Barca Academy's Daniel Corona

Academy Recap: Barça Academy goes Undefeated at Arsenal FC Academy

Academy Recap: Barça Academy goes Undefeated at Arsenal FC Academy
April 14, 2018

RECAP

Barça Academy USSDA sides traveled to Southern California to take on Arsenal FC. All three Barça Academy teams put together strong performances, scoring a combined ten goals on the day. The U-15s kicked off the day with a resounding 4-0 win, powered by two first half goals from Ronan Kratt. The U-17s were next to play and also put four goals past the hosts in a 4-1 win. Barça Academy rounded out the day with the U-19s drawing 2-2 with Arsenal FC.

Barça Academy U-15

Barça Academy’s U-15s entered the match with confidence, having recorded a 3-1 win over Arsenal FC in early December. They started the game brightly, playing at a high tempo and breaking the host’s line of pressure with crisp possession play. Despite their dominance on the ball, Barça Academy struggled stringing together the final ball to unlock Arsenal’s defense in the opening moments of the game.

That all changed in the 15th minute, when forward Ronan Kratt put Barça Academy into the lead. He would double the lead for Barça Academy right on the stroke of halftime and send the U-15s into the break with a 2-0 lead.

“The timing of our goals helped though,” said U-15’s head coach Ged Quinn. “Ronan took both of his goals well and scoring the second right before halftime settled us down a little going into the second half.”

Barça Academy would only improve in the second half. The final ball, which had been lacking in the first half, started to connect and the U-15s created chance after chance. Arsenal FC mounted a defensive effort to keep Barça Academy at bay, but in the 75th minute, Dante Williams scored from a great header to make the score line safe. Andres Zavaleta added a fourth in the last moments of the game after good work in a wide area.

“In the second half I thought we were much better at opening Arsenal up in the attacking third and my only criticism is that we didn’t score goals sooner,” said Quinn. “We missed a lot of opportunities and in another game, we could have been punished for that. We will look to build on this result as we prepare for the double header trip next weekend to play San Jose Earthquakes and Silicon Valley.”

Barça Academy U-17

Next to take on Arsenal FC were the U-17s, who were looking to bounce back after a tough loss to LA Galaxy Academy the previous weekend. Barça Academy was looking to regain some confidence in front of goal after seeing plenty of chance go begging against Galaxy.

Barça Academy did well to control the match in the early goings, but the game exploded to life in a 14-minute stretch when the U-17s scored three times. Jake LaCava opened the scoring in the 25th minute, Max Garcia followed up in the 31st minute and Matthew Hoppe completed the first half scoring in the 39th minute.

Coming out of half-time, Barça Academy pushed forward, looking for the fourth goal which would effectively end the match. They were rewarded for their efforts just three minutes in to the second half, when Matthew Hoppe grabbed his second goal of the game.

Arsenal FC managed to get a goal back in the 61st minute, but Barça Academy was able to see out the remainder of the match comfortably.

“The only negative was a poorly conceded goal when we had enough numbers back to deal with the situation but we will learn from it,” said Academy Director Sean McCafferty. “From that point the team managed the remainder of the game and could have added to our lead but overall we were happy with the performance and look forward to preparing for our double header in Northern California this weekend”.

Barça Academy U-19

In the final match of the day the U-19s started strongly, looking to climb back into playoff contention. Barça Academy played comfortably in possession and did well to press and recover the ball quickly. The U-19s were rewarded for their good work in the 39th minute when Zarek Jakubowski fired Barça Academy into the lead.

The U-19s continued to push forward and create chances and were unlucky to head into the break with only a one-goal lead. They were punished for not converting their chances in the 73rd minute when a defensive mistake gifted Arsenal FC an equalizing goal.

Barça Academy rallied back, and in the 83rd minute, grabbed the go-ahead goal through Enrique Zamora off of a great cross from Julian Araujo. The U-19s couldn’t see out the game, however, and conceded an equalizer under tremendous pressure in stoppage time.

“Overall I am disappointed with the result but I am happy with the way we played,” said U-19s head coach Daniel Antunez. “We need to improve the way we managed the game and do a better job of seeing games out to get results.”

Barça Academy will look to build off the momentum from last weekend when they head to the Bay Area for a doubleheader with San Jose Earthquakes Academy and Silicon Valley Soccer Academy.

RESULTS

April 7

U-15: Barça Academy 4 vs. Arsenal FC 0

U-17: Barça Academy 4 vs. Arsenal FC 1

U-19: Barça Academy 2 vs. Arsenal FC 2

UPCOMING MATCHES

April 21

U-18: Barça Academy vs. Tanque Verde | 2:00 PM | Tucson Kino – Tucson, Arizona (Arizona State Cup)

U-15: Barça Academy vs. San Jose Earthquakes | 1:15 PM* | Evergreen Soccer Turf – San Jose, CA

U-17: Barça Academy vs. San Jose Earthquakes | 3:15 PM* | Evergreen Soccer Turf – San Jose, CA

U-19: Barça Academy vs. San Jose Earthquakes | 5:30 PM* | Evergreen Soccer Turf – San Jose, CA

April 22

U-16: Barça Academy vs. Excel | 3:00 PM | Scottsdale Sports Complex (Arizona State Cup)

U-15: Barça Academy vs. Silicon Valley Soccer Academy | 9:00 AM* | Woodside High School – Woodside, CA

U-17: Barça Academy vs. Silicon Valley Soccer Academy | 11:00 AM* | Woodside High School – Woodside, CA

U-19: Barça Academy vs. Silicon Valley Soccer Academy | 1:00 PM* | Woodside High School – Woodside, CA

* Pacific Time

LOOKING AHEAD

April 28

U-18: Barça Academy vs. Arsenal | 1:00 PM | Scottsdale Sports Complex (Arizona State Cup)

U-15: Barça Academy vs. San Diego Surf | 9:00 AM | Grande Sports World

U-17: Barça Academy vs. San Diego Surf | 11:30 AM | Grande Sports World

U-19: Barça Academy vs. San Diego Surf | 1:30 PM | Grande Sports World

U-18: Barça Academy vs. Classic | 8:00 PM | Scottsdale Sports Complex (Arizona State Cup)

April 29

U-16: Barça Academy vs. SC Del Sol  | 1:00 PM | Reach 11 Sports Complex (Arizona State Cup)


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