CARSON, California - Real Colorado managed to turn an opening round draw into a victory on Friday when the U18 portion of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy National Finals kicked off at the Home Depot Center.

Overcoming a two-goal deficit, Real Colorado put together a timely sequence in the final minutes to earn a bigger-than-just-one-point 2-2 draw with PDA.

Zach Portillos took a perfect cross in the box from Kyle Venter and finished it with a header to set off a team celebration and maybe take a sense of momentum moving forward in the tournament.

“It was just a perfect pass. I was running hard to get there and I finished. Definitely the biggest goal I’ve had,” Portillos said. “You’re never happy when you fall behind but we knew we were playing well so we tried to play through it.”

If not for an inch, or a different call from the referee, PDA very well could’ve deemed the comeback all for naught. Striker Ryan Finley was fouled alongside the box in the final seconds and the referees deemed him to be just outside the 18-yard area - a call that was close enough to go either way.

Finley took the free kick and almost put it in, grazing a defender and sending a shot off the crossbar just before the final whistle blew.

PDA’s opportunistic strikers allowed it to play through some sloppy play in the backline and midfield where the team lost a lot of possessions in the first half.

Real Colorado dictated most of the action, yet still fell behind in the blink of an eye. Dylan Renna put in a laser left-footed goal to put PDA up 1-0 on a play that was set up by Finley working for a 50-50 ball in the air. Dylan would strike late in the first half when he planted himself in the box and flicked in a pass for a 2-0 lead.

Real Colorado kept working and Taylor Kemp earned a penalty kick when he followed up a missed shot by teammate Anis Abdulgasem. Kemp converted the PK to make it 2-1 at the half, a huge play to salvage a disappointing start for his team.

“I thought the first half was pretty even,” said Real Colorado coach Kevin Fickes. “Alex Tarnoczi created some good chances for us but we got a couple offsides calls that hurt us. We feel good about this; being down 2-0, and getting a draw. One point is better than zero.”

U18 Real Colorado Roster
Starters: Anis Abdulgasem, Mate Aguirre, Drew Becki, Scott Branson, Robert Derschang, Brent Ham, Matt Hammett, Taylor Kemp, Conner Talbert, Alex Tarnoczi, Kyle Venter
Subs: Zac Portillos, Levi Rossi, Adam Tormoehlen

U18 PDA Roster
Starters: Johnathan Aguirre, Alex Bramall, Jeffrey Eisenbud, Ryan Finley, Hunter Gorskie, Bonny Londono, Kyle McCarthy, Matthew Pesci, Dylan Renna, William Smith, Ryan Whalen
Subs: Jordan Beckett, Anthony Ciccone, Sean Gardner, JP Rosero


D.C. UNITED 3, CASL CHELSEA FC ACADEMY 1

Andy Najar, Andy Najar, Andy Najar; a reference for each goal he scored during D.C. United’s defeat of CASL Chelsea FC Academy.

Najar scored in the match’s first 10 seconds and never let off the pedal as the team went up 3-0 early in the first half. He previously delivered a hat trick in the Academy playoff as well.

“We’ve seen him do it many times before,” said D.C. coach Judah Cooks. “He’s a very composed goal scorer."

Joseph Babington added a goal for Chelsea FC which played inspired late in the second half in an attempt to close the gap.
 
 With CASL Chelsea clearly frustrated, things got testy right away and in one turn of events Chelsea forward Charles Root went nose-to-nose with 6-foot-4 D.C. United goalkeeper Abdul Hamid - probably not the best of ideas.

Hamid dominated with his presence and leadership throughout the match.

“They were behind so they were going to try and kick and grab to find something,” Hamid said. “I’m the biggest guy on the field so I’m down for it.”

U18 D.C. United Roster
Starters: Julio Arjona, Shane Cook, Michael Funes, Abdul Hamid, Christopher Hegngi, Kevin McBride, Myles McGinley, Andy Najar, Paul Torres, Ethan White, Nicky Yin
Subs: Bioh William, Sam Bradley, Michael Burgos, John Ciampa, Chris Perez, Shaquille Phillips

U18 CASL Chelsea FC Roster
Starters: Patrick Donahue, Thomas Garner, Jared Girard, Joseph Goodwin, Ryan Metts, Martin Murphy Isack Nyongabo, John Rafferty, Charles Root, Glenn Scott, Kevin Stam
Subs: Joseph Babington, Nicholas Butterly, Alexander Long, Lester Nare, Justin Smith, Michael Smith, Eric Steber

CARMEL UNITED ACADEMY 1, FC GREATER BOSTON 0

Call it survival, call it ugly, but just make sure you call it a ‘W.’

Carmel United got an early goal on a set piece that saw Michael Wignot convert a header on a throw in from James Fier and then preceded to preserve the lead.

Boston striker Charlie Rugg led an attack that nearly tied the game on a couple of occasions but Carmel withstood the rally along with physical play and some questionable calls that didn’t go their way.

“One thing we’ve been working on this year is trying to keep our composure,” said Harrison Petts, a member of last year’s national champion U16 squad. “It may not have looked like it today, but we gained some good experience from last year that has helped us this time, and we feel like we know what to expect.”

U18 Carmel United Roster
Starters: Jarrett Baughman, Jon Dawson, Ryan Fier, Jared Isenthal, Nikita Kotlov, Tyrone Martin, Harrison Petts, Matthew Sanner, James Vollmer, Jeremy Vollmer, Michael Wignot
Subs: Patrick Courtney, Blake Leyden, Austin Oldham

U18 FC Greater Boston
Starters: Leon Brown Jr., Josh Danesh, William Donovan, Owen Fox, George Hodge, Cecil Jeffrey, Sam Kelley, Kaeghan, Ciaran Nugent, Scott Prozeller, Charlie Rugg
Subs: Brendan Caslin, Gideon Gyasi,  

DALLAS TEXANS 1, IMG SOCCER ACADEMY 1

What appeared to be an early coronation turned into a competition.

The Dallas Texans set the early tone before IMG responded to earn a solid draw on the first day of action. The Texans’ Connor Doyle scored on an assist from Jacob Garnett, who went on to receive a red card ejection late in the match.

But it wasn’t just the early goal that put Dallas in the driver’s seat, it was the physical play. The Texans are one of the beefier teams around, and as a result they punished IMG on early 50-50 balls and made sure the team from Florida always got the worst of collisions.

IMG would settle in, however, and Andres Acevedo scored a goal midway through the first half that stood up through the match.

U18 Dallas Texans roster
Starters: Ryan Aubrey, Zachery Barnes, Mark Daus, Ray DeLeon, Gino DePaoli, Conor Doyle, Lenox Evans, Jacob Garnett, Brett Helm, Aaron Reifschneider, Blake Wise
Subs: William Diebold, Daniel Gonzalez, Mizael Najero, Kalon Parman, Christopher Sendejas

U18 IMG Soccer Academy roster
Starters: Andres Acevedo, Benjamin Barshai, Reinaldo, Larry Jackson, Miguel Medina, Chase Miller, Ambry Moss, Martin Ontiveros, John Rayha, Jorge Risquez, Alex Walters
Subs: Ricardo Batista, Tyler Currence, Fernando Mares