Team Chicago Academy-Bahia traveled to Libertyville in the hopes of advancing to the IYSA State Cup Final Four weekend. The first half saw both teams struggling to deal with the field conditions but as the half progressed Bahia started creating chances. Paige Miller made a great run down the right side and served a ball to the back post where Jeff (Jennifer) Pochyly just missed getting on the end of it. Later in the half Sophia Majher’s dribbled two players, but her attempt on goal was denied when it hit the cross bar.

In the second half Libertyville would get on the score board first, but Bahia responded within minutes. Paige Miller took a direct kick and hit a great shot over the goal keeper to tie it 1-1. The last ten minutes were very intense with Bahia needing to win the game to advance. Unfortunately, with all their efforts they could not get the game winner. Congratulations to Bahia on playing some great soccer and finishing with 11 goals for and only 1 against. Great job girls!

Team Chicago is excited to announce the hiring of Herb Schuler for the 2014-15 season. Herb is a USSF B-licensed coach who comes to us from his current position as the Youth Development Coordinator at Chicago Fire Juniors West.

Herb played collegiately at Central Methodist University and had a stint as a player with the Illinois Piasa in the PASL Pro Division after college. Herb also served as an assistant coach at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (DI), Illinois Wesleyan (DIII), Concordia University Chicago (DIII), and William Woods University (NAIA).

In addition to serving as the Youth Development Coordinator at the Chicago Fire Juniors West, Herb has also served as an Elite Staff Coach at St. Louis Scott Gallagher Soccer Club one of the biggest and most successful clubs in the country.

Herb’s primary role will be coaching and overseeing the U12, U13, and U14 boys’ teams for the 2014-15 season. We are very excited about this development, and look forward to having Herb run tryouts for the boys next week.

Herb is married to Nikki Schuler who coaches the U10 Team Chicago-Huskies.

Team Chicago Academy-Bahia got off to a great start in the IYSA State Cup round-robin play with two consecutive shutouts. Bahia opened with Oswego Panthers last Friday at home with a convincing 8-0 win. In the 2nd minute Lauren Douglass played a ball over the top to Paige Miller who beat her defender to serve a ball into the run of Natalie Massa who calmly placed her shot past the GK for the eventual game-winner.

However, the second goal did not come as easily with Oswego employing an offside trap. Once Bahia started to figure how to beat the trap the floodgates opened. Sarah Davies followed up on a Molly Grant shot that the keeper deflected to dribble past the keeper to finish her chance. Goals were also scored by Paige Miller, Sophia Majher, and Jennifer Garcia. The balance of the goals came from Emma Crosswaite who recorded a hat-trick. All three of her goals were great finishes with multiple players involved in the build-up.

Bahia traveled to face Oak Brook in the second game of the, and came away with a 2-0 win against a defensive-minded side. Oak Brook consistently had all their players in their own half trying to make things difficult for Bahia. Although Bahia dominated possession they came up empty in the first half and the score was tied at 0-0.

The second half started where Bahia left off with domination in possession. The first goal started with a great run out of the back by Carolena Lund who then served a perfect ball forward. Carolena continued to support the attack and played a combination with Paige Miller with a perfect ball in behind the defense to spring her. Paige took care of the rest coming in from the left hand side and buried her shot past the keeper to the far post. The second goal was a clinical finish from Sophia Majher. The play started with Paige Miller beating her player down the left side and driving to the end line before she found Sophia at the top of the box. The ball sat up perfectly and Sophia took it in stride and hit the ball first time from the top of the box to the right-side netting.

Bahia will finish out the round-robin play at Libertyville FC 1974 tonight. A win will advance Bahia to the IYSA State Cup Semi-Final.

Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro continued its dominance in the MRL Premier I Division with a comprehensive 5-0 win over NSA Shooting Stars to take its record to a perfect 6-0-0 with 21 goals for and 2 against.

In the 9th minute Alyssa Bombacino found Jordan King who played an inch-perfect diagonal pass to Riley O’Brien who calmly walked around the GK for the eventual game-winner. 2 minutes later Kerry Abello beat the last defender and buried her shot at the foot of the far post after Jamie Goralski and Riley O’Brien had pulled the outside backs wide with their runs. And with 5 minutes left in the half Jamie Goralski beat 3 defenders inside the penalty box before she was tripped for a clear PK. Jordan King stepped up and put the PK away.

In the second half the Cruzeiro dominance was complete, but only two additional chances were taken for the final 5-0 scoreline. Alyssa Bombacino made it 4-0 when she ran onto Kerry Abello’s perfect cross inside the 6-yard box, and Jordan King found Kerry Abello with another inch-perfect diagonal pass for the final goal of the game.

Bailee Witt did not have much work to do in goal. However, she did come up with a great save on NSA’s only shot on goal to preserve her 4th shutout in 6 MRL games this Spring.

Next up for Cruzeiro are 3 IYSA State Cup Round-Robin games against Eclipse (Sunday), FC United (Wednesday), and Rockford Raptors (Saturday 5/24).

Team Chicago Academy-Palmeiras was looking to avenge an MRL loss against Lemont Raiders when the two teams faced off in their second round-robin game in IYSA State Cup last Wednesday.

Firing out of the gates, Palmeiras controlled the majority of the first half, but was very unlucky not to capitalize on any of its chances. Second half would prove to be very interesting as Palmeiras continued dominating and creating multiple scoring opportunities that were thwarted by the Raiders’ goalkeeper.

The breakthrough finally came with 12 minutes left in the game when Michael Vivo’s shot rebounded to Victor Cuevas, who found the back of the net to give Palmeiras a deserved 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, the lead wouldn’t hold as the Raiders found an equalizer off a set-piece. A truly heartbreaking result as Palmeiras dominated the game from start to finish and deserved the win.

Palmeiras will finish out the round-robin play against Galaxy on Sunday at 10am at the Naperville Polo Grounds. A win will advance Palmeiras to the IYSA State Cup Semi-Final.