CHICAGO FIRE ACADEMY

Fire teams claim 1-0 wins over Chicago Magic

Prepare for clash with Sockers FC on Saturday

From staff reports

The Fire Academy Academy teams control their own playoff destinies as they head into the final weekend of the regular season.

With a pair of victories, both squads will claim first place finishes in the Central Conference's Frontier Division standings.

It would assure that both teams would advance to the Development Academy playoffs, which will be held in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The top two teams in each division plus wildcard selections move on to the competition, which will get underway later this month.

That scenario was put into effect Wednesday when the Fire teams claimed 1-0 wins over the Chicago Magic at Brother Rice High School.

But picking up two wins this weekend won't be easy, especially since Saturday's opponent also is hoping to make it into the playoffs.

Sockers FC is the only team that hasn't played the Fire yet this season, but the squads will finally meet on Saturday in Bridgeview.

In the U-18 division, the Fire is 10-2-3 with 33 points while Sockers FC is 10-3-2 with 32 points. Both have two matches this weekend.

On Sunday, the Fire hosts FC Milwaukee (8-5-3, 27) while Sockers FC takes on the Magic. The other Fire-Sockers match is not scheduled.

Colorado Rush AJ Auxerre currently sits in first place in the U-18 standings after finishing with a 10-1-7 record and 37 points.

Saturday's schedule is a bit different than the usual arrangement of matches that the Fire has hosted at Toyota Park's practice field.

Instead of later starts with the U-16s going first, the U-18s play the Sockers at 8 a.m. while the U-16s take the field at 10 a.m.

The usual 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. schedule will be back in place on Sunday, when the Fire closes the regular season with FC Milwaukee.

In the U-16 division, Real Colorado (9-3-6, 33) and the Kansas City Wizards (8-2-8, 32) are finished and currently lead the way.

The Fire (9-4-2, 29) is in third place while the Sockers (7-2-6, 27) are one spot behind them in the very-competitive standings.

In Wednesday's U-18 match with the Magic, Patrick Doody connected on a free kick to account for the only scoring by either squad.

Tom Serratore collected the shutout in goal as the Fire captured their fifth straight victory in Frontier Division competition.

Other starters for Chicago (15-5-4) were Mitch Albrecht, Jacob Bushue, Manny Guzman, Connor Holloway, Scott Lakin and Brian Lunar.

Rounding out the first 11 for the Fire were Billy McGuinness, Chris Prince and Harry Shipp while Jesse Ortiz was an early sub.

In the U-16 match against the Magic, Victor Pineda scored on a free kick to give his squad its third straight divisional victory.

Sam Euler earned the shutout in goal for the Fire, who are unbeaten in their last seven matches and improved to 11-5-8 this season.

Joining Pineda and Euler as starters on Wednesday were Keaton Albert, Luis Barajas, Peter Beasley, Elliot Borge and David Caban.

Also in the first 11 against the Magic were Drew Conner, Luis Medina, Patryk Ruta and Anthony Torres while Jesus Medina was a sub.

Partick Doody

Tom Serratore

Scott Lakin

Victor Pineda

Keaton Albert