Team Chicago Academy-Santos continued its U13 MRL First Division league play on Saturday afternoon in St. Louis. Santos came away with a 1-0 win against Lou Fusz to leapfrog into first place in the standings..

Most of the play in the first half was played in the middle third of the field with neither team creating many chances. Grace Barz had successive trips where she was able to get in behind the Lou Fusz defense and unfortunately her deliveries into the box didn’t result in a goal. The best chance in the first half came when Sophia Majher beat two players and was in on goal only to be denied by the goal keeper.

The second half saw Santos maintaining possession deeper in the opponent’s end and the chances started to flow. Amy Flores had a fantastic run at goal where she beat three players and was able to drive to the end line before serving a ball back to Sophia Majher for a one time finish that somehow was ruled off-side. Although disappointed, Santos continued to outwork its opponent and it paid off when Brooke Lipscomb won a ball in the middle third of the field and found Amy Flores who beat her mark and then threaded a great ball behind the Lou Fusz defense. Sophia Majher timed her run to stay on-side and then drove to goal. After getting the goal keeper to commit to the near post she slotted the ball across the goal to Darby Wade who finished her chance first time for the only goal of the game.

A spirited defensive performance lead by Tamara Hernandez, Sophia Molina, Sam Mollenhauer, Yanna Papoutsis, and Nikki Coryell proved to be the difference in the second half and secured the result.

The win sets up a huge final game against Galaxy on Saturday 5/30 at 3pm at Gentile Field with the winner claiming the MRL First Division title and promotion to the Premier Division II for the Fall.

Last Sunday Team Chicago Academy-Olimpico beat FC United 2-0 to advance to the round-robin stage of the IYSA U14 Boys State Cup.

It was a hard fought battle played in 30 mph winds. Olimpico battled the wind in the first half, and wanted to make it to half time at worst with a 0-0 score. Olimpico held it scoreless through great defensive play by Alex Bass, Danny Fritz, Abraham Antar, and Reilly Corken on the back line.

Olimpico entered the second half with the wind advantage and began to attack at will. There were many quick transition attacks started by Holden Beinhauer and Liam Duffy in the central midfield. From there Bryan Torres found the ball and created chances for the other attackers. After ten minutes Bryan found Sergio Reyes for the first goal off a brilliant cross to put Olimpico up 1-0. Then Holden Beinhauer converted a few minutes later from another Torres cross to put Olimpico up 2-0.

The 2-0 score was enough to put Olimpico into the final sixteen group stage of State Cup. Nolan Lacyszinki kept the shut out in goal. Group stages for Olimpico will start next week against FC 1974.

Team Chicago Academy-Santos continued its U13 MRL First Division league play with two convincing wins over Strikers FC (WI) and Croatian Eagles (WI).

On Saturday afternoon Santos started off a little slow while getting used to the field conditions. As play continued Santos started dominating possession and midway through the first half took the lead on a play where Sophia Majher broke down the defense and fed Darby Wade, who after getting denied by the keeper on her first attempt on goal, continued and finished her rebound. From there, the goals started to pour in with Sophia Majher, Natalie Massa, Grace Barz, and Yanna Papoutsis all scoring to close out the half up 5-1. Three of the last four goals were unassisted, but he 5th goal came off a great run made by Tamara Hernandez, who beat her defender end line to serve a perfect ball back to Yanna Papoutsis who finished her chance first time.

The second half was similar to the first in terms of dominating possession and Santos added two more goals to close out the game 7-1. Both goals were well taken with Natalie Massa receiving a ball from Yanna Papoutsis in the middle third of the field, and then driving to goal before unleashing a great finish to the upper left corner from outside the box. The last goal was off a perfectly placed corner from Sophia Majher who found Nikki Coryell on a diving header.

On Sunday, Santos played Croatia Eagles in its second game of the weekend and came away with a 4-1 win. The first half saw Santos starting to build on ideas from the first game of the weekend and creating a number of chances from great build up play. Finally after several chances, Natalie Massa played a great ball into Sophia Majher who dribbled past two defenders and then past the keeper to slot the ball in the corner. Sophia added another goal shortly after when she followed up on a shot by Darby Wade that the keeper mishandled and very opportunistically poked the ball past the keeper. The Eagles fought hard to get one back to close out the half 2-1.

Coming out of the half, Santos continued to create opportunities and found the back of the net again off a great run by Brooke Lipscomb. Brooke beat her defender going toward the end-line and found Sophia Majher, who hit her shot first time. The goalkeeper made a diving save that pushed the ball into the path of Julia O’Dekirk, who finished first time. Santos closed out the scoring off a corner by Tamara Hernandez, which found Grace Barz whom chested the ball down to Darby Wade, hitting a great ball to the far side netting.

Great results for Santos and great effort by the entire team.

On Tuesday night Santos followed up with a great 1-0 win in IYSA State Cup against United Soccer Academy. In a tight game where Santos created the better chances, the game-winner was created by a great end-line run by Bella Espinoza who delivered a perfect near-post cross for Darby Wade to steer in.

Strong play by Nikki Coryell in goal and the defense of Sophia Molina, Tamara Hernandez, Yanna Papoutsis, and Sam Mollenhauer secured the shut-out and the 1-0 win.

Up next for Santos will be two MRL games May 1st & 2nd in St. Louis.

Team Chicago Academy-Internacional forward Quincy Kellett has accepted a scholarship offer to continue her soccer career at the University of Dayton. Quincy, who plays her prep soccer at Rosary H.S., will be part of coaching legend Mike Tucker’s 2015 freshman class at Dayton.

Dayton is a perennial powerhouse in the NCAA Division I Atlantic-10 conference. The Flyers won the 2014 A-10 championship and has won a total of 9 league championships.

All Team Chicago soccer players wearing their soccer jerseys will be admitted free to Waubonsie Valley vs Metea Valley girls high school soccer game on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 at 6:30PM.

The game will be played on the Waubonsie Valley soccer field which is just west of the football stadium on the Waubonsie Valley campus located at 2590 Ogden Ave, Aurora, IL 60504.
Normal tickets prices are $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for students.
Come out and support two of the best girls high school soccer programs in the state of Illinois.