The Sporting Kansas City Academy U-18's secured a berth in the 2014-15 U.S. Soccer Development Academy Playoffs with a 6-2 victory over the Dallas Texans on Saturday in the team's regular season finale at Swope Soccer Village. Tucker Stephenson's hat trick led the way along with goals from Nic Jaimes, Logan Lucas and Hector Solorio as the Sporting KC U-18's overcame the absences of Bryce Gibson (suspension), Dominick Parry (suspension) and Daniel Salloi (unavailable).
With the win, the under-18 squad finishes the regular season with an unbeaten 9-0-1 record at home and a 14-8-5 record overall. Led by head coach Istvan Urbanyi, the U-18's currently sit in fourth place in the Central Conference's Frontier Division with 47 points. The 2014-15 campaign marks the best performance by the Sporting KC Academy U-18's in recent years:
Sporting KC Academy U-18's
2014-15
: 14-8-5, 47 points (4th place)
2013-14
: 11-11-5, 38 pts (7th place)
2012-13
: 11-13-3, 36 pts (8th place)
The U-18's are assured of a wildcard berth into the Academy Playoffs with a 1.74 points per game average and are in position for placement into Pot #3 (teams seeded No. 17-24) pending results during the final week of the 2014-15 USSDA regular season, which is scheduled to end on June 8.
A total of 32 teams, out of the 79 squads from coast-to-coast in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy's U-18 age division, qualify for the playoffs. The top three teams in each of the seven divisions automatically advance to the postseason and are joined by 11 wildcard entrants based on the best overall points per game averages.
The 2014-15 Academy Playoffs will be held from June 23-26 at Grand Park -- the largest youth sports complex in the U.S. with 31 multi-purpose fields spread over 400+ acres -- in Westfield, Indiana. Each club will compete in a four-team group determined by a seeded draw set up so that every group will feature one team from each of the following ranges of regular season rankings: 1-8, 9-16, 17-24 and 25-32.
The top finisher from each of the eight playoffs groups will qualify for the Development Academy Knockouts, where teams are matched up for a single-elimination game at the site of the higher seed. Knockout stage winners then advance to the Academy Championships on July 16 (semifinals) and July 18 (third place and final) at U.S. Soccer's National Training Center in Carson, California.
The Sporting KC Academy U-16's also wrapped up their U.S. Soccer Development Academy campaign in successful fashion on Saturday with a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Texans to sweep the doubleheader at Swope Soccer Village. Will Little scored both goals to move into a tie for the team lead with six on the season, while Alec Wons stopped a penalty kick to secure the full three points.
The U-16's finish the regular season with an 8-8-11 record -- highlighted by an end-of-the-season run in which they lost only two of their last 17 games -- and in eighth place in the Frontier Division. They will next participate in the Academy Showcase, held from June 22-25 in conjunction with the Academy Playoffs in Westfield, Indiana.
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