The Houston Dynamo Academy U-18 team earned two important wins over Sporting Kansas City's U-18s last weekend at Swope Park Training Center. On Saturday, Bryce Marion tallied two goals as the U-18s registered a 2-0 win, despite playing down a man after Matt Dorsey received a red card.
The U-18s finished a successful road trip by defeating Sporting KC's U-18s, 4-1, in the next match on Sunday. Four players recorded goals in the win: Christian Lucatero, Irvin Ramirez, Jose Rodriguez and Emmanuel Usen.
The U-18s are 14-8-5 (47 points) this season and are in fourth place in the Frontier Division of the Central Conference. The U-18s have clinched a berth in the Academy playoffs and the sweep of Sporting Kansas City gives them the top wildcard seat in the Frontier Division.
Lucatero leads the U-18 team with 14 goals and Elochukwu Ozumba has 13 goals this season.
The Dynamo Academy U-16 team also traveled to Kansas and clinched a playoff bid with a 1-1 draw and a 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City’s U-16 team. After Saturday’s draw, Juan Flores scored two goals in the U-16s’ 3-1 win on Sunday. Christian Molina and Lucio Martinez also scored over the weekend.
The squad has completed its season at 11-5-11 (44 points) and in second place in the Frontier Division of the Central Conference.
Juan “Charly” Flores led the club with 25 goals in 27 games this season.
The Development Academy Playoffs will take place from June 23-27 in Westfield, Ind., located north of Indianapolis. The top 32 teams in the country will compete in eight groups of four.
The Academy U-15s completed its season win a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Texans on Sunday to clinch a second-place finish in the Texas Pre-Academy. Gianluca Natera opened the scoring in the sixth minute, finishing a ball in the box from Jordi Cobo. The winning goal came in second-half stoppage time, as Matthew Alzate volleyed a shot off the crossbar, allowing Hector Ramirez to tap in the vital winner.
The U-15s went 15-3-6 (48 points) this season, second place in the Texas Pre-Academy League behind the FC Dallas U-15s.
