The Chicago Fire Academy U-18 team extended its season Friday by finishing atop its group at the 2015 U.S. Soccer Development Academy playoffs in Westfield, Ind.
After wins in its first two matches of group play, the side squared off with No. 4 overall seed New York Red Bulls Friday morning in a match to determine which side would advance to represent Group F in the knockout rounds of this year’s Academy Playoffs.
The Fire claimed the upper hand in the waning minutes before halftime thanks to a goal by U-18 U.S. international Cameron Lindley, his second of group play. Despite the issuing of a second yellow card early in the second half that reduced the Fire to 10 men, the Fire doubled their lead when Lindley set up Oscar Gonzalez for a counterattack goal in the 62nd minute.
“Today had the makings of a championship match,” said Larry Sunderland, Chicago Fire Academy Director and Head Coach. “We knew we’d have to defend well and in specific areas of the field and then play our game when we had the ball.”
The Red Bulls stormed back inside of 20 minutes remaining, striking twice within a minute’s time to level the score at 2-2. The short-handed Fire regained their composure, however, and held on for the draw necessary to win the group and advance to the knockout stages.
“We showed tremendous character not only in scoring shorthanded but in hanging on to get the result,” Sunderland said. “We’ve played our game and style the whole season so we did nothing different in that regard, but we did find out what kind of character the group has and they showed to have a great deal of it today.”
The Fire, seeded No. 15 in the national playoff field, improved to 16-4-10 on the year with this week's play and now will prepare for a quarterfinal match July 7 on the road against the Houston Dynamo. For complete results and schedules for the USSDA Playoffs, visit USSDA.Demosphere.com.
