The Sporting Kansas City Academy U-16 and U-18 teams traveled to Claremore, Oklahoma, last weekend for a pair of matches against the FC Dallas Academy on the campus of Rogers State University. While the U-18s pulled off an impressive 3-1 victory over the current U.S. Soccer Development Academy U-17/18 Frontier Division leaders, the U-16s (pictured, above) suffered their first loss of the year.
The Sporting Kansas City U-18s used a pair of goals from Nansel Selbol to defeat FC Dallas on Saturday. After Dallas jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute through Giovanni Montesdeoca, Sporting KC stormed back for the equalizer. Will Little scored the game-winner for Sporting KC in the 43rd minute, while Selbol’s second of the match sealed the victory in the 89th minute.
The win stopped a two-game losing streak for Sporting KC as the U-18s earned their first victory over FC Dallas since November 9, 2013. The Sporting KC U-18s improved to 4-2-1 with Saturday’s victory and are now in second place (12 points) in the Frontier Division behind FC Dallas and Texas Rush (13 point). Sporting KC leads all teams with 21 goals scored and is second in the league with a +11 goal differential.
In the second match of Saturday’s doubleheader, the U-16s fell 4-3 for their first defeat of the year. After Jesus Ferreira (FC Dallas) and Max Rugova (Sporting KC) traded goals within the game’s first 20 minutes, FC Dallas scored three straight to take a 4-1 lead. Luis Carrillo tallied in the 25th minute, while Ferreira - son of former MLS MVP David Ferreira - completed a hat trick with goals in the 54th and 69th minutes. Johnny Klein sparked a furious comeback for Sporting KC with goals in the 71st and 80th minutes, but it was not enough to earn a result.
With Saturday’s victory, FC Dallas moved into sole possession of first place in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy U-15/16 Frontier Division. Dallas leads the group with 18 points and a +16 goal differential, while Sporting KC sits in second place with 15 points and and a +15 goal differential.
Both Sporting KC Academy teams will now travel to Fort Hays, Kansas, on Saturday to play Real Colorado. Real Colorado is currently in third place in the U-16 division - two points behind Sporting KC - and is in seventh place in the U-18 division.
