CHICAGO (April 23, 2024) - The Chicago Fire Academy had a successful weekend in MLS NEXT play as well as UPSL action. Across three age groups, the Fire recorded a record of 3-0-2 over this past weekend.
U-15 Academy
The U-15 members of the Academy kickstarted the weekend slate of matches on Saturday afternoon. In their weekend opener, Chicago picked up a 3-2 road victory over Houston Dynamo FC at the Houston Sports Park. Leon Smars picked up the opener off a fed from Robert Turdean. Later in the contest, Kristopher Caravantes scored the second of the match with Chris Huizar picking up the assist. Denzel Palacios rounded out the scoring in the victory against the Texas-based academy.
The following day, the U-15s would head to Austin and make it a pair of victories. In their weekend finale, the Fire would defeat Austin FC, 3-2. Highlighting the victory was a brace from Darris Hyte with Roko Pehar and Marko Colakovic picking up assists in his pair of goals. Turdean would find the scoresheet in back-to-back games, picking up a goal in the victory.
U-17 Academy
Also in Texas this past weekend, the U-17 Academy faced off against Houston Dynamo FC. In Saturday’s match against Houston, the Fire drew 2-2 on the road following goals from Daniel Zepeda and Aaron Ineh. Raffi Pineda would pick up an assist on the second goal of the contest.
Chicago would continue their road stretch the following afternoon. The Fire would head to the St. David’s Performance Center in Austin, Texas, and face Austin FC. In their second and final match of the weekend, it would be another tie for the U-17's, with a final score of 2-2. Damyan Villanueva and Vitaliy Hlyut scored the two goals for the Fire en route to picking up a valuable road point.
U-19 Academy
The oldest members of the Chicago Fire Academy only had one contest this past weekend. On Saturday afternoon, the Fire hosted Round Lake Evolution in UPSL Premier action. The Fire came out victorious with a final score of 4-1 to give Chicago their first win in UPSL action this season. The Fire saw four different goal scorers in the victory, with tallies from Michael Ramirez, Michael Nesci, Bryce Richards, and Peter Soudan.
