Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo ran out to a perfect 4-0 start in USYSA National League play this past week in Wilson, NC. Led by tri-captain Hope D’Addario’s 2 goals and 4 assists from her right back position, Botafogo scored 15 goals while only conceding 1.

Botafogo opened play on Thursday against North Shore United from Wisconsin and just like in this summer’s USYSA Region II Final Botafogo won 3-0. Meegan Johnston opened the scoring in the 6th minute from Hope D’Addario’s cross. Hope then converted a PK in the 50th minuted before serving a perfect corner-kick for Gianna Dal Pozzo to emphatically head home in the 58th minute. Megan Geldernick and Kiley Dunning shared the shutout in goal.

On Friday Botafogo took on Empire Revolution Academy from Western New York and Bryce Banuelos quickly put the game out of reach with two great goals. In the 4th minute Jenna Romano and Rachele Armand provide the assists after a perfect training ground run out of the back, and in the 20th minute Hope D’Addario and Zoey Goralski provided the perfect link-up play.

Zoe Swift then took over with two spectacular goals in the 36th and 55th minutes, on either side of the lone goal Botafogo conceded all week, assisted by Kaitlin Johnson and Gianna Dal Pozzo. Darby Moran then closed out the scoring at 5-1 in the 80th minute from a perfect Molly Piech set-up.

The toughest test of the week came on Saturday against Albion White from California South, but after a nervy first 15 minutes Botafogo slowly established dominance and after Hope D’Addario’s Olympico goal in the 39th minute, which proved to be the game-winner, there was never any real doubt about the eventual outcome.

A very strong second half performance saw numerous near-misses for Botafogo, but it was a thing of beauty that finally put the game to rest in the 70th minute. Zoe Swift collected the ball at the edge of the penalty box, and after cheekily nutmegging the hapless defender she served in a perfect cross, which Kaitlin Johnson headed home with an incredibly powerful airborne header. Megan Geldernick recorded her second shutout of the week in goal.

For interviews with tri-captain Jenna Romano and Assistant Coach John Rizzo as well as game footage please check out this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8yrg-J-mbk&feat… at the 0:18-0:42 mark and the 6:25-7:57 mark.

Botafogo saved the best for last, though, and put on an incredible display of patient possession soccer as well as incisive combination attacking in Sunday’s 7:30am match-up against Players SC from Nevada. By the 7th minute Zoey Goralski and Bryce Banuelos had already made it 2-0 assisted by Gianna Dal Pozzo (2), Ashley Handwork, and Zoey Goralski.

Ashley Handwork made it 3-0 in the 26th minute from Hope D’Addario and Dana Miller, and Gianna Dal Pozzo toe-poked the 4th goal home in the 41st minute after a great combination with Zoe Swift. Swift then finished the scoring in the 64th minute when she nutmegged the Players’ defender out of the air on her first touch from Ashley Handwork’s pass before calmly slotting it home at the foot of the far post.

Megan Geldernick and Kiley Dunning shared the shutout in goal and have now only allowed 4 goals trough 13 National League and MRL Premier Division games this Fall.

Next up for Botafogo will be the final 3 games of the National League season to be played in conjunction with the Disney Showcase in Orlando, FL December 31st-January 3rd. With two wins out its 3 games there Botafogo will earn a berth in next summer’s USYSA National Championships in Overland Park, KS.

7 Team Chicago Academy players played pivotal roles as their Region II ODP teams emerged victorious at the ODP Interregional Event in Boca Raton, FL over the Thanksgiving week.

Team Chicago Academy-Santos outside back Talise Romain helped her 1996 Region II team to the Interregional title with a 1-0 defeat of Region I, a 1-1 tie against Region III, and a 2-0 win over Region IV.

The 1995 Region II team had an even stronger Team Chicago flavor as 6 of the starters are from Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo. Bryce Banuelos, Gianna Dal Pozzo, Meegan Johnston, Jenna Romano, Rachele Armand, and Zoey Goralski all excelled as Region II defeated Region I 4-0, Region III 2-1, and Region IV 2-1. Bryce Banuelos and Meegan Johnston each scored a goal for Region II and Gianna Dal Pozzo, Zoey Goralski, Jenna Romano, and Rachele Armand anchored a stingy defense while playing great possession soccer out of the back.

