The Sporting Kansas City Academy U-12’s and U-14’s travelled to St. Louis last weekend to participate in the St. Louis Scott Gallagher Fall Festival.
The U-12’s opened tournament play with a 1-1 draw versus Evanston and a convincing 7-1 victory over John Gaspar. Stefan Freeman scored Sporting KC's only goal in their first match and Aidan Bates and Liam Bailey combined for four of the team's seven goals in their second match in group play. On day 2 of the tournament, the U-12’s won their group with a 2-0 victory over the U-13 Missouri Rush to advance to the semifinals of the competition, where the team fell to eventual tournament champions U-13 KC Fusion.
The U-14’s began tournament play with victories over Lou Fusz (5-1) and Missouri Rush (6-1). Sporting KC Academy striker Johnny Klein scored five of the team’s 11 goals on Saturday. The Sporting KC Academy U-14’s locked up first place in the St. Louis Scott Gallagher Fall Festival after securing three more victories on Sunday, defeating Nebraska FC 2-0 in their final group stage match before advancing to the tournament semifinals. In the semi's, the Sporting KC Academy beat the Chicago Fire Juniors West handedly by a 5-1 scoreline.
The team moved on to face Lou Fusz in the final match of the tournament. The game concluded 1-1 at the end of regulation with Sporting KC's lone goal courtesy of Klein. The teams played two five-minute overtime periods before heading into a penalty kick shootout. After the first five shooters from both sides finished their spot kicks, the tiebreaker went to single elimination. Braeden Vermillion buried his attempt for Sporting KC before Esteban Escobedo made a diving save on the Lou Fusz shooter to break the deadlock and help the Sporting KC U-14's earn first place at the SLSG Fall Festival.
