U19 KCW Juniors fall to Columbus Crew Juniors

It might have been a preview of a future MLS match-up in the Under-19 Boys final between Kansas City Wizards and Crew Juniors (OH-S). Eric Erb scored off a corner to give Crew the 1-0 lead in the 19^th minute and that lead would hold through the first and most of the second half. Crew teammate, Joseph Haught added a second in the 70^th minute. Down 2-0 with time running out Alex Sweetin was a magician in the remaining minutes with goals in the 81^st, off a corner, and in extra time, with a PK, to tie the score for the Wizards at 2-2. In overtime, the Crew, with eight Youth National Team players, made the most of their opportunities and added two goals to the Wizards one, in the 4-3 Crew win. Crew moves on to play for the storied James P. McGuire Cup, awarded to the Under-19 Boys US Youth Soccer National Champion. 2010 marks the 75^th anniversary of the McGuire Cup.

Under-19 Boys
Kansas City Wizards (KS) 3, Crew Juniors (OH-S) 4
CJ - Eric Erb (19:00) | CJ - Joseph Haught (70:00) | CJ - John Wargo (95:00) | CJ - Ryan Lee (107:00) | WIZ - Alex Sweetin (81:00) | WIZ - Alex Sweetin (90:00) | WIZ - Nicholas Aguilar (110:00)

U16s Top Chivas USA, Head Home

Today, our U16s defeated Chivas USA 2-0, but unfortunately the boys are heading home without a place in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Round of 8. Lucas Throckmorton opened the scoring in just the 2nd minute, banging home a shot off the post. Then in the 10th minute, Derek Schrick chipped the goalkeeper from 50 yards. Jon Kempin held on for his second straight shutout, but unfortunately the result was not enough to advance.

Heading into the day, we needed the Baltimore Bays (who we lost to 2-1 Friday) to lose (and for goal differential to then end up in our favor) for us to advance. Baltimore took care of business against the Dallas Texans and were one of only two clubs to go a perfect 3-0-0 at the event. Take a look at the full, final standings here.

Former First Team Head Coach Bob Gansler watched today's game. The boys put on a great performance for our first year in the Development Academy. Teams around the country fully respect the KCW Juniors.

Dallas Texans and Pool Work-Out

Last night the U16 Jrs took on the Dallas Texans who were the 2009 National Champs. It was a must win match if we wanted to have a chance to go on to the Finals. As we need to finish 1st in our group; so we need to win tomorrow and need Baltimore Bays to lose. Anyway, it took us about 25mins before we settled down and started actually moving the ball around and looking like a team. Shortly asfter Jordy Rideout scored a goal that was very similar to Friday's goal. Jon Kempin got the ball to Derek Schrick and Rideout chipped the keeper once again. The second half was very physical with Kempin making a few huge saves and one of their players getting a red card. The "extra time" of four minutes honestly felt like an HOUR. But we came away with a 1-0 victory.

Today we started with a pool workout that was comedy. We did jumping jacks, leg kicks, skipping all in the water and then ended the session with some relay races. Konner Knoll was an expert in the back stroke and Romeo Munoz really wanted NOTHING to do with swimming. All in all is was good to get the boys moving on their day off. The rest the day was spent at the mall, movies or visiting colleges (UNC & Duke).

We play Chivas USA tomorrow at 11am so stay TUNED.

Team Dinner and Baltimore Bays

We arrived here is Greensboro on Thursday Mid-day after a very early departure from MCI. Had a few problems at Enterprise Rental car (of course) before finally getting vehicles and driving to the hotel. Jimmy Johns is across the street from the Hyatt and has been the go-to for lunch. And man they are FAST.

Last night(Friday) we played our first match against Baltimore Bays the #1seed. The game was super intense from from the beginning and we got on the board first. Jordan Rideout chipped the keeper and the goal was big time. Minutes later we had a PK after their GK fouled us. Derek Scrick stepped up to take it, but unfortunately it was saved. A few minutes later...they got a PK on us after one of the Bays "flopped" inside our 18.

They converted the PK to equalize the match 1-1. Their were a couple more opportunities created by us in the second half by Lucas Throckmorton and Nate Opperman; but none went in. Bays had a free kick in about the 60min that they converted which made the score 1-2 which stood as the final. Such a bummer, our boys played so well and the game could have gone either way. Our defenders, especially Konner Knoll and Eric DeJulio played amazing along with keeper Jon Kempin.

We play Dallas Texans this evening and we just saw them eating Steak and Shake for lunch...hopefully it has an effect on them! haha

Playoff Haircut!

Jordy Rideout is sporting a new "do" for playoffs. What do you think?

The Last days of Practice before Playoffs...

Good Luck at Playoffs-U16s

Our U16s are headed to Greensboro tomorrow at 6am for the US Development Academy Playoffs. We will keep you updated through our blog. This is exciting stuff!

Kempin honored in PARADE Magazine

Our very own, Jonathan Kempin was named to the High School All-America team in PARADE magazine. The magazine names the top female and male high school athletes annually. Click here to read the full article.

Congrats Jon, keep up the good work.

U16s head to Development Academy Playoffs

So as you all know our U16s compete in the US Soccer Development Academy, which is the best 77 clubs in U.S.. This is our first year competing in this league and we found out last week that we made the playoffs which is a huge accomplishment. (The top 32 clubs qualified)

The top two teams in each division automatically qualify (Chicago Fire and Real Colorado in our Division) and then there are 12 wild-card team that qualify. We finished third in our division and qualified as a wild card team. To be exact the 12th wild card team, which gave us the 32nd seed.