Waubonsie Valley H.S. Head Coach Julie Bergstrom was part of the Region II coaching staff at the event, and she put together a 10-minute highlight reel from the game against Region I. Please, sit back and enjoy a very impressive performance by the Team Chicago and Region II girls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbZMaG7F5qI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Team Chicago Academy-Brasilia and their families joined forces to collect donations for PFC Ryan Pertile and his Squad from the 573d Clearance Company. Ryan is the brother of Brasilia defender Mary Pertile, and is currently serving in Afghanistan.

The girls collected and shipped a total of 8 boxes filled with toiletries, snacks, candy, and other essentials, as well as money to help with the shipping cost. Letters and cards of encouragement were written as well as a great Brasilia Team picture.

What a wonderful show of support for our soldiers, and the perfect way to start the season of giving.

This week three Team Chicago Academy teams will be traveling to the Raleigh, NC area to compete in a national event. U18 Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo will open its USYS National League play with 4 games at Gillette Park in Wilson, NC while U17 Team Chicago Academy-Santos and U16 Team Chicago Academy-Internacional will be showcasing themselves at the prestigious CASL College Showcase in front of hundreds of college coaches from all over the U.S. and Canada at the WRAL Complex in Raleigh, NC.

Here is the USYS preview of the U18 National League age group:

2012-2013 National League Preview | Under-18 Girls
Central Valley Chilipeppers (CA-N) CUP Crew Jrs Gold 94/95 (OH-S) Herndon Firecats (VA) Kings Hammer Academy Red (OH-S) Legends FC 94 (CA-S) Lou Fusz Wipke (MO) Michigan FC 95 (MI) SDFC Lynx (NJ)

Albion SC White (CA-S) Blast FC (OH-S) Empire Revolution Academy (NY-W) North Shore United Blue (WI) Players SC (NV) SCFC 95 Premier (S-TX) Team Chicago Academy Botafogo (IL) VSA Heat Blue (VA)

Last year’s National Championship finalists head each division of the Under-18 Girls as Legends FC (CA-S) claimed the division title last season with a 5-0-2 record ahead of VSA Heat Blue (VA), who finished 4-0-3 after the two drew 0-0 in league play. Both advanced to the National Championship game, VSA as Region I Champions, where VSA exacted revenge with a ruthless 6-0 victory in which Legends simply couldn’t get their feet under them. Last year’s divisional runner-up and Region II semifinalist Michigan FC, Lou Fusz Wipke (MO), formerly JB Marine Wipke, and Herndon Firecats (VA) will challenge Legends for the Blue Division. League newcomer and Region II Champion Team Chicago Botafogo (IL), Region II finalist North Shore United (WI) and Blast FC (OH-S) should push VSA for the Red title.

“We’re really excited about going down to Raleigh,” said VSA Heat Blue Head Coach Steve Smith.
“You definitely play the best teams from the country, so I think there’s a standard and to get into the League is extremely difficult. I think it’s important that each team earns their spot.”

Smith stressed the importance of competing in the National League as part of their successful run at the National Championships and having 16 players committed to play NCAA Division I college soccer.

“I think the biggest thing is we want to play the best competition, and obviously the National League provides that. We want to give the girls an environment where they can prepare themselves to play at the next level at college.”

“You get to compete against the best players around the country in the National League, and I think that really brings out the best in the girls and in our team. Every game last year, we were close, and the girls had to be really focused mentally and physically to do their job. I think National League really prepared us for when we went to the National Championship last summer.”

“To get back to the National Championships? I think it’d be the culmination of everything, it’d be huge. When we came together to start training for the season, the girls said that their goal was to get to Nationals. They’re very focused, so I think it would be the icing on the cake.”

It’s not hard to find out where VSA’s success starts. During the 11-12 National League season, VSA conceded just three goals while scoring just eight en route to an undefeated second place finish. VSS advanced to the National Championships as Region I Champions, where West Virginia commit Daniela Neves led all scorers with four. At Nationals, the team shutout all four opponents and exploded for 14 goals in four games. James Madison commit Ashley Herndon led all scorers in South Carolina with four, while Christina Corbin (Coastal Carolina) added two and eight other players added a goal. Awarded for winning the National Championship without being scored on, defender Megan Cox (James Madison) was awarded the Golden Ball while keeper Taylor Kerxton (Wake Forest) won Golden Glove. Vanessa Kovar (South Carolina) was also named to the Best XI team.

