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The Philadelphia Union Academy U18 and U16 teams learned who their opponents for the U.S. Development Academy playoffs will be with a draw on Wednesday that was live tweeted.
The U16 team, a 12 seed, were drawn into Group A with Vancouver Whitecaps, Real Salt Lake and the Miami-based Kendall SC.
Third overall seed Vancouver finished the regular season 23-5-3 and won the Northwest Division. Real Salt Lake made it as a wild card team with an 18-13-5 record and fifth place finish in the Southwest Division. Kendall SC also made it in as a wild card, finishing in fifth place in the Southeast Division with a 14-10-8 record.
The U16 team advanced all the way to the finals last season and finished third after losing the semifinal to FC Dallas and beating Georgia United in the third place game.
The eighth-seeded U18 team were drawn into Group G in their age division with defending champs Chicago Fire, Kendall SC and Beachside SC. The Fire (14-6-5) finished fourth in the Mid-America Division to earn a wild card spot. Kendall SC (20-6-6) finished third place in the Southeast Division to earn a 13 seed and Beachside SC (12-2-2-) were third in the Northeast Division and 21st overall.
The U18s failed to advance out of the group stage last year.
The group stage of the playoffs will be held in Frisco, Texas, from June 22-26. The U14 team will also be traveling to Frisco for the U14 Summer Showcase June 20-23.
A total of 32 teams will compete in the group stage in each age division. The winner of each group will advance to knockout round games to be played at the higher seed's home facility on July 6 for the U16s and July 7 for the U18 division. The four winners from the knockout round will advance to the semifinals in Carson, California on July 14 and the final and third place game on July 16.
The U18 and U16 teams have made the playoffs all three years since the teams joined the Development Academy in 2013-14. The teams failed to advance out of their groups in 2013-14.