Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro tri-captain Kerry Abello has been named a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Youth All-American. The award is the most prestigious award for a youth soccer player in the U.S. Here is a link to the full All-America team http://www.nscaa.com/news/2014/11/2014-youth-all-america-teams

Congrats Kerry.

Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro defeated Chicago-Inter 4-1 in its final MRL Premier I Division game last Saturday at Commissioners Park. With the win Cruzeiro finished as runners-up with a 6-1-2 record and two points behind Grand Rapids Crew. With the Crew being the Michigan State Cup champions Cruzeiro also secured a berth into the U15 Region II USYSA Regional Championships in Appleton, WI June 19-24th, 2015. Congrats to the girls on another impressive showing and representing Team Chicago Academy at Regionals for the second year in a row.

Cruzeiro opened the game against Chicago-Inter with all the possession and a few quality chances that unfortunately went begging. And as so often happens in soccer when you don’t take your chances, the opponents scored against the run of play. Chicago-Inter went up 1-0 on a free-kick from 20 yards.

Cruzeiro opened the 2nd half with great intensity and less than five minutes in Kerry Abello tied the game after cutting in from the right flank and burying her shot from the top of the 18. A mere two minutes later Riley O’Brien got the eventual game-winner. Alyssa Bombacino hit a low strike, which the GK parried into the path of Riley who calmly slotted it home.

10 minutes later Alyssa Bombacino put the game out of reach on a great goal. Emma Rydholm won the ball at the halfway line and played it to Jordan King who immediately played an inch-perfect ball into Alyssa’s run. Alyssa turned the defender in one touch, and tucked the ball away at the far post. With four minutes left, Kerry Abello got her second of the game after she exchanged quick passes with Claire Hensley off a free-kick deep in the corner. Kerry beat a defender and drove across the top of the 18 before depositing another perfect shot.

Cruzeiro will now travel to Wilson, NC for four National League games this week. Cruzeiro are facing national powerhouses Legends FC (CA), Carlsbad Elite (CA), Pennsylvania Strikers (PA), and Tennessee Football Club. This the premier USYSA league event and the eight teams will compete for two spots at the USYSA National Championships.
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Team Chicago Academy-Internacional goalkeeper Shelby Stitz has accepted a scholarship offer to continue her career at Lewis University. Shelby, who plays her prep soccer at St. Charles North H.S., will be part of Lewis head coach Chris Koenig’s 2015 recruiting class.

The Flyers are members of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Team Chicago Academy-Bahia U14 finished the fall season as runners-up in the MRL Premier II Division with a 4-1-2 record, and earning promotion to the Premier I Division for the spring. Bahia ended with the overall best goal differential with 21 goals for and 7 against.

As a prelude to the Spring season Bahia traveled to Indianapolis in search of better competition and faced both FC Pride (MRL Premier I and National League) and Indy Fire (ECNL), respectively. Both of these games demonstrated the level of play Bahia is capable of playing and the spring season will be both exciting and challenging. The first game of the weekend was against FC Pride and this game had both teams dominating possession at times and eventually ended in a 2-2 tie. The following morning Bahia had the opportunity to play at Grand Park which is quickly becoming the premier facility in the Midwest. The natural grass stadium pitch was perfect as this was the first game of the season played on this field. Bahia played some of the best soccer of the season during the first half and ended the game with a great result beating the Indy Fire 3-0.

Congratulations to the girls and Head Coach Matt Chura on the fall season and on positioning yourself with the elite teams for the Spring 2015 season.

Team Chicago Academy-Internacional U18 finished its Fall season with two home wins.

In the first of the two games, Internacional needed a win against TCSA to secure 2nd place in the MRL Premier II Division. Internacional gave up an early PK goal, but then never looked back and scored three unanswered goals to secure the 3-1 win and 2nd place. Alena Sidwell tied the game and Quincy Kellett got the eventual game-winner before the break. Kiley Czerwinski got the insurance goal early in the 2nd half, and with a little bit better quality in front of goal Internacional could have run up the score considerably.

The second game – an IWSL contest against Team Elmhurst – marked the final home game ever for Internacional. For a number of the players this marked the end of a more than decade-long commitment to Team Chicago and Internacional. The girls went out in style with a convincing 6-1 win behind Alena Sidwell’s hat-trick, a brace by Quincy Kellett, and the final goal by Mallory Mollenhauer. They were assisted by Kiley Czerwinski (2), Anna Tørsløv, Emily Dickens, Jori Romano, Keely Theobald, Mallory Mollenhauer, Miranda Lambert, and Quincy Kellett.

Congrats to the girls on the Runners-up finish in the MRL Premier II Division, and thank you to all of them for their time, commitment, and dedication to Team Chicago and Internacional over the years. And a special thanks to team manager Lynda Sidwell and treasurer Janet LaRocque.

Up next for Internacional are two major college showcases. CASL in Raleigh, NC 11/21-23 and the Disney College Showcase 12/31-1/3.