East Conference

Team of the Week: Cosmos Academy East

While New York Red Bulls won the U18 meeting of the city rivals, Cosmos Academy East U16’s got their revenge, winning 4-0 in the matchup of the younger teams. Yankuba Janneh scored twice while Fabrizio Petralia and Dakota Barnathan added the other goals.

The win pulled second-placed Cosmos within three points of FC Westchester in first place. Unbeaten and un-scored upon in three games, Westchester rolled over Met Oval by a 5-0 margin. On Sunday, New Jersey club PDA secured a vital 1-0 win over Met Oval on a 71st minute goal from Cameron Kirdzik.

In the hotly contested Mid-Atlantic Division, Baltimore Bays Chelsea secured two huge wins over the weekend to take over first place. Late goals from James O’Connor and Tanner Vosvick canceled out a Collin Martin goal for DC United to seal a 2-1 win for Baltimore. On Sunday, the Bays took on Potomac, winning by the same 2-1 scoreline. This time it was Christian Porras scoring both goals for Baltimore. In the other huge division game, FC Delco came from behind to win 2-1 against Pennsylvania rivals PA Classics. Connor Maloney gave Classics an early lead, but goals from Michael Desiderio and Brett Campbell earned three points for FC Delco.

South Conference

Team of the week: Charlotte Soccer Academy

Charlotte Soccer Academy continued their demolition of the Atlantic Division, defeating North Meck 2-1 to extend their unbeaten run to an amazing 15 games. CSA sealed the victory through Roland Minogue and Jared Odenbeck goals while Chukwuka Anyafo scored in a losing effort for North Meck. With four games left in the division schedule, CSA boasts an incredible 9-0-1 divisional record.

Their closest rival, CASL Chelsea FC drew 2-2 with North Carolina Fusion in a game that saw both teams lead. Fusion scored the first goal through a 5th minute Adam Storm strike while Eric O’Brien and Tyler Carroll goals turned things in the favor of CASL before halftime. Samuel McBride ensured the teams would share the points with his 77th minute strike. Both teams remain in prime position for a wild card playoff spot.

Down south, IMG Academy secured a 4-1 away win over Clearwater Chargers. A first minute goal from Patrick Shelton put Clearwater ahead, but from there it was all IMG. Two first half goals from Simon Ranauro and tallies from Gabriel Nunez and Backie Goodman ensured the win for IMG to pull them closer to a playoff spot.

Midwest Conference

Team of the week: Houston Dynamo

The Houston Dynamo U16’s have something going down in Texas, leading the Texas Division with just a few games left to play. The Dynamo shot to the top of the standings this week with two wins over teams coming from the Dallas area. The first game on Saturday against Andromeda ended 5-0 to Houston with goals from Alan Arellano, Christian Manisck, Branco Ramirez and two from Lorenzo Salazar. In the Sunday game, Houston scored a 2-1 victory over arch-rival FC Dallas. Bobby Edet gave FCD the lead in the first half, but a Manuel Chavez goal tied things before halftime while Jorge Andrade won it for Houston in the 81st minute.

There’s a real battle brewing right below the Dynamo as Texas Rush earned their most important victory of the season in a 3-2 win over Solar Chelsea that pulls them even with Solar in second place. It was the Kekuta Manneh show as the Gambian scored a hat trick to lift his Texas Rush side to victory while Samuel Hayward and Eric Dinka scored for Solar.

In the Frontier Division, Sporting Kansas City keeps a tenuous hold on first place after splitting a pair of games against the Minnesota teams. SKC started the weekend strong with a 3-0 thumping of Minnesota Thunder behind goals from Eric DeJulio, Nate Opperman and Steven Enna. On Sunday, however, Shattuck Saint-Mary’s walked away with three points on a 1-0 win from a goal by Daniel Nevarez in the 68th minute.

In St. Louis, Scott Gallagher Missouri beat sister team Scott Gallagher Metro 3-0 with two goals from Ryan Merrifield and one from Nick Jones. Colorado Rapids took over third place in the division with a nice weekend. On Friday night, the Rapids defeated Shattuck-Saint Mary’s 3-1 on goals from Julio Chavez, Oscar Montes and Issac Martinez while Sunday would see Colorado draw Minnesota Thunder 2-2.

In the Great Lakes Division there was a Sunday afternoon matchup between two MLS Academies as Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew Academy faced off. It was the Ohio side that would go home happy with a 30th minute Alexander Ranalli strike deciding things. Another Chicago team, Chicago Magic would get the better of Columbus Crew on Saturday winning a 1-0 game on a Jonathan Hernandez goal. Second-placed Derby County Wolves defeated rivals Vardar 1-0 Sunday afternoon behind a Jack Brown 43rd minute goal.

West Conference

Team of the week: San Jose Earthquakes

The San Jose Earthquakes, sitting in fourth place in the Northwest Division, put leaders Seattle Sounders on notice, winning both of their games this weekend. On Saturday afternoon, the ‘Quakes beat De Anza Force 4-1 behind goals from William Villa, Jonathan Monterroso, Cristian Cruz and Jesus Garcia while Sunday saw San Jose beat Santa Cruz Breakers 2-1 on first half goals from Villa and Travis Pillon.

Elsewhere, Cal Odyssey and Santa Cruz played to a 1-1 draw with goals from Giovani Godoy and Jordan Patterson while Odyssey would fall to De Anza Force 3-0 on Sunday.

In the SoCal Division, Real So Cal remains at the top of the standings after beating Chivas USA 1-0 this past weekend on a 73rd minute goal from Luis Perez Jr. Arsenal FC shot up to second place after winning both of their games. Arsenal came from behind on Thursday night to drop Cosmos Academy West 2-1. Martin Arrieta gave Cosmos a first half lead but goals from Miguel Gonzalez and Edwin Diaz turned things around. On Saturday, Arsenal defeated Nomads SC 2-1 on goals from Jaime Enriquez and Jose Garcia.

Real Salt Lake had an up and down weekend losing 3-1 to Irvine Strikers on Saturday before rebounding with an emphatic 5-0 defeat of San Diego Surf on Sunday behind a hat trick from Danny Gavin.