The 2011-12 U.S. Soccer Development Academy season continued this weekend for Sporting Kansas City's U16 and U18 Juniors teams, as they travelled north to Minnesota for matches in the Frontier Division on Saturday and Sunday. The U16's, led by Juniors DOC Jon Parry, posted the best result of the weekend with a 4-0 win over the Minnesota Thunder Academy.
On Saturday, Shattuck-Saint Mary's Soccer Academy U18's (7-1-2, 2-0-1) used their home field advantage to record a
2-0 win over the U18's
. Michael Bajza struck first in the 43rd minute on a fortunate deflection and Francisco Narbon sealed the victory with a goal in the 67th minute. In the second match of the doubleheader, the
Sporting KC U16's fell 1-0
on a 20th minute goal from the Shattuck Saint Mary's Soccer Academy (7-2-1, 3-0-0) U16's leading scorer Steve Eneme.
On Sunday, the Sporting KC U18's fell behind early against the Minnesota Thunder Academy (5-2-2-, 1-1-1) on a goal in the 6th minute by Abbai Habte and conceded again in the 59th minute when Adama Keita struck. Less than ten minutes later, Sporting Kansas City got back into the match on a goal from Eduardo Moreno, his seventh of the season, but couldn't find the equalizer and now stand at 5-7-1 overall and 1-4-1 in the Frontier Division.
The U16's capped off the weekend with a decisive victory, piling up four goals in a 4-0 win over Minnesota Thunder Academy (4-3-2, 1-2-0), whose lineup included Sporting KC striker Teal Bunbury's younger brother Logan. Sporting KC goalkeeper Andrew Dittemore posted the shutout and Matthew Bernard opened the scoring for Sporting with goals in the 7th and 42nd minutes. Cole Stevenson then added the Juniors third of the match and his seventh of the seasonin the 48th minute, while Michael Hilihor hit for the game's fourth and final goal in the 80th minute. With the win, the U16's are 4-4-5 overall and 2-2-2 in the Frontier Division, one point back of the leaders.
The U16 and U18 @SKCJuniors will next host Real Colorado on Saturday at the Sporting Club Training Center in Swope Park.
