Team Chicago Academy-Internacional U18 finished its final season with a trip to the 3rd place game in the Premier Division of the prestigious Disney College Showcase. Unfortunately, the final game ended in a 1-1 tie against Brams (Canada) who emerged victorious in the ensuing penalty-kick shootout.

Internacional went 2-1-0 in group play, by beating West Pines (FL) and Tophat SC (GA) by identical 3-0 scorelines and losing 3-2 to Ponte Vedra Storm (FL), to qualify for the 3rd place game.

The Disney event marked the end to the Internacional girls’ Team Chicago careers. In its final season Internacional finished as runners-up in the MRL Premier II Division and with a combined Fall record of 17-7-2 and 84 goals for and 45 goals against.

We thank all the girls for their hard work, dedication, successes, and positive energy over the years. They have represented Team Chicago with such class, integrity, and quality. We will miss them, but we are certain that they will continue to do great things on the soccer field in both their final H.S. soccer seasons and their college careers.

Finally, a very special thank you goes out to team manager Lynda Sidwell and team treasurer Janet LaRocque who have dedicated countless hours over the past 6 years to help assure that they Internacional players had the best possible experience.

Team Chicago Academy-Brasilia claimed the Premier Division of the prestigious Disney College Showcase with a convincing 5-0 victory over Aztec Soccer Kodiat from Massachusetts in the final. Maggie Roe got a natural hat-trick after Maddy Lambert had gotten the eventual game-winner. Jasmine Ruiz closed out the scoring and Madison Lockard got the shutout in goal.

The team went 3-0-1 with a goal-difference of 9-1. Great defensive play all week by Nicole Mondi, Abby Grzetic, MaKenna Schoolman, Jade Eriksen-Russo, Lupe Metzger, Madison Lockard and Callie Vitro. While Maddy Lambert, Holly Collingbourne, Jenna Lundgren, and Veda Tappin controlled the midfield, and Jasmine Ruiz, Maggie Roe, and Rachel White caused constant havoc for the opposing defenses.

The Disney title capped a great fall season for Brasilia and Head Coach Matt Chura. The team also were runners-up in the MRL Premier I Division and finished with an impressive 15-4-6 record and 53 goals for and 32 goals against.

Team Chicago’s 12th Annual MLK Day College Showcase was a huge success with more than 80 players displaying their talents in front of 70 college coaches. The coaches represented schools at all levels of the college game (NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, and community colleges).

Division I was well-represented by University of Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue, DePaul, UIC, Northern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Loyola University, IPFW, Valparaiso, . And National Champion Grand Valley State University led the list of Division II schools in attendance.

We want to thank all the Team Chicago parents and coaches who volunteered their time to help make the event a huge success. A special thank you goes out to Jamie Boe who once again did a fantastic job organizing the event.

Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro standouts Alyssa Bombacino, Bailee Witt, Jamie Goralski, and Kerry Abello all excelled for their Region II ODP Teams at the 2014 Boca Inter-Regional event over Thanksgiving week.

Kerry Abello (a true 1999) played up on the 1998 Region II team and was selected to the Tournament All-Star Team.

Alyssa, Bailee, and Jamie all played critical roles in the Region II 2000 team’s successful title run. Alyssa got the game-winning goal in the 1-0 win over Region III, and Bailee and Jamie were part of a stingy defense that only allowed one goal in three games.

Congrats girls.

Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro tri-captain Kerry Abello has been named a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Youth All-American. The award is the most prestigious award for a youth soccer player in the U.S. Here is a link to the full All-America team http://www.nscaa.com/news/2014/11/2014-youth-all-america-teams

Congrats Kerry.