MLS Sporting Kansas City

KCW Juniors U-17s Finish Second in First-Ever SUM U-17 Cup after 3-0 Loss in Final to D.C. United

Published on July 19, 2007 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


(July 17, 2007) - After advancing to the championship game of the inaugural SUM U-17 Cup in Commerce City, Colorado with an undefeated 3-0-1 record, the KCW Juniors fell 3-0 to D.C. United. Kansas City finished its first-ever tournament with an impressive 3-1-1 record and a 9-8 goals scored/goals allowed margin.

"Right now we're obviously a little disappointed in the result," KCW Juniors Youth Director Chris Cissell said, "but if you would have told us a week ago we'd make the championship game of our first-ever tournament, we would have accepted that in a heartbeat."

The Championship game took place in the stadium at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on the same pitch the MLS All-Stars will take the field on Thursday night against Scottish Power Celtic FC. The U-17s used the MLS locker rooms and came out to the MLS Anthem and National Anthem the way MLS first teams do.

D.C. United took the initiative early, scoring two goals in the first 15 minutes. United took the lead in the 4th minute, as a forward collected a ball in midfield and beat two defenders before curling an outside-of-foot shot into the upper left corner from 20 yards out. In the 14th minute, D.C. knocked in a close-range shot from a crowded penalty area after serving in a cross that bounced around in the area momentarily.

The Wizards made tactical changes at halftime and controlled much of the possession early in the second half before D.C. scored the game's final goal. United scored in the 55th minute, sending a long ball up the pitch that a KCW Juniors player and United U-17 player battled for. The ball squirted toward the Kansas City goal into the path of an onrushing D.C. forward who collected the ball and beat the Kansas City ‘keeper for the last goal of the match.

KCW Juniors players will not compete for the Juniors again until next November. Players will be released to play with their high school teams for the fall season before all three Juniors teams (U-15, U-16, U-17) begin their first season November 1.

KCW Juniors U-17 Line-Up: Christian Krueger, Austin Trees (Fernando Galvan 41), Danny Cunningham, Pete Nechvatal (Neil Tally 53), Laeth Hamil (Luke Snyder 61), Jeremy Wassmer (Patrick Foglio 41), Taylor Knoll, Alex Sweetin (Aaron Appel 56), Mohammad Ramahi (Zane Christenson 61), Christian Duke, Kevin Ellis

Results:

Group Play

Chivas USA (1-1 T)

Red Bull New York (2-0 W)

FC Dallas (3-2 W)

Semi-Finals

Columbus Crew (3-2 W)

Finals

D.C. United (3-0 L)

Goals:

Christian Duke (Shawnee Mission South)- 3 goals

Kevin Ellis (Oak Park)- 2 goals

Zane Christenson (Blue Springs South)- 1 goal

Alex Sweetin (Rockhurst)- 1 goal

Austin Trees (Rockhurst)- 1 goal

Neil Tally (St. Thomas Aquinas)- 1 goal

KCW Juniors U-17 Travel Roster:

Player # Pos High School

Krueger, Christian 1 GK Rockhurst

Trees, Austin 2 D Rockhurst

Galvan, Fernando 3 D North Kansas City

Nechvatal, Pete 4 D Oak Park

Knoll, Taylor 5 M Wichita Southeast

Sweetin, Alex 6 M Rockhurst

Bauer, Ethan 7 F Olathe South

Schneider, Luke 8 D Rockhurst

Ellis, Kevin 9 F Oak Park

Wassmer, Jeremy 10 M Olathe East

Christenson, Zane 11 M Blue Springs South

Ramahi, Mohammad 12 M Blue Valley

Foglio, Patrick 13 M Lee's Summit West

Cobb, Aaron 14 D St. Thomas Aquinas

Cunningham, Danny 15 D Rockhurst

Appel, Aaron 16 M Manhattan

Duke, Christian 17 M Shawnee Mission South

Martin, Kyle 18 GK Shawnee Mission North

Hamil, Laeth 19 M Olathe East

Tally, Neil 20 F St. Thomas Aquinas

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Major League Soccer Stories from July 19, 2007


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