Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro continued its strong start to the season by winning its round-robin qualifying group for the IYSA State Cup with an impressive 14-0 goal difference, and then by securing two wins in the MRL Premier I Division to keep a perfect record.

On Wednesday Cruzeiro defeated Crystal Lake 2-0 to secure a berth into the IYSA State Cup semi-final. Jamie Goralski opened the scoring from a Jordan King corner-kick and Alyssa Bombacino got the insurance goal from Chloe Nowka. Cruzeiro will face Libertyville 1974 in the semi-final on Saturday 10/18 at 8am at the South Barrington Turf Fields for a spot in the Sunday 10/19 final.

Over the weekend Cruzeiro traveled to Overland Park, KS for two MRL Premier I Division games. In Saturday’s game Cruzeiro defeated Lou Fusz (MO) 4-1. Alyssa Bombacino tied the game at 1-1 with 10 minutes left in the 1st half on a great move and strike after receiving the ball in the box from Madison Zaleski and Sarah Avery. In a 10-minute span in the middle of the 2nd half Cruzeiro ran away with it. Alyssa Bombacino got her second of the game from Kerry Abello for the eventual game-winner, and Kerry Abello then made it 3-1. Alyssa Bombacino found Jamie Goralski who turned her defender and played an inch-perfect diagonal through-ball into the full stride of Kerry Abello who slammed it home at the foot of the far post. Jamie Goralski got the final goal with a nice strike from distance assisted by Alyssa Bombacino.

Sunday’s game was a lot more intense against the league-leading Futura Pink Panthers, but Cruzeiro once again prevailed with a slim 1-0 victory. Halfway through the 2nd half Kennedy Metzger played a great diagonal through-ball into Francesca Marconi’s path, and Francesca delivered a great cross at the top of the 6-yard box. Jamie Goralski ran the defender and GK to the near post, so Kerry Abello could pick up the ball at the back post, beat her defender and delivered a strong cross which Alyssa Bombacino calmly finished off. The goal capped a great week for Alyssa, who had 4 goals and 1 assist on Sunday, followed by the 1 goal on Wednesday, and then 2 goals and 2 assists Saturday, and finally the game-winning goal again on Sunday for an 8-goal & 3-assist week. Bailee Witt and her defense also continued their stingy play thus far this season. They have now conceded 2 goals in 11 games.

Next up for Cruzeiro is a crucial MRL match-up with Grand Rapids Crew on Sunday morning in South Bend, IN.

Over the weekend both U9 boys teams, Fluminense and Brasil Boys, took their talents to Glen Ellyn for the Lakers Fall Classic, and they left Team Chicago’s mark on another city.
Both teams had similar paths starting with Friday night lights games against Lyons Township teams. Fluminense had a rough start against LTSC Premier White but settled down to finish them off 5-3. Brasil Boys flew out of the gates beating LTSC Premier Black 5-2 with far less anxiety. Saturday morning was tough to get up for, but both teams skated through the snow and sleet well. Brasil Boys got a preview of their future final opponent against Elmhurt’s TESC Select. It was mostly one way traffic ending 1-7 with the lone goal coming late in the game. Flu’s winter game was against the home team Glen Ellyn Lakers Green. Unindicitive of the game’s balance of power, the final score was only 3-2, but it taught the boys soccer’s vital lesson of why to finish your early chances.
Saturday afternoon’s weather conditions made for mud bowl games, but both teams adapted like they were at home. The Brasil Boys filled their score sheet beating TESC Premier Green 6-2, and Fluminense kept things too close again with a final score of only 3-2 over Wheaton Wings Black. These results set up a unique spectacle for Sunday’s finals.
Fluminense and Brasil Boys had rematches against LTSC White and TESC Select respectively. Unfortunately they couldn’t cheer for each other, because they were playing at the same time. On the bright side, they were playing on adjacent fields. So, like another day at the office, the boys warmed up and displayed their skills together turning heads along the way. Fluminense solidified their Friday night result winning 6-1 in convincing fashion. Brasil Boys played an even first half giving up a late goal to go in to the break down 0-1, but, unfortunately, they ran out of steam and finished down 0-4.
Sunday’s sunny conclusion was a huge club success. Both teams solidified the clubs’ reputation for skill and team building culminated by simultaneous celebrating finalists shown best by their post game group picture. So as Team Chicago stamped their style on yet another Chicago suburb, we like to thank and congratulate all the boys and families that helped make this possible. Well done Team Chicago!

