It was a busy weekend in Rockford for Team Chicago Academy teams participating in the IYSA State Cup Round of 16 and 1/4-finals. Team Chicago Academy-Bahia in the U12 Girls and Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro in the U13 Girls division advanced to Saturday’s Semi-Finals, while Team Chicago Academy-Eagles had their best-ever finish with a run to the 1/4-Final of the U14 Boys division.

Team Chicago Academy-Bahia closed out the weekend in strong fashion with two consecutive wins in the U12G IYSA State Cup. Overall their record was a perfect 3-0 which puts them into the Semi-Final against Grove United at 9:30am next Saturday. On Saturday they faced Chicago Lakefront and ended the game with a 3-1 win in tough conditions. Fighting significant winds the girls played their way through and controlled most of the match. Zaira Solis lead things off with a nice goal catching the GK out of position. The two remaining goals were off rebounds and were put away by Frankie Magno and again by Zaira Solis. Bahia consistently attacked in the second half with many players contributing to the attack. Jennifer Garcia’s work-rate in the midfield did not go unnoticed.

The second game was versus TCSA with the winner advancing to the Semi-Final. Both teams finished 2-0 in the previous games. The girls came out in great form in the first 5 minutes and could have put two away but had near misses. Finally they broke through on a corner from Paige Miller that found Erin McCarthy who scored a great one time finish. The first half would end 1-0 in favor of Bahia. In the second half Bahia came out and scored in the first minute on a goal by Paige Miller that was set up by Sophia Majher. After receiving the ball Paige dribbled through two defenders before slotting the GK. Bahia continued to build on the momentum when Katie Murphy was fouled in the box. She stepped up and calmly drilled it past the GK to make it 3-0. Soon after Paige Miller would make it 4-0 with the same type of play set up again by Sophia Majher. Finally, things were capped off by a nice goal from Frankie Magno which was set up by Zaira Solis to make it 5-0.

Great job to the entire team with special recognition to Abbie Brennan and the entire defense (Erin McCarthy, Shannon Tagler, Lauren Douglass and Kiley McKee) for only allowing two goals.

Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro defeated TCSA 4-0 on Saturday. They ran out to a 2-0 within the first 10 minutes on a great goal by Mia Lakstigala from Kerry Abello’s perfect cross. Kerry then scored directly off a corner kick to double the lead.

In the second half Kerry was taken down after a surging run and Renae Blevins expertly put the PK away. Kerry got the final goal off great passing from Renae and Madison Zaleski to send Cruzeiro to the 1/4-Final. Bailee Witt and Anna Aubuchon got the shutout in goal.

On Sunday Cruzeiro faced the U12 Campton United team and it was a tight match in terms of the scoreline. However, Cruzeiro dominated the possession and chances heavily. Campton did score first, but answered back immediately when Jamie Goralski finished off a great attack that was started by Jordan King and Kerry Abello.

In the second half Cruzeiro kept up the pressure but the ball didn’t seem to want to go in. Renae Blevins had a great freekick that hit the post twice, but eventually was cleared off the line. With 12 minutes left Jamie Goralski found Lauryn Wesoloski who threaded a perfectly weighted through-ball in Riley O’Brien’s run and Riley calmly slotted the ball past the on-rushing GK for the game-winner.

Cruzeiro will now face Campton United in Saturday’s Semi-Final at 8am in Rockford.

Team Chicago Academy-Eagles began their State Cup run on Saturday with a convincing 2-0 over Linces Tomayo. The Eagles came out firing on all cylinders with a lot of offensive pressure, which led to an early goal and the eventual game-winner just 3 minutes in the game.

Victor Cuevas connected with a nice ball over the top of the Linces’ defense from Emerson Beinhauer to get his first of 2 goals. The second goal came with 10 minutes left in the first half. With a piercing run down the sideline beating two defenders, Max Graf picked out Victor Cuevas streaking through the box and volleyed it home for his second goal of the game. Strong defensive play from the back line helped Brady Moody keep the clean sheet.

