With their tickets to the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Playoffs already punched, the Sporting KC U-17s and U-19s enjoyed a winning end to the 2017-18 regular season on Saturday with victories over Real Colorado at Swope Soccer Village.
Both teams secured third-place finishes in the Central Conference’s Frontier Division as the U-17s prevailed 5-2 before the U-19s triumphed 3-0. The Sporting KC U-15s also drew the curtains on their 2017-18 campaign with a 1-1 draw as part of the tripleheader.
Per U.S. Soccer, the draw for the Development Academy Playoffs — running from June 18-24 at SoCal Sportsplex in Oceanside, California — will take place in the coming days. The U-17s and U-19s will both be placed in four-team groups, with the first-place finisher advancing the quarterfinals in late June. The Development Academy Championships, consisting of the semifinals and finals for each age group, will then take place in Kansas City at Swope Soccer Village from July 8-11.
U-19s win 3-0
The U-19s (15-7-4, 49 points) needed just two minutes to land the first punch, capitalizing on a defensive error when Mason Visconti’s corner kick was bobbled by the Real Colorado goalkeeper and bundled across the goal line by Kaveh Rad.
Sporting KC goalkeeper Alec Wons produced an excellent one-on-one save to keep his side ahead in the 22nd minute before the hosts doubled their advantage 11 minutes later. Johnny Hansen streaked down the sideline and picked out a streaking Ryan Fessler, who made no mistake with his close-range finish. Sporting KC effectively sealed all three points on the hour-mark when Visconti settled a pass from Isaac McGinnis and slammed home to make the score 3-0.
U-17s win 5-2
The U-17s (15-7-4, 49 points), who finished with an identical regular season record as the U-19s, kicked off Saturday’s tripleheader in style. Four-goal hero Michael Scavuzzo struck twice in the first 10 minutes, heading home a Sebastian Kennedy cross and picking out the bottom left corner off a brilliant pass by Gyuwon Chong.
Real Colorado pulled a goal back before halftime, but Scavuzzo restored the two-score cushion with a superb long-range strike to seal his hat trick in the 56th minute. Kennedy then tallied his second assist of the day, setting up Chong for a neat finish in the 59th minute, before Scavuzzo bagged his fourth on a feed from Jonathan Munoz. Real Colorado salvaged a late consolation strike, but wound up on the wrong end of a 5-2 scoreline.
U-15s tie 1-1
The U-15s (7-12-5, 26 points) came from behind to earn a 1-1 tie in their final match of the season. Real Colorado took the lead after just eight minutes, but Kaedon Anderson equalized two mintues into the second half.
