Florida Showcase

The boys are headed to Florida for a big showcase in front of college coaches. These games are worth points towards the playoffs, they are not friendlies by any means. The U18s will be taking on DC United academy on November 29 and then Chicago Fire academy the next day. They finish the trip against Oakwood academy on the 2nd of December. The U16s have a huge match up against one of the top academies in America, the New York Red Bulls. Following NYRB the 16s take on the Philadelphia Union and then BW Gottschee who are no slouch. They are first in their division, ahead of NE Revolution academy.The U14s are not participating in the showcase.

Halfway There - Quakes Academy Teams are 26-7-5 Collectively Going Into the Winter Break

Although all three teams lost their final games, they can all have their heads held high with fantastic first half's to the USSDA season. The 18s ended on a rollercoaster ride of a weekend, winning their game vs the Crossfire academy 4-0 then losing the next day to first place Vancouver 0-4. The 16s tied Crossfire 0-0 then lost to Vancouver 1-2 in a heartbreaker. The U14s tied #1 ranked FC Golden State in a academy showcase at the Stubhub facility. They later went on to lose to Chivas and Galaxy.

18s Finished: (9-2-1) Second Place

16s Finished: (6-3-3) Second Place

14s Finished: (9-2-1) Ranked Second Overall in the Country

The academy get back into it starting in January after a quick showcase in Florida.

My Analysis of the first half for each team.

U18s

The 18s are having a great season so far, individual standouts are Centerback Jorge Lara (UC Irvine commit) shutting it down in the backline and adding 2 clutch goals. Center midfielder John Partida (cal poly commit) being a general in the center of the park, winning balls on defense and starting quick attacks, also doing an excellent job going box to box. M/F Amir Bashti (Stanford commit) being lethal in attack scoring 6 goals and creating most of the offensive opportunities. M/F Philip Hausen (Harvard commit) only a junior in high school, but has been racking up the goals in his Quakes career. Having missed a significant amount of games due to injury, Philip still has 4 goals. Last but not least, Forward Zac Penner with 6 goals. Individually, these players are outstanding, but if they want to win the championship, they are going to have to start to connect better more consistently to breakdown their opponents. Also, they are going to need to sure up the back line. Jorge Lara has been outstanding, but the other guys on defense need to step up. 

U16s

The U16s have been decent so far. They are having a lot of trouble scoring, but the defense is keeping them in it. If they can unlock the goal scoring, they will be a force to recon with. The coaches have seen this and that has motivated their decision to bring back down 15 year old phenom Ivan Valencia from the 18s to the 16s. Ivan is the player I am most excited about. He began the year with the 18s and was a standout player, scoring 4 goals with the big boys at such a young age. He's a winger/forward hybrid, so good at dribbling, scorching pace, and a great defensive mind and willingness to get back and win the ball. He can do it all. He has to work a bit on his finishing and final third movement, but he is definitely worthy of being called one of our most interesting prospects. 

U14s

What can I say, these boys can play. Beautiful passing, excellent organization, dominating possession.. One could easily mistake these kids as the Barcelona U14s. JJ Foe Nuphaus, Adonis, Diaz, Oscar Govea, Jason Yanez, and Mario Rocha have all been absolute class players and will be an exciting core to look forward to in the future. If I had to choose 1 kid to focus on, it would be RB #34 Mario Rocha. Mario is the youngest of the U14s, but you would not know it by looking at him. He's one of the biggest players on the field, but what stands out about him is not his height, it's his technical skill combined with defensive ability. He looks like a forward out there, dribbling kids with ease, but always getting back on defense and being a shutdown defender. He looks to be what is the future of fullbacks in modern soccer.

For All Academy Info

Epic Goonie Comeback as the Quakes Dominate the De Anza Force

It was Derby day for the boys as each team took on the De Anza Force Academy on Saturday. At 11am the U18s took on the Force in their first game at the Quakes Training Facility. This was my first game attending live this year, so I can give more in depth analysis. The 18s were coming into this game missing star center midfielder John Partida (personal) and 15 year old phenom Ivan Valencia (played with the 16s due to player shortage). Also Amir Bashti was gassed and subbed of early due to the fact that he had played just 2 days earlier for the USYNT vs LA2 (he scored a PK in that game). As for the game itself, it started with a set piece goal for the Quakes coming from Harvard commit Philip Hausen. De Anza answered back with 2 quick goals. 2-1 at the half. Brise Rory scores for the Quakes in the 54' minute. Then a goal by De Anza in the 66' minute. 3-2 De Anza with just 3 minutes left to play. At this point Philip's dad told me, and I quote "This will be their first loss of the season, unfortunately." Not so fast Mr. Hausen, it's GOONIE TIME. Quakes get the late goal from Suliman Khorami, with a cracker from outside the box. The boys were not satisfied though. With a set piece on the side of the box, they cross it in and the ball is met by centerback Jorge Lara past the far post, heading it in over the head of everyone, skimming the post and going in winning the game with this 90' minute goal. Insert crazy fun celebration involving shirtlessness, smoke and many hugs. Quakes win the derby 4-3 and stay undefeated. Hard to analyze the game without 2 main pieces (John Partida and Amir Bashti), but one player that really stood out to me was UC Irvine commit, centerback Jorge Lara. Forget the goal, he was a beast in defense. Mr. Hausen who attends every game thinks he is our best player as well.

The U16s did not have the same good fortune as the 18s. They lost 2-0, but don't let the score line fool you. We could have very easily won that game 3-2, had we finished our clear chances. I'd go as far as saying we dominated the game. The De Anza goals were pretty lucky, but still no excuse. I was very excited for this game because it was my first time seeing "The next TT" Ivan Valencia. To start with, Ivan is a Winger. He can probably play 2nd forward, but he's really really good defensively, winning the ball back. He created all of the Quakes chances and had 3 clear chances at goal, he should have buried them, but I'm still impressed none the less by how he developed those clear chances. (Note: He had been playing with the U18s every game this season before this game). I happened to be talking to Chris Dangerfield during the game and he was impressed with Ivan as well. We even had a little chuckle when he pulled a Djalo on the endline (sombrero's some kid).

And finally the 14s. They played the Force at John Mise Park. What can I say, WE DESTROYED THEM. 6-0. No analysis needed, our U14s are f'ing good. Really good. So fun to watch and honestly, they play more entertaining than our first team did this year..

Future's looking good! Get your soccer fix and keep up with the academy.
Here's a link to the website