The South Charlotte Soccer Academy and North Meck SC U16 squads both took a pair of wins over opponents from Virginia this weekend to make the USSF Development Academy Southern Conference Atlantic Division a little more interesting.

South Charlotte defeated Richmond Strikers 2-0 on Saturday and Richmond Kickers 1-0 on Sunday, while Charlotte-area club North Meck beat Kickers Saturday and Strikers Sunday by identical 2-0 scores.

South Carolina club Bridge FA, Richmond Strikers and Richmond Kickers all have more overall points than South Charlotte and North Meck at this point, but each have played almost twice as many games as the two North Carolina clubs out of a 25-match regular season schedule. South Charlotte has 13 points from seven matches while North Meck are at 14 from eight. Only CASL Chelsea’s U16 squad, with a perfect 6-0-0 record thus far, in a stronger position in the Atlantic Division.

In divisional play, North Meck and South Charlotte are now each within a point of Bridge FA, but most of the divisional play is still to come.

This year’s Academy season will have the top three teams in each of nine divisions (division record only) qualify for the playoffs. Five additional wildcard teams will qualify based on points per game from their overall schedule. The 32 teams will then participate in a Playoffs weekend in Greensboro this June, with the eight teams from that event advancing to the League Finals in July.

Max Henry and Montrell Morgan recorded the shutouts in goal for North Meck against Kickers and Strikers respectively. North Meck Academy Director Craig Conger said neither had much to do, but added Henry made a big save at 1-0 against the Kickers.

Conger gave high marks to defensive midfielder Paul Egle on the weekend.

“He is a strong player in the middle who disrupts a lot of things,” Conger said. “He drives two hours from Asheville, NC and has become a key player for us.”

Conger also credited center back Danny Sassano with having a good pair of matches for North Meck, coached by Kevin O’Brien.

On the offensive end, U15 Boys National Team player Brandon Jordi scored a goal versus the Strikers and had an assist against the Kickers.

“He’s a wide midfielder and we give him a lot of freedom,” Conger said.

Vaughn Bandy scored a goal in each game, while Egle also scored against Kickers.

The matches were played on the campus of Davidson University, near Charlotte, N.C., in mid-50 degree weather. Conger said he hopes the team will gain confidence from the good performances.

“We’ve had two losses and two ties, and three out of those four we should have come away with wins,” he said. “There hasn’t been a game yet where we’ve played bad. We’re just trying to figure out a way to do better with finishing. We’re a pretty good attacking team but we have struggled in the forward third with scoring.”

North Meck and South Charlotte both travel next weekend to play at Southeast Division foes Atlanta Fire and Birmingham United.