The U16 Division of the US Soccer Development Academy was back in action on April 9th and 10th with 37 games featuring an amazing 130 goals from around the country.

West Conference

Team of the weekend: San Diego Surf

It was a great weekend for the San Diego Surf U16 team winning both of their games to push up into the top three of the SoCal Division and solidify their spot as a wild card contender for the Development Academy playoffs.

In their biggest game of the season so far, Surf came from behind to beat division leaders Real SoCal 2-1. Midfielder Daniel Dannas opened the scoring for SoCal in the 20th minute but Leon Prikhodovskiy tied the game before halftime and Ryan Kretz won it in the 75th minute. They would come from behind again on Sunday against Cosmos Academy West winning 2-1 behind goals from Jared Hegardt and Parker Holland. Midfielder Rui Adachi, our #58 overall player for 2013, played both matches for Surf.

Cosmos Academy West wouldn’t go empty handed on the weekend, however, scoring a 3-0 victory over Pateadores on Saturday with goals from Martin Arrieta (#13 overall), Luis Garcia and Bryan Guzman. Northern Cal side De Anza Force defeated Irvine Strikers 2-0 on Saturday with goals from Joseph Bolous and Giancarlo Gonzales while Emilio Huerta, our #80 overall player of the 2013 class, played his part as a second half sub.

Central Conference

Team of the Weekend: Sporting Kansas City

In games littered with players from our 2013 Top 100 Players to Watch, Sporting Kansas City shutout both Colorado Rush and Real Colorado to remain undefeated in Frontier Division play. With both Seo-In Kim and David Leichty in the starting XI, SKC defeated a Colorado Rush team playing without #46 ranked Emmanuel Martinez, 2-0. Derek Schrick and Nate Opperman had the goals for KC in that win. On Sunday afternoon, Sporting beat Real Colorado 3-0 with two more goals from Derek Schrick and another from Cole Stevenson.

Elsewhere in the division, St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri would come away with six points from the weekend, beating Shattuck-Saint Mary’s 3-0 on goals from Zach Hollstrom, Nick Jones and Louis Berra while on Sunday afternoon they defeated the Minnesota Thunder Academy 2-1 with goals from Berra and Justin Bilyeu.

In the Great Lakes division, the impressive Vardar defense, which has allowed just 11 goals in 13 games, was on display this weekend shutting out both Chicago Fire and Chicago Magic on the way to 1-0 victories on Saturday and Sunday. Jeffery Adkins had both game winning goals for Vardar while the stout defense led by goalie Matthew Smolinksi kept both opponents off the board.

In one of the only other Great Lakes division games, the Columbus Crew Academy came back from two goals down to defeat Internationals 3-2. Quinn Miller scored the first two goals while Tommy Granot scored in the 79th minute to cap the comeback.

There was just one game in Texas, where Dallas Texans bounced back from last week’s loss to Solar by defeating Andromeda 3-0 with two goals from midfielder Jason Machado.

South Conference

Like their U18 teams, the south conference was mostly off this weekend with just a couple of games as IMG Academy downed Clearwater Chargers 3-0 behind goals from Gabriel Nunez, Eduardo Begona and Max Brashear while North Carolina Fusion defeated CASL Chelsea 1-0 with a goal from Adam Storm.

East Conference

Team of the weekend: New York Red Bulls

The New York Red Bulls jumped into the 12th and final wild card spot for the playoffs this summer with two big wins over the weekend. On Saturday, NYRB defeated Oakwood SC with a 12th minute goal from Ross Tetro while on Sunday the MLS youth side beat South Central Premier 3-0 behind a hat trick from Eric Lagg.

In one of the weekend’s marquis matchups, New England Revolution defeated DC United 3-2 in a seesaw affair. #1 overall rated player Diego Fagundez opened the scoring for New England in the 22nd minute but DC United stormed back with goals from Collin Martin and Ian Harkes. Willis Griffith would tally for the Revs right before the half to tie the game at 2 and Devin Devoy scored the winner in the 75th minute to give New England a crucial 3 points.

Baltimore Bays Chelsea solidified their 1st place position in the Mid-Atlantic Division with wins over Cosmos Academy East and Met Oval. David Amiranashvili and Yankuba Janneh would put the Cosmos ahead 2-0 at halftime, but second half goals from Alexander Ponvert, Jeremy DeGraffenreidt and Patrick Koscher would give the Bays the victory on Saturday.

Baltimore would again come from behind on Sunday as a first half Matthew Sherr goal saw Met Oval up 1-0 at the break. However, DeGraffenreidt would score again and goals from Jacori Hayes and Christopher Lievendag would complete the comeback.

Were you at any games this weekend? What did you see?