Team Chicago Academy-Bahia opened its MRL campaign with a convincing 3-0 win over Racine United.

The first half started off going back and forth with each team trying to figure each other out, but as the game wore on Bahia dominated possession. Paige Miller created the first goal by cutting the ball sharply past her defender, and then drilled the ball into the corner past their goal keeper for the only goal of the half.

In the second half Bahia came out attacking and almost scored in the first few minutes off of a combination with Paige Miller and Lauren Douglass. Lauren made a great overlapping run and continued driving to the end line before serving a ball that escaped everyone.

Bahia’s second goal of the game was created by a nice combination between Jennifer Garcia and Sophia Majher. The play started with good build up in the midfield through Natalie Massa who found Jennifer isolated on the left side. Jennifer beat her player off the dribble and served in a nice ball to Sophia who calmly placed her shot in the corner. The final goal was credited as an own goal but was created through the pressure that Bahia applied.

Bahia will now travel to Indianapolis this Saturday for one MRL game vs. FC Pride, and then play two non-league friendly matches against some great Midwest teams.

Team Chicago Academy-Brasilia is off to a great start in IYSA State Cup round-robin play with an impressive 4-0 win over Kickers.

The opening 10 minutes saw some great combination play, and Brasilia continued to move the ball very well, but just couldn’t find the back of the net. Just before half-time Kickers cleared a Brasilia corner that found Maggie Roe who calmly served a great ball to the back post for Safia Hannin to bury the chance to go up 1-0.

Brasilia continued to dominate possession in the second half, but didn’t get the insurance goal until Emerson Fuller went strong into a tackle and won the ball, and then played Maggie Roe in on goal. Maggie had a very nice finish to make it 2-0.

The third goal was a classic finish by Jasmine Ruiz who was played in, and she fought off pressure and fired the ball past the keeper to the far post. Rounding out the scoring was a nice combination between Rachel White, Maggie Roe and McKenna Schoolman resulting in Maggie committing the keeper before playing the ball across for McKenna to finish. Great overall team effort and special recognition to the defense for not allowing a goal against a very disruptive style of play.

Next up for Brasilia in State Cup is a game tomorrow (Wednesday 9/11) at 5:30pm at Nike Park versus NSA the reigning 2013 Region II champions.

Team Chicago Academy-Santos is off to a perfect start in the MRL U18 Premier Division after three wins in Rockford this past weekend.

The opening game was against Iowa City Alliance – the reigning Region II Champions – and Santos was very dominant in its 2-0 win. Both goals were scored at the end of the first half. The eventual game-winner was scored by Madi Harris after a Heather Handwork cross and a pass in the box from Lilly Butler. The insurance goal came off a great run and cross from Katie Ciesiulka, which Sara Stevens headed home at the far post.

In Saturday’s second game against Sporting Blue Valley from Kansas City, Santos again was very dominant in the first half. Santos went up 2-0 on goals by Rachael Brots on a PK, which Lilly Butler drew after a great, mazy run, and just before the break Kelsey Pruett met a Talise Romain cross at the far post and steered it home.

However, failure to convert on two 100% chances in the opening six minutes of the second half to put the game out of reach proved costly as SBV struck back with two quick goals midway through the half. A very tight game finally was unlocked with 10 minutes left when Gianna Marconi calmly slotted the ball home at the foot of the far post after a nice Talise Romain pass.

Sunday morning’s game was against Michigan Gators who tied for 1st place in last year’s MRL Premier Division, and fortunately Santos had its best performance of the weekend in securing a 3-1 win. After dominating possession and chances in the first half, but without being able to find the net, Santos finally broke through with three perfect training-ground goals in the second half.

The first came as Heather Handwork served in a perfect low, driven cross at the near post that Kristen Brots ran onto and smashed home. A few minutes later Abbey Mazur’s tenacity won her the ball in midfield, and she sent a nice pass to Hannah Rodgers who in one touch slipped a perfect, weighted through-ball into the path of Sara Stevens’ perfectly timed run. Sara took a big, decisive touch around the on-rushing keeper and calmly slotted the ball into the empty net.

The Gators halved the lead with 20 minutes left, but only 4 minutes later Hannah Rodgers found Heather Handwork on the right flank, and she beat her defender, and instead of shooting from a tight angle she just slotted the ball across the 6-yard box for Sara Stevens to score in the empty net. A perfect, and very unselfish, goal to put the game out of reach.

Santos will now travel to St. Louis this Saturday for two more MRL Premier Division games, before it has four final one-off games in October and early November to finish out the MRL season.

Team Chicago – Lightning U9 Boys team, coached by Andrew Taylor, finished as the runners-up at the TCSA Classic Cup tournament in St. Charles two weeks ago.

Lightning’s first game against TCSA Premier Black resulted in a 2-1 loss. But facing United SA Elite in their next game, Lightning won 3-2. Coming off of this win, Lightning had a well-played 5-0 shutout against the Glen Ellyn Lakers the following day. In the final game, Lightning and TCSA Premier Black met again playing hard in the heat with no score going into overtime, only to lose 1-0.

Lightning is looking forward to facing TCSA this fall season in the Platinum 1 division!

Over Labor Day Weekend, Team Chicago Fluminense U8 boys took first place in the All American Trophy U9 division of the Bolingbrook Raiders Soccer Festival. On Saturday, between rain delays, the boys pulled off a nice win against the Bolingbrook Raiders Black team with a score of 3-1. Later that day, they beat the Lombard Firebirds FC Real team with a score of 2-1. On Sunday, the boys scored 4 goals to shut out Legacy SC 04 White.

It was a great way to start what is sure to be a promising season for boys! Team Members on Fluminense are: Kyle Bucher, Sebastian Guzman, Aiden Houck, AJ Iwinski,, Nik Juarez, Mactzil Lopez, Rian Mulherin, Leo Renteria, Braeden Seidel, Massimo Valerio and Luke Williams.

Congratulations Boys!!