The Dynamo Academy, presented by Statoil, hit the road last weekend for matches against Real Colorado and Colorado Rush. Both teams remained in the hunt for a playoff spot as the U-16s earned two draws while the U-18s earned a win and a draw.
The Dynamo U-18s kicked things off on Saturday with a dramatic 2-2 draw vs. Real Colorado. After Irvin Ramirez (pictured, above) put the Dynamo ahead in the third minute, Real Colorado responded with two goals including one right before the halftime whistle. The Dynamo found their equalizer in the second half, however, as Ramirez scored in the 60th minute to give the Dynamo a hard-earned road point.
On Sunday, the Dynamo U-18s won for the first time since February 18, defeating Colorado Rush 2-1. Ramirez scored his sixth goal of the season and homegrown forward Bryan Salazar added his team-leading 11th goal of the season to give the team the full three points.
The Dynamo U-16s earned two draws this weekend, tying Real Colorado 2-2 on Saturday and Colorado Rush 1-1 on Sunday to improve their unbeaten run to 10 consecutive games.
Against Real Colorado, the Dynamo came back from a two-goal halftime deficit to earn the point. Elo Ozumba scored two goals, including the equalizer in the 80th minute, to give him a team-leading 14 goals on the season. On Sunday, Giovanni Pacheco gave the Dynamo an early lead, but the Colorado Rush scored late to steal two points from the visitors.
PLAYOFF UPDATE
With just over a month to go in the USSDA season, both the Dynamo U-16s and U-18s sit in strong playoff position. The Dynamo U-16s sit in first place in the division in total points (48) and in second place in points per game (2.29). The Dynamo U-18s also sit in first place in total points (44) and in second place in points per game (2.10).
The top three teams from the division automatically qualify for the playoffs. Outside of the automatic qualifiers, the next 13 teams across the USSDA with the higest points per game earn wild card berths. At the U-18 age group, the 13th wild card team is currently Strikers FC with a 1.59 ppg average. At the U-16 age group, the 13th wild card team is currently Revolution Empre with a 1.57 points per game.
PRE-ACADEMY UPDATE
The Dynamo Pre-Academy traveled to Austin last weekend and went 2-0-1 against Lonestar SC. The U-13s won 3-0 behind goals from JP Nava, Johan Benitez and David Villegas. The U-14s won 2-0 with Alejandro Lezama and Christian Nelson providing the goals. The U-15s draw 1-1 with Andrew Canales getting on the board for Houston.