Playoffs take place in Greensboro NC from June 24th-28th with boys playing on the 25th, 26th and 28th. Ironically the first match in against Baltimore Bays (No 1 seed) who we just lost to in the Spring Showcase...time for a little revenge! We will also face Chivas USA(No 24 seed) and Dallas Texans (No 10 seed) while we are there. After Greensboro, the top 8 teams travel to Carson CA (Home Depot Center) for finals week on July 10th-17th. For more information, check out this article from the US Soccer website.

Congrats and lots of luck to the U16s who are coached by Jon Parry.

KCW Juniors are on Fire!

So much to talk about, I don't even know where to start....maybe with a simple Congratulations to the KCW Juniors U19, U16 and U14 teams.

The U19s played the Kansas State cup final on Thursday, June 10th and beat KCFC 4-0. We had goals by: Christian Duke, Tom Stroh and Alex Sweetin (2). The team which is coached by Paul Rideout and Nate Houser will head to Regionals in Dayton OH the weekend of June 26th.

The U14s, coached by Daouda Kante, played Kansas Rush in the State Cup final also last Thursday and came away with a victory of 3-0. Goals came from Jo Jo Piatczyc, DeBray Hollimon and Cole Stevenson. So they too will be headed to Regionals. Schedules for Regionals are released this Friday, we will will keep you updated on who both teams will be facing!

U19s to play is Kansas State Cup

The KCW Juniors have formed a very competitive U19 Men's team that will compete next week in Kansas State Cup. There one and only game is slated for 8pm against KCFC. This game will take place at Overland Park Soccer Complex. If the team wins this match they will then attend the Region II Regional in Ohio. The team will be lead by local stand-outs Alex Sweetin who now attends Saint Louis University and Christian Duke who attends University of San Diego. The team is coached by Paul Rideout and Nate Houser. The full roster includes:

Ryan Hunter

Christian Duke

Shemaiah Davis

Alex Sweetin

Kyle Martin

Aaron Appel

ChristianKrueger

Laeth Hamil

Cole Prather

Jeremy Wassmer

Kevin Ellis

Joshua Rydberg

Nathan Byarlay

Mohammad Ramahi

Chris Binns

Taylor Knoll

Ethan Bauer

ZaneChristenson

Nick Aguilar

Tom Stroh

Spring Showcase Quick Facts

• 258 games completed over 5 days
• 4,000 players competed
• 118 referees
• 300 college coaches attended the matches (we probably had 30+at each match)
  
• Competition took place on 20 different fields
• Every player participated in the Nike SPARQ testing and
• Gatorade Fluid lost test-they weigh in the players before and after a match (U18s Michael Oakley lost 10lbs. in one 90min match...INCREDIBLE)
• Our very own Bob Gansler was there to scout games for USSF and to address the players who watched the US MNT match on May 29th in the players lounge

Summer Showcase-Sarasota FL

Last weekend, which was Memorial Day weekend, our U18s and U16s head to FL for their second showcase of the season. The games we play at the showcases count to our overall total, but they are all out of conference matches. Overall both teams "showed" quite well. The heat and humidity was unbelievable the entire time which made the last matches on Tuesday June 1st the toughest.

After a tough evening of travel on Friday, May 28th (arriving at the hotel at 12am) they had to wake up for games that started at 9am (U18s) and 11am (U16s) against Oakwood SC out of Conn. The U18s wons 2-1 and the U16s followed up by winning 3-0.

Saturday evening, after the matches and after the temp went down, they headed to beach for a quick swim and cool down. That evening was the start of various meeting that also took place at the Showcase. We learned that two new teams from Minnesota would be in our conference next year, that Chicago Teams would be leaving our conference and that next years Spring Showcase will be in Dallas among other rule changes and updates.

Sunday was a day off for our team except for a quick trip to the field for Nike SPARQ testing. Which was only an hour, but is was at 8:30am. The boys tested well and had the rest of the day to rest, hydrate and play video games.

On Monday, May 31st we played California Development academy at 1pm (U18s) and 3pm (U16s)...pretty much the hottest part of the day. The team again preformed well and the U18s came away with a victory 1-0 and the U16s tied 0-0. That evening we stayed close to the hotel and had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays, then head to bed early since there was early morning games.

On Tuesday both teams played at 9am against Baltimore Bays Chelsea and exhaustion really set in during the match. The U16s and the u18s both lost 1-3 and Baltimore had the day off before and was looking quite fresh (Lucky then)...buts lets not make excuses.

The U18s season is now over and the new season with new players will really get going after HS soccer is over. The U16s still have a small chance to make the tournament finals which would take place June 22- 26th in Greensboro NC. After this weekend we should know who is in and who is out.

KCW Juniors Try-Outs

Last week we had try-outs for our U18 and U16 teams at Swope Training Facility. It was a great turn out, which made picking the teams extremely difficult. We had over 90 players show up for the U16s and over 50 players for the U18s. These two teams will again participate in the US Soccer Federation Development Academy.

The 2010-2011 rosters are posted here. We are excited to start training with the new teams very soon. The next couple months will be a mix of time off, possibly a summer tournament and the start of high school season.