Drama in Academy home finale

Los Angeles sides prove tough matchups for Sounders Academy.

TUKWILA, WASH—In their last home fixtures of the season, Sounders FC Academy hosted non-divisional opponents LA Galaxy and Chivas USA this past weekend at Starfire Sports Complex. The U18’s (9-12-4, 7-5-1, 22 points NW Division) and the U16’s (15-6-4, 10-2-1, 31 points NW Division) each came away with one point, the U18’s drawing 1-1 with Chivas on Sunday thanks to a late penalty kick, and the U16’s matching the Galaxy in a shootout 4-4 on Saturday. Over the course of the weekend, Aaron Kovar scored the lone goal for the U18’s, while David Olsen knocked in three scores for U16’s.

In Saturday’s U18 match, the Galaxy jumped on the Rave Green early with three first-half goals en route to a 4-0 win, but the U16 game proved to be quite a prolific offensive matchup. Olsen put Seattle up in the third minute with a close range goal just seconds after his sure-goal header was cleared off the line. LA responded with two goals before the 20th minute to take a 2-1 advantage. 15 minutes later, Sounders FC countered with two scores of their own when Denis Kalamar and Olsen scored a minute apart. Duncan McCormick connected with a Kyle Bjornethun cross to make it 4-2 before the half, but two Galaxy second-half goals would even the score 4-4 before the final whistle.

On Sunday, Chivas USA went up 1-0 early in the U18 matchup, a lead that stood until the game’s final minutes. With three minutes remaining, Sounders forward Austin Curtis was pulled down in the box, forcing a penalty kick and an ejection for the Chivas goalkeeper. Kovar subsequently drilled the PK into the back of the net to force the 1-1 draw.

In the U16 matchup, Seattle surrendered a goal in the game’s opening moments before Olsen collected a loose ball in the box and hammered an equalizer in the 14th minute. Chivas scored to go up 2-1 in the 35th, but again the Rave Green responded when McCormick scored his second goal of the weekend in the 37th. However, a Chivas second-half goal would go without response as the U16’s were downed 3-2.

Sounders FC Academy returns to action June 3rd for the season finale when they travel up to Vancouver to take on Whitecaps FC at Simon Fraser University.