OXFORD, Ohio – The last day of play finally brought the adidas Men’s Blue Chip Showcase some nice weather as the temperature nearly made it to 60 degrees and there was rarely a cloud in the sky.  The grass fields at Oxford Park were in amazingly good shape considering the amount of games that had been played on them last weekend as well as this weekend. Here is the wrap-up from some of the action on the last day of games:

U16

The Annandale United Spartans from Virginia finished off their road weekend with a match against hometown team Cincinnatti United Cup Crew Jrs Gold. Cup Crew Jrs Gold got on the score sheet first as midfielder Mohamed Elmardi finished a ball that was bouncing around inside the six. On the defensive end Cup Crew Jrs Gold were anchored by their tall center back Will Cohen who proved his ability to win balls in the air.

Annandale United struggled to find many scoring opportunities, but they were able to put away the equalizer. Spartans winger Lucas Farmer flicked a ball on from the midfield and forward Conor MacMurdy took care of the rest, finishing the breakaway with ease.  The match ended in a 1-1 tie.

Another Ohio South team was also in action on Sunday as the OP Eagles Green took on TNT Dynamite from Michigan in an MRL showdown. The OP Eagles would have their hands full as TNT Dynamite was looking for their first win of the weekend. TNT Dynamite was on the attack from the first whistle and pushed the pace of play very high, putting the OP Eagles on their back heels. The first goal of the match came when TNT Dynamite’s Travon Rogers was able to get around the outside back and whip a ball into the box. There was a scrum in front of the keeper and the ball ended up in the back of the net.

The OP Eagles were lead by holding midfielder Eric Hutton who showed his ability to get involved in the attack while also being an excellent defensive presence. Despite Hutton’s best efforts, OP Eagles was unable to keep the TNT Dynamite attack at bay and went on to drop the match by a score of 2-0.

U17

One of the feature matchups in the U17 age group was a physical match between Pennsylvania’s Beadling SC and the hosts, King Hammers Academy.  Beadling SC came out with impressive speed led by their midfielder Joel Hart.  Hart displayed brilliant speed on the ball and also challenged for everything in the air.  Kings Hammer Academy goalkeeper Conner Spivey was up to the task though and put together a solid performance against the Beadling offense.  In the end Beadling was unable to play as technical as they wanted too and gave away the ball too many times.  Kings Hammer Academy punished Beadling for the sloppy play and won the game by a score of 2-0.

Despite losing two players to injuries and one player to a red card, FC Futura still looked to challenge Cincinnatti United CUP Crew Jrs Gold in a MRL matchup.  The CUP Crew Jrs. Gold are currently the number one team in the Ohio South region and proved their ranking against a speedy FC Futura team.  Cup Crew Jrs. Gold seemed on the defensive for the first 20 minutes before they turned up the pressure and started putting FC Futura on their heels.  Impressive performances by defender Caleb Griffith and midfielder Austin Harrell lead Cup Crew Jrs. Gold to an impressive 3-0 win.

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