FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – On Sunday, Dec. 4, the New England Revolution Under-18 and Under-16 teams took on the Chicago Fire in their second games of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Winter Showcase, held at the Premier Sports Complex in Sarasota, Fla. Both teams suffered losses to their MLS youth opponents with the U18s taking their first loss of the year.
UNDER-18s
The Under-18s suffered a 3-0 loss to the Chicago Fire in their second game of the Showcase. Chicago played with a sense of urgency from start, and took an early lead when Andrew Conner found the back of the net in the second minute. The Revs began to settle in by the 14th minute, and Matt Bitchell (Byfield, Mass.) sent a cross into the box for their first significant trip up the field. As the half progressed, New England created opportunities, but was unable to equalize. Play was even for much of the second half, and substitute goalkeeperMatt Mozynski (Bellingham, Mass.) came up with a big save in the 82nd minute to keep the Revs’ hopes alive. But in the final six minutes of play, the Fire tripled its advantage with two goals from Kellen Gulley, handing the U18s their first loss of the 2011-12 season.
UNDER-16s
The Under-16s also fell, 3-0, to the Chicago Fire on Sunday. In the seventh minute, defender Ryan Kingsley (North Attleborough, Mass.) kept Chicago off the score sheet by clearing a shot off the goal line. Tenth- and 25th-minute saves from goalkeeper Austin Aviza (Medway, Mass.) also kept the Revs in it, allowing New England to create offensive build-up of its own. Play continued to be back and forth, but the Fire’s Grant Lillard scored off a corner kick in the 40th minute. On the other side of the break, Jeffrey Farina and Anthony Smith each netted a goal for Chicago and the U16s came away with their second loss of the weekend.
With the pair of losses, the Under-18 team now holds a 3-1-0 record (9 pts.), while the Under-16 team is now 2-2-0 (6 pts.). After a day of rest, the squads will next take on North Meck SC (N.C.) on Tuesday, Dec. 6, in their third and final games of the Winter Showcase.
New England Revolution U18s vs. Chicago Fire U18s
Sunday, December 4, 2011 – Sarasota, Fla. (Premier Sports Complex)
Chicago 3, New England 0
Scoring Summary:
CHI – Andrew Conner 2
CHI – Kellen Gulley 85
CHI – Kellen Gulley 87
New England Revolution: Tyler Zon (Matt Mozynski 46), Forest Sisk, Willis Griffith, Mitchell Taintor, Colin Sweeney, Manuel Andrade (Rainer Randell 74), Jack Hilger (Ramiro Osorio 68), Colin Patch (A.J. Burnham 72), Matt Bitchell (C.J. Burnham 62), Dominik Machado (Nick Hoffman 74), Peguy Ngatcha (Devin Devoy 62)
Unused Substitutes: Valdair Lopes
Misconduct Summary:
CHI – Cody Witkowski (caution) 45
NE – A.J. Burnham (caution) 75
New England Revolution U16s vs. Chicago Fire U16s
Sunday, December 4, 2011 – Sarasota, Fla. (Premier Sports Complex)
Chicago 3, New England 0
Scoring Summary:
CHI – Grant Lillard 40
CHI – Jeffrey Farina 53
CHI – Anthony Smith 74
New England Revolution: Austin Aviza (Bruce Johnson 62), Christian Sady, Matthew Cooper, Will Szostkiewicz, Ryan Kingsley, Freddie Ferre (Danny Apajee 60), Declan McCabe, Steven Duncan (Erik Martel 41), Zachary Herivaux (Casey Schehl 57), Gabe Gissie, Amadu Kunateh
Unused Substitutes: Greg Forgue, Derek Blanchette, Luke Albertini
Misconduct Summary:
CHI – George Voulgaris (caution) 78