On Sunday the Eagles faced the expected State Cup champions Chicago Magic Pre-Academy in a tough 1/4-Final match-up. The Eagles fought extremely hard against a very strong opponent, and only a 2-minute let-down just before the half stopped the Eagles from pulling off the upset. The boys could still be very proud of their first-ever 1/4-Final run in State Cup.

Team Chicago Academy-Palmeiras lost a heartbreaker 4-3 against a solid Chicago Kickers club in State Cup play over the weekend. With wind gusts up to 35 mph, the conditions made play very difficult and Palmeiras found themselves in a 4-1 hole with wind-aided goals midway through the second half. Bobby Ohse had the lone first half goal off a Chris Freeman corner.

Palmeiras showed tremendous character and resilience in the match and got back a goal with 12 minutes left off a short corner from Chris Freeman and a blast from David Sanchez. A minute later, Palmeiras brought the game within a goal off a Chris Freeman rocket from 35 yards out. Palmeiras pressured Chicago Kickers for the last ten minutes with multiple shots and were denied by some quality goalkeeping, as Kickers secured the win.

Palmeiras continues on in their season with NISL league play, State Premiership Division and the NSR Midwest Cup as they round out the Spring season.

Team Chicago Academy-Panthers had a breakout tournament and secured their first silverware during the Red Lion Invitational in Indianapolis, IN last weekend.

The Panthers played four games in a round-robin group of five teams, placing second in a very competitive group. The Panthers lost a closely contested game by 1-0 to the eventual champions, Fishers SC, in the opening game of the tournament. Determined to win, the girls rallied to pick up two straight games against closely matched Indianaplois area teams, at 1-0 and 3-0, respectively.

Needing a tie or a win in the last game to place, the Panthers put together a fantastic team effort to return from being 2-0 down at half time against a strong FC pride team, to end in a 2-2 draw.

Through persistent pressure in the midfield, the Panthers dominated possession throughout the half, and ultimately drew a handball in the box to draw even with a well taken penalty.

Congratulations and well done Panthers!

Team Chicago Academy-Bahia has gotten off to a great start in the IYSA State Cup U12G Division. The Bahia opened up with a 5-1 win versus a very determined Jogo Bonito team. The first half ended in a 1-1 tie.

The IYSA U12 State Cup is played as a 9v9 competition while Bahia has played 11v11 all year. This combined with very difficult field conditions meant that Bahia needed to make some adjustments in the first half. However, the second half proved to be much better and was a great team effort.

With the exception of one mishap in the first half the defense did a fantastic job shutting down Jogo Bonito. The midfield did a much better job keeping possession of the ball which created many scoring opportunities. Sarah Davies had two goals followed by Sophia Majher, Zaira Solis and Katie Murphy each netting a goal.

Next up for Bahia in State Cup play is a game on Saturday in Rockford versus Chicago Lakefront and then on Sunday versus TCSA Premier Black.

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Team Chicago Academy-Palmeiras has gotten through the early stages of the newly developed State Premiership Division with great success. Palmeiras currently sits atop the standings of the U18 Premiership Division through the first couple of games with an undefeated start.

Palmeiras started off the inaugural premiership campaign with a draw against a very talented Southwest SC team, 3-3. David Sanchez had a fantastic hat-trick in a very wind-aided first game with assists from Matt Coley, Chris Freeman and Matt Bayna. In the second game of the league, Palmeiras was able to top Linces Tamayo 2-1 off another goal from David Sanchez and a fantastic strike from 35 yards out from Keath Levitt. The new league has been a tremendous opportunity for Palmeiras to get exposure top quality talent from throughout Illinois as they prepare for their State Cup run next week.

The Illinois Youth Soccer State Premiership Division (SPD) is a state-run competitive division for premier teams registered with Illinois Youth Soccer member competitive leagues (IYSA Member League). This elite competition was designed to reduce costs and travel expenses for elite teams and allow the best teams in Illinois an opportunity to compete against the other top teams in the state while meeting the requirements for State Cup and Midwest Regional League (MRL).