“I think the goal is to try to get one of the two berths to Nationals. We want to finish in the top two,” said Smith. "We know we’ve got a big target on our back being the champs from this past summer, so we’re going to have to stay healthy and make sure we come out with our best game every time. It gives us a lot of motivation to get back out to National Championships in July.

“Nationals was top-class, well run. The best event I’ve ever been to. The venue was amazing, the banquet was top-class, it was a once in a lifetime experience for myself and all the girls on the team.”

Knowing they had to win out in Las Vegas last season to clinch the division, Legends FC ran off three victories to cap the second best goal total in league history with 22 scored, 3.14 per game. National’s Best XI honoree Ally Moon led the team with five goals during the National League season, tied for second best in the age group, and Seattle Univ. commit Emily Castellano added four. Best XI player MeiLessah Rangel led the team with two goals at Nationals.

Michigan FC was just two points away from a division crown last year and fell short of the National Championships as they were ousted in the Region II Championship semifinals by Team Chicago. Michigan will try to put the heat on Legends in the Blue Division, and they’ll need the services of Ava Doetsch (Nebraska – Omaha) and Vija Veinbergs to get over the hump. Doetsch led the team and finished second in scoring at Regionals with four goals, while
Veinbergs led the team last season with four scored.

Region II Champion Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo dropped a 2-1 decision in their last preliminary game of the National Championships which left them out of the title game. Botafogo is loaded with future college talent that includes players headed to the ACC, Big 10, Big East, Pac-12 and SEC conferences. Miami (Fla.) commit Gianna Dal Pozzo led her team in scoring at Nationals with two goals, while U.S. National Team pool member Zoe Swift (Kentucky) led all scorers at Regionals with five. Ashley Handwork (Marquette) and Bryce Banuelos (West Virginia) also contributed three goals each in the Region II run. Despite all the talent, no Team Chicago players were named to the Best XI team at Nationals, but U.S. National Team pool members Jenna Romano (Wake Forest) and Zoey Goralski (UCLA) will also play big roles.

“The National League has really made it a competitive environment for our girls. They know when they step on the field they’re going to have to bring their best game, otherwise we’re not going to be successful,” said Smith. “Every game is a tough one, and I think that’s the important part of it, being able to compete and knowing that that’s going to transfer to when they go to college.”

More Players to Watch:

Rose Lavelle (CUP Crew Jrs): Region II ODP player and Wisconsin commit
Kelly Neeb (CUP Crew Jrs): Region II ODP player and Auburn commit
Haley Gribler (CUP Crew Jrs): Region II ODP player and Lee Univ. commit
Brenna Mason (Empire Revolution): Region I ODP player and Colgate commit
Jade Klump (Lou Fusz): Region II ODP player and Kentucky commit
Melanie Donaldson (Lou Fusz): Region II ODP player and Missouri commit

Team Chicago Academy-Santos clinched the MRL First Division Green title and promotion to the 2013 MRL Premier Division with two convincing 4-0 victories at home this past weekend. With the two wins Santos also finished with a perfect 7-0 record and 21 goals for and 2 goals against.

Co-Captain Kaela Leskovar led the way with a brace in both games as FC Milwaukee and Croatian Eagles both were easily dismissed by a dominant Santos squad. Co-Captain Kristen Brots had a brace in the Saturday game while Heather Handwork and Hannah Rodgers rounded out the scoring. GKs Courtney Keefer and Abbey Fuster recorded the two shutouts behind an exceptional defensive unit consisting of AJ Jakuszewski, Rachael Brots, Talise Romain, Kelsey Pruett, and Abbey Mazur who had an impressive .29 goal-against-average for the MRL season.

Overall this Fall’s MRL season has been a huge success for the Team Chicago Academy teams with Botafogo winning its second consecutive MRL Premier Division title and a berth into the USYS Region II Championships, and both the Eagles in the U14 Boys Division and Brasilia in the U14 Girls Division having outstanding first seasons in MRL. Overall Team Chicago Academy teams had a combined 24-4-4 record with 90 goals for and 24 goals against for the season. In addition to this, Cruzeiro breezed through the U13 Girls MRL qualification and will be participating in the MRL this upcoming Spring.

Great job everyone!!!