The Sporting Kansas City Under-13 Juniors will play for the US Youth Soccer Region II Championship on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. CT after securing a 3-1 win in the semifinals on Tuesday over Pacesetter BU13 Premier Red in Fox Cities, Wisconsin.
The team advanced out of Pool C with a 2-0-1 record, opening the tournament with a 1-1 draw against FC Milwaukee 13 Blue (goal by Jacob Weaver) before cruising to back-to-back 6-0 victories over MN Thunder Academy 98 Blue (goals from Trevor Cissell x2, Absalom Solorio, Jacob Weaver, Dominick Parry and Peyton Brown) and West Des Moines Royal Rangers (goals from Jacob Weaver x3, Absalom Solorio, John Leisman and an own goal).
Tuesday's semifinal saw the Sporting KC Juniors jump out to a 2-0 lead at halftime on first half goals from Chase Bromstedt and Jacob Weaver, who recorded his sixth goal of the tournament. Trevor Cissell sealed the victory with the game's final goal to secure the U13 Juniors berth in the regional championship, the highest level of competition available at the U13 age level.
Wednesday will mark the second time in the short history of the Sporting Kansas City Juniors youth academy that a U13's team has reached the championship match at Region II competition. In 2009, the U13s fell 1-0 to Michigan Wolves 96 in the final.
The U13s, coached by Dustin Ottesen, qualified for the regional championships as the top team in the state of Missouri. The U13s won the Missouri State Cup earlier this month with a 5-1 victory over St. Louis Scott Gallagher in the final, culminating a tournament in which the Juniors went a perfect 5-0-0 and outscored the competition 28-1.
