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Across the country this weekend 77 Under-18 and Under-16 teams and 88 Under-14 clubs of varying levels took to the field (or turf, sadly) for the first matches of the season. While the Under 14s traveled to Queens, New York to play new Academy members Metropolitan Oval., the high school kids stayed in Wayne to play Baltimore Bays Chelsea.
U17/18s
The oldest Doopers kicked off the new season with a resounding 4-1 victory at home. Both of the strikers who joined the Under 18s this summer, Sebastian Elney and Michael Swift, scored in their debuts while Brendan Levano picked up right where he left off last season by scoring late to help put the match away. The blowout was a similar result to how the Union started last season, when they dominated each of the Richmond clubs 6-0 on the same weekend. Next the Under 18s travel to nearby Conshohocken to play reigning champions Players Development Academy.
A new season of academy recaps mean a new season of highlight videos! No better place to start for the video spotlight than star striker Sebastian Elney. Here are videos of Elney playing with the U-18 MNT (scoring twice) and Boca United FC, his former club in Florida.
U15/16s
Colin Brezniak doesn't care about the age of the competition; he's just going to keep scoring. Brezniak, who scored 17 goals a season ago with the Under 14s, scored 2 goals within the first 15 minutes in a 7-0 rout of Baltimore Bays Chelsea. Tiger Graham (great name) scored a brace of his own, while newcomer Alex Soto capped the scoring. With help of former Under 14 star defenders Matthew Real and Andrew Aprahamian, goalkeeper Andrew Verdi managed to keep Baltimore off the scoreboard. The Under 16s will join the junior-seniors this weekend in Conshohocken when they also face off with PDA.
U13/14s
With a name that sounds like it was written out of the Bronx Tale script, Salvatore Rasizzi scored a hat trick as Met Oval trounced the middle school Doopers 3-1. Fimbarr Teah set off the scoring in the 10th minute before the New Yorkers tallied 3 unanswered goals. After losing so many of their top players to the 15/16s, the Under 14s are very much in rebuilding mode right now. They'll need to regroup quickly as they will also face PDA this Saturday at the Proving Grounds.