Richmond Strikers U16 team enjoyed a good weekend in US Soccer Development Academy play, sweeping a pair of matches vs. Charlotte Soccer Academy and North Meck Storm

In the weekend opener versus North Meck at Davidson College, Ryan Zinkhan ran onto a Todd Wharton through ball to put Strikers up 1-0, Wharton created the 2nd as well, sending in a free kick that Jeff Bates headed home, also in the 1st half. With developmental player Codi Pryor in goal, Strikers hung on despite a late tally from North Meck’s Diego Suarez.

Against Charlotte, Bruno Ramos put the squad up 1-0 in the 12th minute, with a chip of the keeper, again on a Wharton through ball. After Conor Keeley equalized in the 2nd half, Ryan Zinkhan answered almost immediately with a 61st minute strike following Wharton’s good pass, and Wharton put the game on ice with a 71st minute goal, with Zinkhan returning the favor on the assist .

While Strikers have played several more games than most of the competition, they are atop the South Conference’s Atlantic Division with 24 points from 11 matches, 14 points ahead of Greensboro YS, CASL Chelsea and Charlotte SA.
 
In other U16 matches, CASL beat Virginia Rush Auxerre 3-0 behind goals from Monbo Bokar (2) and BJ Jones. Alex Rotunda and Patrick Parker scored in Greensboro’s 2-0 win over the same Virginia Rush side.

Strikers head coach Erwan Le Crom gave his team good marks for the weekend and their recent good run.

“We negotiated very well the month of February. It has not been easy with the weather and fact kids play high school, but we managed to take some points away from teams,” Le Crom said. “This weekend we did a very good job on the counter attack. We didn’t have many of them, but when we did, we capitalized.

“We didn’t have much rhythm for 80 minutes because we’re not training on a regular basis for the last 2-3 weeks,” he continued. “I really liked the mentality of the group, and we managed to score goals. It was a good team effort.”

Le Crom agreed that Wharton played an important role in the wins.

“He was involved with counterattacks and made some good passes. He was sharp for us and involved in every goal,” he said. “Another thing I liked about him as well, is he needed more work defensively on Sunday, and he stepped up to the plate and helped us with that.”

Wharton, a former U15 Boys National Team player, said the ability to hit the killer pass is something he has worked on.

“I believe it is one of my strengths. I have pretty good vision. I can knock the ball around the field and put good weight on the passes to put my teammates in better position to score,” he said. “ I like to watch the EPL. A lot of their midfielders distribute the ball well. They are good on both sides of the ball. I’m not that much of a tackler but I’m trying to work on that.”

Strikers have just three games remaining in divisional play, vs. Greensboro, CASL and Virginia Rush. Winning out is probably necessary to clinch a berth in the June playoffs, to be held in Greensboro.