Team Chicago Academy-America won the Illinois FC “Little Illini” Tournament last weekend in Champaign.

America went 3-0-1, outscoring their opponents 14-1. In the final game
of their round robin group, America needed a victory and a shutout to
secure the championship. The team stepped up with a 3-0 win to bring home the trophy. Nine different players contributed to the scoring column, while earning three clean sheets.

This is the 2nd tournament championship this fall for America. While in Champaign, the girls had a team outing watching the University of Illinois women’s soccer team defeat Wisconsin 3-2 in
a Big Ten match-up.

Team Chicago Academy-Bahia competed in the Nike Cup this past weekend hosted by Sockers FC in Schaumburg, IL. In group play Bahia finished with three wins outscoring their opponents by a margin of 10-0.

The playing conditions were something new for the team and took some getting used to playing on a turf field that was 58 × 105 yards. The difference between the first game and the final was much improved with each game bringing some moments of great soccer. The group play ended with a well balanced attack seeing 9 different players in the scoring column.

After winning the group play Bahia advanced to the final to play SC Waukesha from Wisconsin who are also in the MRL Premier Qualification division with Bahia. The championship game ended with a 3-0 win for Bahia. Going into half time the score was 0-0 with Bahia having more of the possession overall and each team having a couple of opportunities.

The second half continued in the same direction, but Bahia was able to get on scoreboard with one of the best goals of the season. Katie Murphy received a ball from Molly Grant who was on the right side of the box and played the ball to Katie who was about 30 yards from goal. The ball bounced up and Katie hit a full volley that was perfectly executed with great technique and buried the shot past the keeper just below the bar. This set the tone for the balance of the game and Bahia generated two more goals off of corners. Paige Miller sent in two quality corners that were met by Zaira Solis and Molly Grant, respectively to add to the scoring.

Congratulations to the entire team for not allowing a goal throughout the tournament.

Team Chicago Academy-Santos advanced to the IYSA U18 State Cup Semi-Final with a come-from-behind 2-1 win last night. With the win Santos finished with a perfect 9 points in the round-robin group stage and 23 goals for and 1 against.

In an intense, but not particularly well-played game, Strikers came out with far more energy and purpose, and took a deserved lead halfway through the first half. The game teetered back and forth for the rest of the half, but Strikers were able to take its 1-0 lead into the half.

It was a much more driven Santos team that showed up for the second half. 15 minutes in co-captain Kristen Brots leveled the game on a perfect shot from Heather Handwork’s assist. Only needing a tie to advance, Santos maintained control for the remainder of the game. With 9 minutes left Gianna Marconi poked the ball from a Strikers player into the path of Heather Handwork. Heather drove at the goal and unleashed an unstoppable shot from the top of the 18 to put the game out of reach.

Santos will now face Chicago-Inter Homer Glen, who upset FC United 2-1 last night to win its group, on Saturday 10/19 at 2:30pm at the South Barrington Turf Fields.

Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro opened its MRL Premier Division Qualification group play with a 3-game weekend in Minneapolis-St. Paul and emerged with 3 wins and the only perfect record thus far in the 8-team division.

Playing on turf in driving rain on Saturday morning against a very good Minneapolis United home team, the odds where definitely not in Cruzeiro’s favor. However, a spirited defensive performance coupled with some quality attacking moments, saw Cruzeiro come away with an important 1-0 win.

Halfway through the 2nd half Alyssa Bombacino found Jamie Goralski with a great pass in behind the left back. Jamie cut the ball back and played a perfect pass to Kerry Abello on the left flank who immediately beat the right back 1v1 and scored easily to secure the win.

In much better conditions on Saturday afternoon, Cruzeiro expertly dismissed an outmatched MK Tosa team 4-0. Two Kerry Abello goals within 10 minutes effectively sealed the deal for Cruzeiro. On the first goal Sarah Avery threaded a pass from the back-line into Jordan King who immediately found Kerry Abello on the left flank. Jamie Goralski pulled a defender wide, which allowed Kerry to split two defenders and walk it in for the eventual game-winner. On the second goal it was Sofia Papoutsis who found Jordan King from the back-line, and Jordan played an absolutely perfect through-ball into the path of Kerry Abello’s perfectly timed run, and she calmly walked it in for the insurance goal.

Cruzeiro took a 3-0 lead into the half when Kerry Abello drove at the left back and cut inside and beat the GK with a right-footed shot that skipped on the turf. Midway through the 2nd half Kerry Abello made it 4-0 final from a great Jordan King corner.

On a sunny but very brisk Sunday morning, Cruzeiro faced Waukesha SC from Wisconsin who had also won their two games on Saturday. It was a very tight game, but Cruzeiro had the better of the chances and came away with a 1-0 win on a Kerry Abello goal immediately off winning a dropped ball at the top of the Waukesha penalty box.

Overall it was a very strong performance by Cruzeiro especially defensively. The whole team defended with great might and shared in Bailee Witt and Anna Aubuchon’s three shutouts in goal. Up next for Cruzeiro are two MRL games in St. Louis this upcoming weekend. With just a single win in its last four games Cruzeiro will qualify for the Spring MRL Premier Division I.

Team Chicago Academy-Brasilia traveled to Overland Park, Kansas this past weekend for U15 MRL Premier competition knowing that one win would be enough to retain its Premier Division I status for the 2014 U16 season.

The opening game was against Futura Forte Premier who were the 2013 Spring MRL Premier champions. Brasilia came away with a 1-2 loss, but deserved a better result. Early on Futura had more possession, but as the game developed Brasilia found more of the ball and started to create dangerous opportunities.

Safia Hannin had the best chance after a great run with ball that ended with her beating the keeper low to the near post only to have the ball deflect off the post across the goal. Being opportunistic, Maggie Roe was there to tuck the ball away but the goal was ruled offside. Brasilia continued to apply pressure and a poor clearance by Futura found its way to Jasmine Ruiz who did a nice job to collect the ball and beat the keeper far post to go up 1-0.

Futura responded with two goals in a span of about 10 minutes to go up 2-1. With less than a minute to play Madison Lockard’s punt bounced over the last defender for Futura which created a break away on goal for Rachel White and Julia Hosler, but again it was ruled offside. Overall this was a very competitive game with glimpses of good things to come.

Sunday morning’s game was against Toro Galaticos out of Omaha, Nebraska who are the reigning State Cup Champs. The first goal turned out to be the game-winner and started with Safia Hannin driving the ball in from the right side that was played by both Maggie Roe and Rachel White before finding Makenna Schoolman who buried her shot past the keeper. Brasilia went into the half up 1-0 and controlling more of the half.

The second half started right where Brasilia left off with Jasmine Ruiz playing a nice through-ball to Maggie Roe who beat the last defender and the GK before finishing the play to go up 2-0 ten minutes into the half. The third goal came off a corner that was sent into the box by Jasmine Ruiz. Abby Severson met the ball first and flicked the ball onto Emmerson Fuller who settled the ball and calmly finished the play to make the final score 3-0.

Brasilia continued to create some great opportunities and with great ball movement. The best shot of the match came from Maddie Lambert who was on the right side of the box about 25yards from goal. Maddie made a great first touch, eluded her defender and fired her shot that just missed the upper 90, but was a great example of the type of opportunities Brasilia created.

Brasilia will now face NSA and Libertyville 1974 in the next round of MRL Premier Division games.