Team Chicago Academy-Santos winger Heather Handwork has been called into the U18 US National Team Camp in California December 14-21.

Congrats Heather and best of luck!

Team Chicago Academy-Santos winger Heather Handwork and right-back Talise Romain are headed to Boca Raton, FL to represent Region II ODP at the Inter-Regional event this Saturday through next Friday.

The Region II 1996 Team will train for a couple of days before taking on the 1996 Regional Teams from the other three United States Youth Soccer regions.

Congrats to Heather and Talise on this honor!!!

Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro winger Kerry Abello has been called into the U-14 National Team Camp again. Congrats Kerry!!!

U.S. under-14 girls national team head coach April Kater called up 36 players for the last of three training camps in 2013. The week-long event will begin Saturday at U.S. Soccer’s National Training Center in Carson, Calif.

The U-14s will hold two intra-squad scrimmages during camp.

U.S. U-14 Girls’ Roster:
GOALKEEPERS (4): Hilary Beall (West Coast FC; Laguna Beach, Calif.), Laurel Ivory (Sunrise, Surfside, Fla.), Alyssa Navarrete (SC De Sol; Chandler, Ariz.), Anna Smith (Crossfire; Issaquah, Wash.)
DEFENDERS (12): Kerry Abello (Team Chicago; Aurora, Ill.), Chloe Boice (So Cal Blues; Aliso Viejo, Calif.), Caitlin Cosme (Albertson Fury; New York, N.Y.), Samantha Fairweather (Eagles; Thousand Oaks, Calif.), Kaitlin Higgins (PDA; Andreas, Pa.), Jaelin Howell (Real Colorado; Windsor, Colo.), Alyssa Malonson (Challenge; Spring, Texas), Tara McKeown (Eagles; Newbury, Calif.), Karlie Paschall (Tennessee FC; Brentwood, Tenn.), Brooke Redington (South Bay Force; Manhattan Beach, Calif.), Emma Thomson (Sockers FC; Park Ridge, Ill.), Sydney Zandi (Penn Fusion; West Chester, Pa.)
MIDFIELDERS (11): Madison Alexander (Alliance FC; Dorr, Mich.), Kailee Coonan (Penn Fusion; West Chester, Pa.), Alexa Ferreira (PDA; Warren, N.J.), Chloe Frisch (San Diego Surf; Carlsbad, Calif.), Monet Kunz (THUSC; Beaverton, Ore.), Gabby Lawlor (SLSG; Fenton, Mo.), Samantha Neyman (Stars of Mass; North Andover, Mass.), Kiara Pickett (Eagles; Santa Barbara, Calif.), Brianna Pinto (CASL; Durham, N.C.), Ashley Sanchez (So Cal Blues; Monrovia, Calif.), Taryn Torres (Solar-Chelsea Soccer Club; Frisco, Texas)
FORWARDS (9): Kayla Cannon (WCFC; Cerritos, Calif.), Abby Grace Cooper (FC Dallas; Plano, Texas), Reagan Glisson (Tophat 17 Gold; Duluth, Ga.), Joanna Harber (Eastside FC; Bellevue, Wash.), Mary Johnston (Crossfire; Oak Harbor, Wash.), Ariana Owens (Lonestar; Hutto, Texas), Allison Schlegel (Colorado Storm; Parker, Colo.), Alexa Spaanstra (Michigan Hawks; Brighton, Mich.), Kelsey Turnbow (Crossfire; Liberty Lake, Wash.)

Team Chicago Academy-Santos beat FCX 4-1 in its final MRL Premier Division game. With the win Santos moved into first place with a 7-2-0 record and 21 points and 21 goals for and 10 against.

Santos is now faced with an agonizing wait on the result of the FC United-Academy SC game tomorrow night in Waukegan. An FC United win will see it leapfrog Santos and claim the title and the berth into the USYSA Regional Championships, but a tie or an Academy SC win will see Santos claim the MRL Premier Division title.

Santos got off to a great start against FCX on Saturday in very difficult windy and rainy conditions on a slick and fast turf field. Less than a minute into the game Talise Romain served a ball into the FCX penalty box, which Sara Stevens dummied into the path of Heather Handwork. Heather and an FCX defender combined to beat the on-rushing FCX keeper for the go-ahead goal.

Santos maintained an intense pressure on the FCX goal, and Hannah Rodgers hit the crossbar shortly after the goal. Several other good opportunities were squandered before Katie Ciesiulka got the game-winner after 20 minutes. She took a great pass from Hannah Rodgers in the midfield and drove towards the top of the 18 and hit a perfect, low shot to the foot of the far post. Santos continued to dominate and create chances, but instead FCX halved the Santos lead with 15 minutes left in the half on a quick counter-attack.

A 2-1 halftime lead for Santos was far from big enough based on the number of chances and dominance, so there was still work to be done in the second half. Santos quickly put the game out of reach, though, on two great individual efforts. Five minutes into the half center-back AJ Jakuszewski made a fantastic commando-raid up the right flank and drove a perfect low cross into the box for Heather Handwork to finish. And a few minutes later Hannah Rodgers received the ball from a Kelsey Pruett & Kristen Brots passing sequences and beat the FCX center-back on top of the 18 with two incredible moves before calmly slotting the ball past the keeper.

Santos had a number of big chances to extend the lead, but to no avail and the game ended 4-1. And so now Santos awaits its fate :-)

11 college programs representing 12 Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo players have earned spots in the NCAA Tournament which kicks off this weekend.

Jenna Romano’s Wake Forest University will take on Morehead State on Saturday.

Brooke Ksiazek’s Illinois State will take on Rachel Armand’s University of Louisville on Saturday.

Ashley Handwork’s Marquette University will take on Western Michigan University on Friday night.

Bryce Banuelos’ West Virginia University will take on Rutgers on Saturday.

Zoey Goralski’s UCLA will take on San Diego State University on Friday night.

Megan Geldernick’s Ohio State University will take on Zoe Swift’s University of Kentucky on Friday night.

Dani Pitaro’s DePaul University will take on Indiana University on Saturday night.

Hope D’Addario & Meegan Johnston’s University of Illinois will take on Washington State University on Saturday afternoon.

Darby Moran’s University of Wisconsin-Parkside will take on Michigan Technological University on Friday night.

Congrats and the best of luck to all the players!