Philadelphia Union Academy flexes its muscles against Cedar Stars

After a weekend off because of snow, the Philadelphia Union Academy teams had a productive day on Saturday, going unbeaten against Cedar Stars Academy.

In the U18 game, Darius Lewis scored in the first minute of play and goalkeeper Matthew Freese and the Union back line did the rest to keep Cedar Stars off the score sheet. The start was just the second for the Harvard-bound Freese, who picked up his first clean sheet.

Midfielders Brenden Aaronson and Seth Kuhn were both in the U18 starting lineup for the first time. Kuhn went the full 90 minutes in his U18 debut.

With the win, the U18s (11-2-1) are now level on points with the New York Red Bulls in first place in the Atlantic Division with a game in hand.

The U16 game was the lone result for Cedar Stars. Alexander Mieles scored a 60th minute equalizer for Cedar Stars after Chad Letts put the Union on the board with his third goal of the season in the 18th minute. Academy newcomer Andres Sanchez, who recently joined the Union from Davie United Sharks SC in Florida, made his team debut as a sub in the 63rd minute.

With the 1-1 draw, the Union remain in third place in the Atlantic Division with 25 points - 8 behind first place Baltimore Armour, which has played three more games.

Aboubacar Camara had a hat trick to lead the U14 team to a 3-1 win. Camara now has 16 goals on the season to lead the team. Osbin Mendez scored the lone goal for the visitors in the 44th minute.

The U14s are unbeaten (4-0-1) over their last five games, dating back to late October.

Jack Roberto had a hat trick, Dante Huckaby and Quinn Sullivan each registered a brace while four others found the back of the net in a 11-0 win for the Union in the U13 game.

Roberto, who is tied for the team lead in goals with seven, scored his hat trick inside a half hour and Christopher Hackley, Marco Silva, Matteo Infante and Sean Bettenhausen all got in on the goal-scoring party.

The U12s swept their two games on Sunday with scorelines of 3-1 and 4-0. Nelson Pierre had a brace and Sawyer Koza added a goal in the first game while Dylan Lacy, Marcello Mazzola, Nicolas Rubio and Anthony Derk each scored in the second game.

The Union U18 and U16 teams travel to New Hampshire this Saturday to take on Seacoast United while the U14s and U13s visit BW Gottschee Academy in Brooklyn on Sunday and the U12 team hits the road to Bethlehem to take on Lehigh Valley United on Saturday.