Academy

U-17s at Aegon Future Cup 2011

Photo Credit: 

Junior Castro/dcunited.com

On Thursday D.C. United’s Under-17 Academy side settled into their accommodations in downtown Amsterdam ahead of their participation in the 2011 Aegon Future Cup, and it wasn’t long before the magnitude of this weekend’s challenge was driven home to them.

United will face their counterparts from Bayern Munich in the third and final match of group play in Ajax’s prestigious youth tournament, and with the German superpower staying in the same hotel, D.C. got a daunting glimpse of the Bavarian giants they’ll likely have to defeat to advance to the tourney’s final rounds.

Potomac Soccer Wire recently caught up with Virginia Soccer Association coach Paul Frascione, who in January was named the Virginia Youth Soccer Association's Girls Recreation Coach of the Year.

PSW: Hi Paul. Congratulations on being named Region I and VYSA Girls Recreation Coach of the Year. Did you know you were nominated?

The Dallas Cup is hitting the quarterfinal stage today in Dallas Texas, and despite valiant efforts from several local youth teams, none of them were able to secure enough points to move on from group play to the knockout rounds.

Wet weather has wreaked havoc on the mid-Atlantic soccer scene this month. But Maryland's State Cup participants had a little more luck playing last weekend, with more than a dozen matches contested before the rain shut down the majority of area fields.

WAGS

While the majority of the area's Washington Area Girls Soccer League games were canceled this weekend due to the impressive thunderstorms that came up from the south on Saturday, some teams managed to squeeze games in before the deluge hit.

High School Divisions

In High School Division 1, McLean Fusion won both of their matches against the Crofton Wolves and FC Virginia Courage. The two wins leave them undefeated this season, and all the rest of the squads will be hard-pressed to catch up in points.

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WASHINGTON – Instead of getting to relax and rest on their spring break over the next two weeks, two D.C. United Academy teams are heading south to test themselves against some of the best youth clubs around at the 2011 Dallas Cup.

This time of year is usually a two-week break for D.C.’s Academy, but this year the coaching staff decided otherwise in an attempt to bring the team together.

The D.C. United U-16s beat their Chicago Fire counterparts for the 2011 Charleston Challenge Academy Cup championship.

Photo Credit: 

Courtesy of D.C. United

On Sunday, Dallas welcomes the world.

The 32nd annual Dallas Cup, North America’s top youth tournament, gets underway this weekend as 70 youth soccer teams from overseas line up against the best youth teams the US has to offer.

Among those playing are academy teams some of the biggest clubs in the world, including Arsenal, Corinthians and Barcelona. It’s that list of international teams that has the tournament’s executive director Gordon Jago excited about this year’s iteration.

WAGS

The third weekend of WAGS play is upon us, and many teams will go into the weekend hoping for winning results -- not to mention better weather than the league's previous 2011 matchdays.

In High School Division 1, McLean Fusion has already established themselves as the clear leader, with three wins. They play the Crofton Wolves on Saturday and DSC Sparks on Sunday. The Wolves have won one match so far, and the Sparks lost their only game. If the Fusion can win both, it could be hard for anyone to catch up.

Despite many cancellations across the state thanks to the rain this past weekend, Virginia State Cup action kicked off on Saturday. After two days of intense play, many teams moved on to the next round, and many more went home empty-handed.

U-14

Maryland State Cup logo - 2011

The Maryland State Cup competition had an early start this year, opening on March 17 with competition in the Under-17 boys division. In that first game, Bethesda Real defeated FC Frederick 2-1 to move on. The first girls' game was played on March 26 between the ASA Vipers and United Premier Azzurri. The Vipers won 4-1, which kept them alive in the U-17 bracket.

The Boys