Team Chicago’s U11 Brasil Girls took home the first place trophy from the GLSA Octoberfest Classic in Libertyville, IL this past weekend. The Brasil Girls, coached by Brian Bierman, outscored their opponents 11-1 over the 4-game tournament.

The team kicked off pool play with a 7-0 victory over Libertyville U10 Orange. Nearly half the team’s members found the net, with goals by Eden Short (2), Jacqueline Stasny (2), Nikki Coryell, Tamara Hernandez, and Yanna Papoutsis. Allison Adams, Ellie Cast, and Bella Espinoza contributed with solid performances at mid-field, while Julia O’Dekirk and Sophie Benmore’s strong defensive play helped Emily Mauder earn the shutout on goalkeeper duty.

Game 2 proved to be a well-matched duel with Team Evanston Orange. After 50 minutes of play, neither team had notched a goal, ending in a 0-0 tie.

After a scoreless first half of Game 3, Nikki Coryell knocked in a corner kick from Eden Short. With another great cross from Short, Coryell sent it home once again to seal the 2-0 victory over BTSC Barcelona and earn the Brasil Girls a berth in the final.

In the Championship game versus Palatine Celtic, the Brasil Girls opened the scoring first with Eden Short finding the net early in the first half. Palatine answered not long after, notching the only goal of the tournament against the Brasil Girls. The game remained tied at 1-1 throughout the second half, sending the match into overtime. Near the end of the first OT period, Bella Espinoza chipped in a goal to give the Brasil Girls the lead. With no time remaining, the referee called a handball in the box, setting up a Palatine penalty kick. The shot went wide left of the net though, preserving the 2-1 win and a 1st place finish for the Brasil Girls.

Team Chicago Academy-Santos maintained its perfect MRL record with 3 wins in Wixom, MI this past weekend to move into the lead of the U17 Girls First Division Green.

On Saturday morning Santos defeated MI Jaguars 2-0 on goals by Kristen Brots, on a PK committed against Kelsey Pruett, and Kaela Leskovar on a perfect attack that was started by a Katie Ciesiulka driven diagonal through-ball into Talise Romain’s perfectly timed run out of the back. Courtney Keefer and Abbey Fuster shared the shutout in goal.

Saturday night Santos beat Livonia Meteors 2-1 on goals by Kaela Leskovar, from Heather Handwork, and Hannah Rodgers.

Finally, Santos defeated Vardar Ann Arbor 3-1 on Sunday morning behind a Kaela Leskovar brace less than two minutes apart in the 2nd half, and a Heather Handwork goal before the break.

Team Chicago Academy-Internacional lost a heart-breaker in its MRL Division game on Saturday conceding two late goals after Kiley Czerwinski had given Internacional the lead off a corner-kick with less than 10 minutes left in the game.

Alena Sidwell, Kiley Czerwinski, Jori Romano, Miranda Lambert, and Tori Christiansen had very strong performances for Internacional.

Three Team Chicago Academy teams traveled to Indianapolis over the Columbus Day Weekend to participate in the FC Pride Cup.

Team Chicago Academy-Bahia had a very successful weekend winning the U12-13 Division. They started off on Saturday morning on a field with less than ideal conditions and came out firing with a shutout over USF Real 5-0. In the afternoon the field and weather conditions were much improved and they took advantage by winning again by a margin of 5-1. These results put them into the semi-finals on Sunday morning and they didn’t disappoint.

Playing against a U13 team from the other division they won 1-0 on a nice goal from Zaira Solis. Solis’ goal came from a great combination play between Paige Miller and Sarah Davies that Zaira collected and showed great poise beating a girl in the box before placing the ball over the keeper.

In the final three different players contributed goals for the 3-0 win and the championship. Shannon Tagler started off the scoring with collecting a ball that came back to her outside the box and she played a well-hit ball over the keeper. Sarah Davies and Zaira Solis contributed the other tallies.

Overall there were many contributions on both sides of the ball leading to the championship, with special recognition to the back four and goal keepers for only allowing one goal the entire tournament.

Team Chicago Academy-Brasilia also had a successful weekend beating SMSC Lightning 2-0, tying Cleveland Impact 0-0, and beating Zionsville 6-1 enroute to the the Championship game. Playing a very strong FC Pride team in the U14 Final Brasilia fell 3-0 to the hosts.

Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro played in the U13 Premier Division and beat Tippecanoe 6-0, lost a heart-breaker 3-2 to Norco Pavlacic, and finally tying the hosts FC Pride 0-0.

Team Chicago Academy-Santos winger Heather Handwork has accepted a very generous scholarship to continue her soccer career at Marquette University. Handwork, who plays her prep soccer at Plainfield North H.S., will be part of Head Coach Markus Roeders’ 2014 freshman class.

At Marquette, Handwork will join both her sister Ashley Handwork from Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo (a 2013 recruit) and her Team Chicago Academy-Santos teammate Katie Ciesiulka who is a fellow 2014 recruit.

Marquette is a perennial Big East powerhouse and has been a Top-20 Division I program over the past many years.

Team Chicago Academy has announced the dates for the 2012-13 Boys U15-18 tryouts. Under the leadership of Team Chicago Academy Boys U15-18 Director Josh Robinson, the tryouts will be held at 4:30-5:30pm on Sunday, October 14th and Sunday, October 21st at PlayUSA at 2323 Liberty St. in Aurora, IL.

Please, go to the following link to register for the tryout http://www.teamchicagosoccer.org/tc_tryouts.htm