The Sporting Kanas City Academy U-18s all but secured a spot in the 2016-17 U.S. Soccer Development Academy Playoffs on Saturday with a 1-0 victory over the Dallas Texans on the campus of the University of Tulsa.
Sebastian Cruz fired home the game-winner in the 21st minute to give head coach Jon Parry's men their first league triumph since March 25 and strengthen Sporting Kansas City's likelihood of landing a postseason berth.
With one regular season match still to play, Sporting KC (14-8-3, 45 points) occupies third place in the Frontier Division. A top-three finish would guarantee a playoff appearance, which run from June 20-26 in Westfield, Indiana, but even a defeat to Real Colorado next weekend would likely result in the same fate. With 11 wildcard teams from across the country joining 21 automatic qualifiers in the playoffs, Sporting KC is well positioned to progress should it fall out of the top three. A loss next Saturday would drop the team to 1.73 points per game, which would currently rank fifth in the wildcard field.
The Sporting KC U-18s made a remarkable run to the U.S. Soccer Development Academy quarterfinals last July before falling to eventual national champion FC Dallas by a 1-0 scoreline in extra time. The loss brought an end to a 2015-16 campaign that saw the U-18s advance to the quarterfinals for the first time in team history.
Saturday's doubleheader in Tulsa concluded with a 1-1 draw between the Sporting KC U-16s and Dallas Texans U-16s. With a playoff berth already secured, Josh Gardner's team went ahead in the 14th minute through Abdu Kikhia's ninth goal of the season, but the Texans' Kevin Li equalized on 69 minutes to split the points.
The U-16s (16-6-3, 51 points) are in second place in the Frontier Division, 14 points behind leaders FC Dallas and seven points ahead of third-place Real Colorado, whom they will face next Saturday at Swope Soccer Village as the U.S. Soccer Development Academy regular season comes to a close. The match will kick off at 12:30 p.m. CT, while the Sporting KC U-18s will kick off the doubleheader at 10 a.m. Both games are free and open to the public, and live updates will be available via Twitter @SKCAcademy.
