Once again, the Orlando City SC Pro Academy had a great weekend.
The Club’s U-17/18 squad got back to its winning ways Saturday against IMG Academy. David Norris scored off a free kick and David Loera scored a nice goal to make it 2-0.
“It was 0-0 at halftime, so it was a hard game, little bit hard to break them down,” Academy Director and U-17/18 head coach David Longwell said. “Second half the boys came out and did really well. They deserved to win.”
The U-17/18s now sit atop the Southeast Division and are third in the nation. Loera, who was called up to the U.S. U-19 national team training camp at the end of September, now has seven goals in eight games for City. Loera also played three games with Orlando City B and set up the game-winning goal in stoppage time at Louisville City on July 30.
The U-15/16s earned a 4-0 victory over IMG Academy, this time in a comfortable 4-0 margin in Sanford.
“I thought they played well throughout the game,” Longwell said. “There were a number of boys that I thought stood out on Saturday.”
The U-13s and U-14s played at the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Regional Showcase in Winston-Salem, N.C. Each team’s slate was divided into three games: two 50-minute games on Day 1 and a full-length match on Day 2.
The U-14s defeated the New York Cosmos U-14s 2-1 before falling to New York Red Bulls U-14s later that on Saturday. Then on Sunday they played a tight match against the Philadelphia Union U-14s but fell 3-2.
In their two matches on Friday, the U-13s drew the Red Bulls U-13s 3-3 and fell to the Players Development Academy 2-1. They rebounded nicely on Saturday, though, with a 3-1 win over D.C. United.
“A positive thing for us as a Club is we’ve obviously got a recognizable style of play. We got a lot of positive feedback from a lot of people at the Showcase on how we’re trying to play.”
Back in Sanford, Orlando City’s U-12s were simply dominant. Divided into two separate squads, the U-12s slammed IMG Academy 9-0 and 1-0. As nice as the wins are, what’s important is the way they’re playing.
“[The Academy] won some games, they lost some games, but the most important thing was the kids worked hard within the system, played well and obviously got a lot of learning from it,” Longwell said. “It’s not results oriented. Yeah it’s good if they win, but the most important thing is how they’re playing, how they’re performing and looking at long-term development.”
Part of that development is promoting younger players that are excelling in their age group.
At just 16 years old, Allen “AJ” Seals was promoted from the U-15/16s to the U-17/18s and has already contributed a goal this season.
The Academy squads will be back in action this weekend against Clearwater Chargers Development Academy.
