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.

The inaugural Chicago U.S. Soccer Training Center event went off with just a minor weather delay at PlayUSA last night. And the event brought some exciting visitors as U17 Women’s National Team Head Coach B.J. Snow and U15 Women’s National Team Head Coach April Kater were both here evaluating the players. And B.J. even brought his wife 2-time Olympic Gold-Medalist Lindsay Tarpley to observe the event. Both Lindsay and B.J. are former club, PDL, & ODP players of Team Chicago Elite Academy Director Phil Nielsen’s from their time together in Kalamazoo, MI.

The event brought together some of the top players in Illinois in the 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 birth years. Team Chicago was represented by:

1999:
Kerry Abello, Maggie Roe, Nicole Mondi, and Rachel Erdman.

2000:
Alyssa Bombacino, Jamie Goralski, and Jordan King.

2001:
Alex Salemy, Erin McCarthy, Natalie Massa, Nikki Coryell, Paige Miller, and Sophia Majher.

On Monday, May 12th, Team Chicago will be hosting the inaugural United States Soccer Federation Training Center in Illinois. The U.S.S.F. Training Center is designed to bring together by invitation the top female players from Illinois in the 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 birth years as identified by the U.S. National Team Staff, its scouts, and the Directors of Coaching from the elite clubs. U17 Women’s National Team Coach B.J. Snow will be in attendance to evaluate the players. Players will then either be invited into a National Team camp, asked to return to the next Training Center event, or replaced by new players from the area who have been identified.

The 2001s and 2002s players will be training 5:30-7:00pm while the 1999s and 2000s will be training 7:15-8:45pm

USSF Training Centers are designed to replicate national team training camps, and as part of creating this type of environment only players and coaches are welcome. Parents are not invited to stay and watch the training session.

As the National Governing Body of soccer in the United States, and under the auspices of the United States Olympic Committee, the U.S.S.F. is empowered and charged with developing the teams that represent the United States in all international competitions such as the Olympics and World Cup. The Training Center Program is an integral part of this process.

At this point this U.S.S.F program is only offered on the girls’ side, as the organization is heavily invested in the Development Academy program on the boys’ side.