Team Chicago Academy-Bahia continued its U14 MRL Premier II Division league play with two convincing wins in Muscatine, Iowa. In the opening match against Vision Soccer Academy (VSA) (IA) on Saturday afternoon Bahia came away with a 5-1 win. The game started with Bahia moving the ball very well resulting in a ball played into Emma Crosswait who switched the point of attack into Paige Miller who drove in and finished her chance.

The second goal was a miss-played cross by Shannon Tagler who found the keeper off the line and the ball slipped in behind her. Bahia continued to find opportunities and midway through the first half Natalie Massa squared a ball across the top of the box where Zaira Solis placed a perfect ball over the GK to go up 3-0.

Coming out in the second half, play continued to be played in the opponent’s half of the field. The fourth goal was a result of Sarah Davies collecting a ball in midfield and beating one player and pushing the ball past another defender before hitting a great ball into the upper right corner. The final goal was off of a well taken corner by Sarah Davies who found Erin McCarthy on the near post who headed the ball past the keeper.

On Sunday morning Bahia faced Omaha FC Elite (NE) and continued to dominate with a 4-0 victory. In the first twenty minutes of the game Bahia played some great soccer and created several opportunities to score but were denied by some good goal keeping. Finally, Emma Crosswait scored what would be the game winner on a ball played back from Natalie Massa where she placed it over the goal keeper to go up 1-0. The second goal came as a result of a ball that made its way in behind the defense and through a great effort by Jeff (Jennifer) Pochyly to get on the end of it, she played the ball back across the box onto a charging Molly Grant who buried her shot past the keeper. The second half had similar possession and resulted in two great finishes by Natalie Massa and Sophia Majher, respectively to finish out the game with a 4-0 victory.

Bahia will end the MRL season with a game versus North Shore United out of Wisconsin to determine the winners of the division on October 11th. A tie or a win will earn Bahia promotion to the Spring Premier I Division.

Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro U15 continued its IYSA State Cup round-robin play with another convincing win. Cruzeiro faced FC-1 Elite on Sunday night and came away with a 5-0 victory.

Alyssa Bombacino led the way with 4 goals in the opening 20 minutes and an assist on the 5th and final goal in the 2nd half. GK Bailee Witt and her defense earned the 7th straight shutout.

Cruzeiro opened the scoring in the 8th minute when Jamie Goralski’s ball found Sarah Avery on the end-line, and she dribbled around a defender and squared it for Alyssa Bombacino to slot home. The 2nd goal came six minutes later when Kerry Abello found Jamie Goralski on the left wing, and she dribbled past 2 defenders and delivered a perfect, driven cross into Alyssa’s run in front of the goal. Two minutes later Jamie Goralski and Alyssa Bombacino linked up again in a carbon-copy of the second goal. And to close out the 1st half scoring Kerry Abello’s throw-in found Alyssa Bombacino on the edge of the 18-yard box where she turned her defender and walked in to calmly slot the ball home.

With 8 minutes left in the game Alyssa Bombacino played a ball into forward Madison Zaleski’s feet, and Madison made a great lay-off pass to Francesca Marconi who took a decisive touch inside and blew past her defender to score the 5th and final goal of the game.

With the win Cruzeiro just needs a tie in tonight’s 7:30pm home game against Crystal Lake to win its group, and advance to the IYSA State Cup Semi-final for the third year running.

Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro U15 opened its IYSA State Cup championship defense with an impressive 7-0 win over Rockford Raptors.

The game was a re-match of their Spring U14 IYSA State Cup Round-Robin contest, which ended with a tight 2-0 win for Cruzeiro, but this time around Cruzeiro quickly took care of business jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first six minutes of play. Kerry Abello opened the show when she got on the end of Riley O’Brien’s cross from a great Sarah Avery run up the right flank. Less than a minute later Jamie Goralski found Kerry Abello on the left-wing and she played a perfect ball into Alyssa Bombacino’s run down the middle. Alyssa calmly found the foot of the far post. And two minutes later Alyssa got her second of the game when she met at perfect Jamie Goralski cross at the near post and flicked it over the GK.

The 2nd half started much like the 1st as Cruzeiro grabbed a couple of quick goals. Kerry Abello played a perfect ball over the top into Emma Rydholm’s overlapping run, and Emma whipped in a cross that Riley O’Brien met at the back post. Less than a minute later GK Bailee Witt drove a great 50 yard ball into Riley O’Brien’s run down the right flank, and she squared it to Jamie Goralski who took a perfect first touch and then slotted it home for the 5-0 lead.

Jordan King made it 6-0 after a short corner, and Kerry Abello made it 7-0 final after a mazy run and driven shot to the far post. Bailee Witt got the shutout in goal. Up next for Cruzeiro is its 2nd State Cup round-robin game on Sunday night against FC-1 Elite.