Some warm weather games were on tap this weekend in the USSF Development Academy, and Don Ebert’s Irvine Strikers U18 team reversed its recent fortunes with a pair of victories at home.

The squad beat Crossfire Premier 2-1 on Saturday and Washington Premier 2-0 on Sunday at Concordia University.

After a scoreless 1st half in Saturday’s match, Strikers’ Adrian Padilla scored with a 35-yard screamer from the left wing. Crossfire got an equalizer from Zachary Sampson, but Alec Sundly scored a late winner on a through ball from Kovi Konowiecki.

Sunday saw another scoreless 1st half before Kevin Huezo switched the point of attack to find Cory Wolfrom making a run from left back. Wolfrom brought the ball down and hit a 1st-time strike past the keeper to make it 1-0. Jose Tamayo made it 2-0 with a shot from 20 yards out. Sam Chappell kept the clean sheet for Strikers.

Strikers’ defender Joseph Sofia Jr. said a return to health for the squad, including his own recovery from a broken collarbone, has helped the squad be more competitive after a rough 0-4-0 start in the Western Conference’s SoCal Division. He added that a 4th-place slot in Overall Record and a potential wild card berth is not out of reach with the majority of the season’s matches still to be played.

“We had a lot of team chemistry and we worked hard as a team this weekend,” Sofia said. “We’re going to take it game-by-game and keep improving the way we’re playing. We have some tough games coming up but we can hold our own.”

Midfielder Kovi Konowiecki was also optimistic about the team’s fortunes.

“This weekend is the best we’ve played in a long time,” he said. “We were the better team in the matches this weekend and we’re using a new formation (4-3-2-1). We haven’t really thought about it (qualifying) because we hadn’t been winning, but the way we’re playing, especially at home, we could do it.”

Other weekend Academy League scores – courtesy of US Soccer:

U16

Saturday
Greensboro Youth Soccer 3, AFC Lightning 2
North Meck 3, Bridge FA 1
South Charlotte 0, Virginia Rush 0
Arsenal 2, Real So Cal 1
LAFC Chelsea 0, Nomads 0
CASL Chelsea 1, Concorde Fire 0
Washington Premier 3, Pateadores 1
Crossfire Premier 3, Irvine Strikers 1

Sunday
Greensboro 3, Concorde Fire 2
CASL 1, AFC Lightning 0
South Charlotte 3, Bridge FA 1
North Meck 3, Virginia Rush 0
Washington Premier 2, Irvine Strikers 0


U18

Saturday
Irvine Strikers 2, Crossfire Premier 1
Pateadores 2, Washington Premier 0
CASL Chelsea 1, Concorde Fire 0
LAFC Chelsea 4, Nomads 3
Arsenal 4, Real So Cal 1
AFC Lightning 1, Greensboro Youth Soccer 1
North Meck 3, Bridge FA 3
Virginia Rush 2, South Charlotte 0

Sunday
Irvine Strikers 2, Washington Premier 0
Virginia Rush 3, North Meck 0
South Charlotte 4, Bridge FA 1
CASL 3, AFC Lightning 2