The final week of the Development Academy season only offers five fixtures (ten games total) on the docket. And for the vast majority of those games, the results are meaningless for the postseason, as teams have already clinched a spot or been relegated to the Showcase.

However, that is not true for the lone clash in the East Conference from the weekend, as both the U18 and U16 games have something on the line even at this stage of the season.

East Conference:

Revolution Empire travels to BW Gottschee Academy on Saturday for the last game of the season in the Academy, and what a fixture it is shaping up to be. BW Gottschee U18 is in need of a win to jump into the 12th spot in the Wildcard standings, which would knock Southern California club Strikers FC out of the postseason and into the Showcase unless Scott Gallagher Missouri also lost over the weekend, but more on that later.

Gottschee beat Revolution Empire 3-0 in April in the first meeting of the season between the clubs. Charles Naeem had two goals and leading scorer Yankuba Janneh added the other. Since then, Revolution Empire has struggled with only three wins from nine games, but it is difficult to count out a team with U.S. U18 Men’s National Team standout Jordan Allen. Gottschee U18 is dreaming of a postseason berth, but will Revolution Empire be the ones celebrating on Saturday?

In the U16 clash, the roles are reversed as Revolution Empire needs to secure three points for a postseason berth and BW Gottschee is only playing for pride. The task might be even more difficult for Revolution Empire, as it dropped the first meeting this season 2-0. Jeremy Fedus and Joseph Llamuca scored the goals in the first meeting.

Central Conference

In the other games of the week, Solar Chelsea SC takes on Dallas Texans on Thursday in a nighttime fixture at SMU. Both clubs are in the postseason in the U18 age group with only seeding on the line in the game. Solar needs at least a draw to hold onto the second spot in the division. Dallas Texans would move from the Wildcard pool to the automatic berths with a win.

Solar U16 is the only one playing for anything in the younger age, as the Chelsea affiliate could move into sixth in the playoff pool with a win by more than two goals. Solar won the first meeting this season 2-1 thanks to a pair of goals from Nathanael Rennhack. Luis Macias scored the lone goal for Dallas Texans in the loss.

A pair of fixtures between the Scott Gallagher clubs and the Minnesota academies round out the action from the Central Conference in the final weekend of the regular season.

Scott Gallagher Missouri U18 against Shattuck-Saint Mary’s Soccer Academy is the game to watch. Scott Gallagher needs to pull out a draw to keep its spot in the playoffs – a loss would keep the dream alive assuming BW Gottschee does not pull full points from its fixture on Saturday. SSM could move into the top four in the national standings with a win and could drop to eighth with a loss, so there is something on the line for both teams. SSM won the meeting last month 3-1 thanks to goals from Michael Bajza, Lesley Nchanji, and Eddosa Muhammed. Tommy Barlow scored for Scott Gallagher.

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