The Houston Dynamo Academy, presented by Statoil, split their weekend series with Dallas Texans on Saturday at the Houston Amateur Sports Park. The U-18s fell 1-0 to the visitors, while the U-16s won 2-1 behind a brace from Christian Lucatero (pictured, above).
Despite controlling the run of play, and having the better of the opportunities in the first half, the Dynamo U-18s were unable to strike first against Dallas Texans. The visitors broke through in the 61st minute when midfielder Alec Petit took the ball to the end line and sent a cross into the box. The ball ricocheted off Dynamo center back Garrett Welch and trickled past goalkeeper Leopoldo Castillo.
Looking for the equalizer, the Dynamo threw numbers forward in the second half, but were unable to put one past second half substitute Hunter Harrison. Houston's best opportunity came in the 87th minute when Martin Agredo's shot from the top of the box hit off a Dallas defender. The ball look destined for upper right-hand corner of the net until Harrison's out-stretched arm deflected the ball away to preserve Dallas' shutout.
In the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, the Dynamo U-16s fell behind early after Cooper Whitfield took advantage of a defensive miscue to put the visitors ahead 1-0. The Dynamo rebounded quickly, though, and leveled the match in the 28th minute. Christian Lucatero, who leads the club with six goals on the year, dribbled around three defenders before unleashing a shot on goal from 25 yards. The ball hit off the Dallas Texans goalkeeper and crossed the goal line to pull the Dynamo even. Lucatero completed his brace in the 49th minute to give Houston three points and keep them in third place in the division.
Visit HoustonDynamo.com/Academy to see the complete schedule for all Dynamo Academy and Pre-Academy teams.
U-18: Houston Dynamo (6-3-3) vs. Dallas Texans (8-2-3)
January 19, 2013 -- Houston Amateur Sports Park
USSF Development Academy League
Scoring Summary:
DAL -- Alec Petit
U-16: Houston Dynamo (8-3-1) vs. Dallas Texans (8-5-0)
January 19, 2013 -- Houston Amateur Sports Park
USSF Development Academy League
Scoring Summary:
DAL -- Cooper Whitfield
HOU -- Christian Lucatero
HOU -- Christian Lucatero
All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial.
