For the second year in a row Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo has clinched the MRL Premier Division title and earned a berth to the 2013 USYS Regionals in Des Moines, IA with an impressive 4-0 win at North Shore United.

Having seen Lou Fusz Wipke lose in the earlier game, Botafogo knew that a win against Regional-Finalist North Shore United would be enough to clinch the title, and the girls established an immediate control of the game which they never relinquished. Playing on a tiny field, it took a while to unlock the North Shore defense, but after Gianna Dal Pozzo got what would prove to be the game-winner with 15 minutes left in the 1st half, the outcome was never in doubt.

Early in the 2nd half Ashley Handwork and Zoey Goralski linked up and Zoey’s perfect, driven cross was emphatically slammed home by Ashley at the near post. A few minutes later it was Zoey Goralski who received a pass from Gianna Dal Pozzo in the middle of the field, and then drove forward before striking a perfectly placed low, driven shot into the goal.

As the icing on the cake, Gianna Dal Pozzo got her 2nd on the day after she made a perfectly timed run out of midfield to latch onto Hope D’Addario’s fantastic ball over the top and lob it over the on-rushing keeper.

Megan Geldernick earned the shutout in goal. This was her 7th shutout in 8 MRL games this season.

The Midwest Regional League (MRL) season is winding down over the next few weekends with some marquee match-ups for Team Chicago Academy teams.

This Sunday, Team Chicago Academy-Santos will host North Shore United at 3:30pm at PlayUSA in a match that will determine the Girls U17 First Division title and promotion to the U18 Premier Division for 2013-14. Both teams are undefeated and with a win Santos will earn the Division title, while with a tie Santos will need two wins in the final two MRL games November 10th and 11th at PlayUSA to secure the title. Please, come out to support Santos this Sunday.

Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo will travel to Wisconsin on Saturday and Sunday to take on its two only remaining rivals for the Girls U18 Premier Division title. Coming off an impressive 8-2 win v. Chicago-Inter last Wednesday after a sublime first half performance, Botafogo will need either two ties or at least a win against Lou Fusz Wipke in the Sunday game to retain its Premier Division title and earn a berth into the USYS Regional Championships in Des Moines, IA in June 2013.

On Monday night, Team Chicago Academy-Eagles will travel to Orland Park to take on Chicago Fire in its final MRL game. With a win Eagles will finish 3rd in the Boys U14 First Division and be in contention for a Premier Division spot for the 2013 Spring season.

Finally, Team Chicago Academy-Brasilia finished its MRL season last Saturday with a 1-0 win at Chicago-Inter on a goal by Jasmine Ruiz assisted by Rachel Erdman. Megan Keefer and Madison Lockard shared the shutout in goal. With the win Brasilia finished tied for 2nd in the Girls U14 First Division, and is awaiting final confirmation that it has earned a wild-card into the Premier Division for the Spring.

Friday, October 26, 2012:

Team Chicago Academy Director, Phil Nielsen, has been selected as the 2012 Illinois Youth Soccer Girls Coach of the Year.

Phil will be honored at the Illinois Youth Soccer Awards Banquet on Friday, March 1, 2013.

Phil oversees all U13 to U18 Team Chicago teams and coaches the U18G Botafogo, U17G Santos and the U13G Cruzeiro.

Coach Nielsen is the second Team Chicago coach to win the prestigious award, following the 2001 winner Dr. Salvador Morote who coached the 87/88 Brazil Girls to back-to-back IYSA regional titles.

Congratulations to Coach Phil. phil@teamchicagosoccer.org

This past weekend Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo traveled to Grand Rapids, MI to face Grand Rapids Crew and MI Futbol Club in the MRL Premier Division.

Putting its perfect record on the line against the home team on Saturday, Botafogo took complete control of the game from the first whistle and ended up with a comfortable 6-0 win behind Zoey Goralski’s 4 goals and tallies by Ashley Handwork and Gianna Dal Pozzo. Megan Geldernick and Kiley Dunning shared the 5th straight shutout in goal.

On Sunday Botafogo faced a tough MI Futbol Club squad in a rematch of the Regional Semi-final. MFC clearly played for the tie and unfortunately Botafogo was unable to convert on its chances even with total domination in possession and chances, so it ended in a 0-0 stalemate. Megan Geldernick earned the 6th straight shutout in goal as Botafogo has yet to get scored on in MRL Premier Division play, and remain comfortably in first place.

Next up for Botafogo in MRL is the re-scheduled match against Chicago-Inter this Wednesday at 7:30pm at PlayUSA.

Team Chicago Academy-Falcons won the Superclubs Champions Cup in Rockford this weekend.

They started out falling to 2-1 to a tough Chicago Blast side, but they then bounced back in impressive style with a 5-0 win against Tigres de Cicero. In the 3rd and final round-robin game the Falcons tied 2-2 against Midwest Red Devils, which was all they needed to advance to the final.

In the championship game Falcons avenged the earlier loss to the Chicago Blast in a rematch of the first game. In a drama & excitement-filled championship match, the Falcons battled hard to emerge victorious.

As the final seconds of regulation closed in, Emerson Beinhauer was awarded a penalty kick, which he converted to force extra time. Strong defensive play from Matt Montrose, Connor Ahler, and Trey Eichamer led the team and kept the high pressured Blast offense off the score board. Again, as the finals seconds closed in of extra time, Alfonso Pizzo received a pass from Adam Bose and beat the Chicago Blast goalkeeper to win the tournament in exciting fashion.