow as they play Sporting KC.

At the U18 age level, Colorado’s pair of Dillon Serna and Shane O’Neil look to close the gap on Shattuck St. Mary’s Academy when they play Metro and Missouri during their trip.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Fire U18s can continue to hold fast at the top of the Great Lakes Division when they take on cross-town rivals Chicago Magic. Sockers FC, the team closest in the standings to the Fire, travel to Ohio and play Internationals and Crew Soccer Academy.

South Conference 

The all-important intra-Florida matches continue this weekend, with Kendall SC in need of a win against Weston FC to catch South Carolina United in the U18 standings. IMG also travel and take on Clearwater Chargers, two teams that must start winning now in order to have any shot at the playoffs.