The Sporting Kansas City Academy U-16s continued their perfect start to the 2015-16 U.S. Soccer Development Academy season with a 5-2 victory over Texas Rush on Saturday at the Championship Field at Swope Soccer Village. With the win, the Sporting KC U-16s maintained their position atop the Frontier Division with a 5-0-0 record.
The Sporting KC U-16s are off to their best start since the 2012-13 season when they went unbeaten through their first six matches with a 4-0-2 record. The team currently has the third best goal differential in the country (+16) among all U-16 programs. They trail only the New York Red Bulls (+21) and Weston FC (+19) who have played seven and eight games, respectively.
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The Sporting KC U-16s were forced to come back from an early deficit for the second time this year when Kevin Flores put the visitors ahead in the 12th minute. Down 1-0 at the halftime break, Sporting KC came out firing on all cylinders in the second half.
Cameron Duke found Mason Visconti for the game-tying goal in the 45th minute. Jacob Hall then put the home side ahead in the 47th minute before drawing a penalty kick three minutes later that Roman Knox converted. Sheldon China found Max Rugova (pictured, above) for the easy finish to put Sporting KC ahead 4-1. Jorge Mandujano scored for the Rush in the 65th minute, but Rugova’s second of the match, and seventh of the year, sealed the easy victory in the 78th minute.
In the opening match of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Sporting KC U-18s fell to Texas Rush 4-1. Felipe Hernandez assisted Adam Collinsworth in the 14th minute for the team’s lone goal of the match. The Sporting KC U-18s have lost back-to-back games after winning their first three to open the season. The team is currently in fourth place in the U-18 Frontier Division with nine points through five games.
Both teams will head to Claremore, Oklahoma this weekend for matches against the FC Dallas Academy. FC Dallas is currently in second match in the U-18 division and third place in the U-16 division. The FC Dallas U-16s defeated the Sporting KC U-16s 4-1 in last week’s U-17s Generation adidas Cup at Swope Soccer Village.
