A mid-season break down of the USSF Developmental Academy year two standings reveals some tight races in the works, but everything still to play for in most divisions.

The 74 teams at both U16 and U18 age groups are broken into nine divisions. The top three teams in each division will qualify for the June playoffs to be held in Greensboro, NC. The remaining five berths come from the best five fourth-place finishers. While the records of the first 27 are taken just from divisional play, the wild card positions are determined by the best points per game total in OVERALL play.

So while there are a number of games to go, there are some pretty likely playoff qualifiers already determined. A quick rundown of the U18 races:


Central Conference

Frontier Division
Teams from Colorado, St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee still mostly have to begin divisional play, but Real Colorado, featuring Taylor Kemp, Zach Portillos and Alex Tarnoczi, are off to a fine 6-0-0 overall start, with Colorado Rush just behind at 4-1-0 and Chicago Magic at 3-1-1.

Great Lakes Division
Vardar, featuring stud midfielder Latif Alashe, leads in the early-going here. It will be interesting to see how Cleveland club CASA does with players from PSA. Michigan Wolves is a strong 6-1-0 overall and Carmel United, featuring an assortment of players from last year’s U16 National Champions, including Indiana-bound Harrison Petts, is 4-1-1 overall.

Texas Division
Notre Dame-bound Dillon Powers’ Andromeda SC squad is looking squad at 6-1-5 in the division and 9-1-5 overall. Dallas Texans are neck-and-neck with Andromeda, while Lonestar, FC Dallas, Solar SC and Texas SC are also in contention for playoff berths.

 

East Conference
Early going here for teams between New York and DC.

Northeast Division
Brian Pereira, Kadeem Dacres and the Met Oval squad are off to a strong start in this division of New York and New England teams. It’s still very early in divisional play.

South Conference
Leigh Cowlishaw’s Richmond Kickers are off to a 7-1-2 divisional start, with CASL Chelsea and Richmond Strikers close behind.

Southeast Division
IMG Academy and Clearwater Chargers lead the early going in this division of Florida, Georgia and Alabama clubs. Miami FC Kendall has a good overall record as well.


West Conference

Northwest Division
Kelyn Rowe and Crossfire Premier lead the way in the early going with Santa Cruz County Breakers and De Anza Force close behind.

SoCal Division
LAFC Chelsea, Real So Cal and Chivas USA are setting the early pace with the brunt of the divisional schedule left to play.