Philadelphia Union Academy teams get mixed returns in busy weekend of games

A busy weekend of games on Saturday and Sunday for the Philadelphia Union Academy produced a mixed bag of results last weekend with an overall record of 5-3-2 in games against Baltimore Armour, PDA, Met Oval and TSF Academy.

U18s
The Union U18s lost their first game of the calendar year as Baltimore Armour overcame a 1-0 deficit to win 3-1 on Saturday and snap the Union’s four-game winning streak. But a day later, the U18s held onto a three-goal lead to beat Players Development Academy 3-2.

Darius Lewis put the Union up 1-0 in the 14th minute on Saturday with his sixth goal of the season but a Ben Alexander equalizer before halftime and a second-half brace from Dominic-Maximilian Duncan off a pair of counter attacks gave the visitors the win and revenge for an 8-0 loss at YSC Sports last March.

On Sunday at Power Training Complex, the U18s went up 3-0 behind first half goals from Issa Rayyan, Josue Monge and Justin McMaster but had to hold off a second half surge from PDA, which pulled back a pair of goals by Josh Burnett and Hans Kroschwitz.

Bethlehem Steel FC defender Matthew Real returned to the U18 roster on Sunday for the first time since he signed a pro contract in January. He played the full 90 minutes. Saturday’s game marked the U18 debut of two regulars from the U16 team in Aziz Saidi and Kevin Escobar, who started and played the full 90 minutes at left back.

Despite the loss on Saturday, the U18s remain in first place in the Atlantic Division standings with a 14-3-1 record and still sit in first place overall in the league with the most points per game.

U16s
Forward Chad Letts continued his fine form from the Generation adidas Cup finals and rescued a point for 10-man Union after coming on as a substitute in a 1-1 draw with Baltimore Armour at YSC Sports on Saturday.

Letts’ goal, his fifth of the season, came in the 80th minute and canceled out Christian Sorto’s 42nd minute penalty kick.

The U16s went down to 10 men in the 51st minute when Sean Smolyn was shown a second yellow for a foul on a breakaway opportunity. But Michael Pellegrino, who shifted back to center back, paired well with Andrew Taber and Kristopher Shakes made a couple fine saves to keep the visitors off the board.

Three goals in a nine-minute span doomed the U16s on Sunday at Power Training Complex. Dantouma Toure, Zach Riviere and Nigel Griffith all found the back of the net for Players Development Academy and goalkeeper Boris DelValle recorded a clean sheet for the visitors.

The U16 offense has now been held to just one goal in their last three matches and is 10 points behind Baltimore Armour in the Atlantic Division standings. Their record of 8-4-6 also has them currently missing out on a playoff spot.

U14s
The U14 team drew 2-2 on the road at Met Oval on Saturday and beat Players Development Academy 4-1 at Cabrini University on Sunday.

Selmir Miscic scored his fourth of the season and Ennis Stewart opened his scoring account on Saturday while Miscic and Tisanshuo Yang each had braces in the 4-1 win on Sunday.

U13s
The U13 team beat Met Oval 2-0 on the road on Saturday but fell 1-0 to Players Development Academy on Sunday at Cabrini University.

Quinn Sullivan and Jarman Reilly had the goals on Saturday and Aiden Elvidge recorded the clean sheet.

U12s
The U12 team swept a pair of games against TSF Academy with 2-1 and 5-0 wins on Saturday.

Julian Pittaoulils had a brace in the first game while Nelson Pierre and Ian Abbey each had a brace and Ryan Lau added a goal in the second game. Pierre leads the team with 32 goals on the season, Abbey now has 15 goals and Lau scored his first.