Philadelphia Union Academy teams end season with mixed results in Indiana

The 2016-17 season for the Philadelphia Union Academy officially ended this week in Indiana with the U16 and U18 teams both being eliminated from the U.S. Soccer Development Academy playoffs.

And while the U16 and U18 teams managed just one win between them in six playoff games, the U14 team won all three of their showcase matches in Indiana by a combined score of 12-1.

U18s
The U18s entered into the playoffs champions of the Atlantic Division and the third overall seed, but managed just two goals in three losses to Real So Cal, Lonestar SC and Crew SC Academy Wolves.

One of those goals was quite possibly the goal of the tournament though from second half substitute Emmanuel Perez in a 3-1 loss to Lonestar SC.

The other goal came from Kalil ElMedkhar in the 24th minute against Crew SC Academy Wolves. The Union were already down 2-0 when ElMedkhar’s goal cut the lead in half, but two more goals from the Wolves in the next four minutes put the game well out of reach.

U16s
The U16 team went 1-2-0 in their playoff group with a 4-3 win over Vancouver Whitecaps and 2-1 losses to LA Galaxy and Houston Dynamo.

Liam O’Brien’s 79th minute goal was the difference in the win over Vancouver. Chad Letts, Seth Kuhn and Brenden Aaronson also had goals in the match. Kuhn’s 9th minute goal for the U16s put them up 1-0 going into the break, but two second half goals were the difference in the loss to Houston on Monday.

U14s
The U14s found much more success in Indiana in three showcase matches with 4-0 wins over Seattle Sounders and San Jose Earthquakes and 4-1 win over Crossfire Premier.

Tianshuo Yang led the way with four of the teams goals and Zephyn Brockert-Kress had two. Jack Roberto, Zach Golden, Selmir Miscic, Dante Huckaby, Adam Lenges and Paxten Aronson also scored. Lukas Burns recorded clean sheets in both the Sounders and Earthquakes wins.