MLS D.C. United

D.C. United Academy Wins, Loses, and Ties Twice

Published on May 20, 2008 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
D.C. United News Release


D.C. United Academy results: D.C. United's Under-16 and Under-18 Development Academy teams came out with two draws, a win, and a loss over the weekend at home against Albertson and Gottschee.

D.C. United's U-16 squad saw a 1-1 draw against Albertson on Saturday at the Maryland Soccerplex, with the lone goal coming from Marcus Douglas. The U-18s also came out with a draw against Albertson, however, the score was 2-2 with goals from Matt O'Duaran and Parnell Hegngi. The team was able to fight back from a 1-0 and 2-1 deficit during the match.

"We had players away with the U-18 U.S. Men's National team and a few more out with injuries," said United's Director of Youth Development John Maessner. "Several of our younger players got a chance to start and got some good experience while the veterans were gone."

On Sunday, the U-16 team finished with a 5-3 win against Gottschee with three goals coming from Lester Dewee, one from Michael Funes, and one from Marcus Douglas. Chris Hegngi also had a significant impact on the game, tallying four assists. The U-18s suffered a 2-1 loss to Gottschee on Sunday with the sole United goal coming from Ryan Gracia. When a foul was committed by a United player in the 30th minute, a red card was issued and D.C. was forced to play a man down. It was not until the 75th minute when another red card was issued, this time to a player on the opposing team, bringing the game back to equal numbers with 10 versus 10.

U.S. Men's National team call-ups: Several academy players have been called up to the U.S. Men's National team including Yaw Amankwa (U-14), Lester Dewee (U-17), Dominick Yin (U-17), Samuel Bradley (U-17), Ethan White (U-18), and Bill Hamid (U-20). The Academy also has National Team staff such as Josh Gros and Peter Novak, who are currently with the U-23 team in Toulon, France; and Marco Etcheverry who is helping coach the U-20 National team roster.

College-bound Academy players: Several Academy players will be graduating this May and heading to top college programs. Marcus Douglas, Howard Turk, and Sean Murnane have all decided to play for the Cavaliers at UVA while teammate Matt Oduaran will play for rival in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Maryland Terrapins. Two members from the academy, Darren Flitcroft and Prince Lapnet, will attend UCLA, a finalist in the NCAA Division 1 championship in 2006. Ryan Gracia has also chosen a Virginia school, the nearby George Mason while Parnell Hegngi has chosen St Francis located in Loretto, Pennsylvania. Chris Jumalon and Greg Goldbach have both committed to Kentucky.

Upcoming Matches: The Academy will head to Spain on May 25th for the 4th Clubs World Cup. The team has been placed in Group 2 and is set to play RCD Espanyol de Barcelona on Tuesday, May 27th at Miguelturra, Sevilla FC on Thursday, May 29th at Ciudad Real, and FK Partizan on Saturday, May 31st at Daimiel. The team heading to Spain was chosen from both the U-16 and U-18 rosters to create a U-17 squad for the tournament. All members of the team were born on or after 1990. The team qualified for this competition by winning the 2007 MLS U-17 Cup in Denver last summer.

"It is an honor to represent MLS and U.S. soccer, and we are very excited about the opportunity to play against some of the top clubs in the world," Maessner said. "This will be a great stage to see how our academy players match up against other great clubs, and we can evaluate our youth in one of the best youth competitions out there. We look forward to playing Sevilla FC, RCD Espanyol de Barcelona, and FK Partizan in the first round of the tournament."

Broadcasting and P.A. Request: When speaking of the organization, please refer to the team as either "D.C. United" or "United," but not "the D.C. United" or "the United." We appreciate your cooperation.

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Major League Soccer Stories from May 20, 2008


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