Academy Recap: Barça Academy Sweep Nomads SC at home
May 22, 2018
RECAP
Barça Academy completed their second consecutive weekend sweep with a dominating sweep of Nomads SC in USSDA league play on Sunday. The U-15s opened the day with their most dominant performance of the year, winning comfortably by a 5-1 margin. The U-17s played next and got off to a quick start in route of an impressive 5-0 shutout win. The U-19s wrapped up the day by continuing their run of good form with an exciting 4-2 win.
USSDA
Barça Academy U-15 vs. Nomads SC
Sunday brought warm sunny weather and great playing conditions at Grande Sports World. The U-15s kicked off the day against Nomads SC and controlled the tempo of the game from start to finish.
Barça Academy had chances early on, but the opening goal didn’t come until the 36th minute. Andres Zavaleta, who opened scoring the weekend before, came onto a rebounded shot and placed the ball past the keeper.
The lead was doubled at the stroke of halftime when Dante Williams played a brilliant through ball to Caden Clark who was left for a tap in, granting Barça Academy a 2-0 lead at the interval.
Dante Williams grabbed another assist in the 49th minute when he found Charles Matsumoto in tight space. With great control, Matsumoto faced up and lashed the ball over the arms of the out stretched keeper.
Barça Academy continued to control tempo but conceded a goal in the 75th minute but Barça Academy. The lead was quickly just three minutes later when Diego Yang beat two defenders and finished 1 v 1 with the keeper in the 78th minute. Zavaleta grabbed his second goal of the game at the stroke of the final whistle and Barça Academy beat Nomads SC 5-1 after falling to them 2-1 in March.
“Today we controlled the tempo of the game and put together some excellent combinations in the final third to break down a well organized Nomads team,” said coach Ged Quinn. “Scoring 5 goals was fully deserved and will help us grow in confidence as as we prepare for the game at Real So Cal next weekend.”
Barça Academy U-17 vs. vs. Nomads SC
The U-17s were next to face Nomads SC, needing a positive result to continue their playoff push. Barça Academy started the match very well and created a plethora of chances in the opening minutes.
Chances fell to Jake LaCava, Cameron Fisher and Roberto Molina in the first half but Barça Academy couldn’t convert.
The breakthrough came in the 43rd minute, when Christian Ortiz drove down the right touchline, into the box and played a low cross to Roberto Molina who was left with nothing more to do than tap the ball in.
Barça Academy entered the break with a 1-0 lead and it wasn’t long before they blew the game open. Barça Academy began converting their chances and ran out to a shutout win.
In the 56th minute, LaCava who had a few shots on goal was rewarded for his persistence as he doubled Barça Academy’s advantage.
Six minutes later, Barça Academy put the game out of reach. In the 62nd minute, Molina and Ortiz scored back to back goals, giving Barça Academy a 4-0 advantage.
The final goal came in the 70th minute when Molina completed his hat-trick and Barça Academy sailed to a 5-0 shutout win.
“I thought the team played well overall, we created numerous chances in the first half without finding the breakthrough till just before half-time which is always a good time to score” said coach Sean McCafferty. “The 2nd half we showed a little more quality and ruthlessness in the attacking 1/3 and ultimately put the game away within the first 15 minutes or so which allowed us to control the tempo even more and see the game out comfortably with a deserved 5-0 victory. ”
Barça Academy U-19 vs. Nomads SC
The U-19s were last to take the field and were looking to pick up their fifth win in a row in a must win game against Nomads SC. Barça Academy opened the match strongly but found themselves down 1-0 in the 10th minute after a Nomads counter-attack.
Barça Academy equalized in the 38th minute, when Matthew Hoppe came up with Julian Araujo rebound and fired a shot past the recovering keeper.
The score remained 1-1 into the half but that quickly changed right out of halftime.
In the 48th minute, Hoppe netted his second goal of the game when he split two defenders and blazed a low ball to the bottom left corner.
The advantage didn’t last long though, Nomads SC equalized just two minutes later, bringing the score to 2-2.
Barça Academy pushed forward and in the 57th minute, Arturo Ernand scored a wondergoal that gave Barça Academy a 3-2 advantage. The unmarked midfielder stunned the Nomads keeper when he curled a shot from 10 yards outside the box into the upper 90.
After a long period of attacking play, a corner kick fell to Araujo in the 79th minute and he, with great control, dispatched his shot into the bottom left corner to ensure all three points for Barça Academy.
“The guys responded we after we conceded the first goal and after we equalized we controlled the tempo of the game,” said coach Daniel Antunez. “I’m very pleased with the attitude, fight and overall performance from the team this week. Now we will prepare for SoCal and continue our push for playoffs.”
RESULTS
USSDA
May 20
U-15: Barça Academy 5 vs. Nomads SC 1
U-17: Barça Academy 5 vs. Nomads SC 0
U-19: Barça Academy 4 vs. Nomads SC 2
UPCOMING MATCHES
May 26
U-15: Barça Academy vs. Real So Cal | 10:00 AM | Oak Park High School Stadium | Oak Park, CA
U-17: Barça Academy vs. Real So Cal | 12:00 PM | Oak Park High School Stadium | Oak Park, CA
U-19: Barça Academy vs. Real So Cal | 2:30 PM | Oak Park High School Stadium | Oak Park, CA
LOOKING AHEAD
June 2
U-15: Barça Academy vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 11:00 AM | National Soccer Development Centre | Vancouver, BC
U-17: Barça Academy vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 1:00 PM | National Soccer Development Centre | Vancouver, BC
U-19: Barça Academy vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 3:30 PM | National Soccer Development Centre | Vancouver, BC
June 3
U-15: Barça Academy vs. Crossfire Premier | 10:00 AM | Redmond High School – Stadium Field | Redmond, WA
U-17: Barça Academy vs. Crossfire Premier | 12:00 PM | Redmond High School – Stadium Field | Redmond, WA
U-19: Barça Academy vs. Crossfire Premier | 2:30 PM | Redmond High School – Stadium Field | Redmond, WA
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