The Sporting Kansas City Academy U-18s took another step toward qualifying for the 2017 U.S. Soccer Development Academy Playoffs on Saturday, battling the Houston Dynamo to a 3-3 draw at sunny Swope Soccer Village.
Felipe Hernandez fired the hosts ahead within six minutes before Will Little notched a second-half brace to give Sporting KC a 3-1 lead with less than half an hour to play. Houston would respond with two goals of their own to level proceedings and could have claimed all three points in the dying embers of the match, but goalkeeper Alec Wons saved a 90th-minute penalty kick to preserve a precious point.
Led by head coach Jon Parry, the U-18s (13-8-2, 41 points) remain third in the Frontier Division standings with three league matches still to play between now and the end of the regular season on June 3. The top three finishers from each of the seven Development Academy divisions will automatically advance to the DA Playoffs from June 20-26 in Westfield, Indiana. Those 21 clubs will be joined by 11 teams from the wildcard pool, with rankings based on points per game during the 2016-17 campaign.
The same postseason qualifying format applies for the Sporting KC U-16s, who fell to Houston 3-1 in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader. Despite the defeat, head coach Josh Gardner’s side (16-6-1, 49 points) sits comfortably in second place in the Frontier Division.
The U-18s and U-16s have next weekend off before returning to the field on Sunday, May 21 against the Colorado Rapids at Swope Soccer Village. The U-18s will kick off at 10 a.m. CT before the U16s take the field at 12:30 p.m. Both matches are free and open to the public, and live updates will be provided via @SKCAcademy on Twitter.
