After losing its first two games of the season, Team Chicago Academy-Brasilia finished its U16 MRL Premier I Division play in style by going 6-0-1 the rest of the way while defeating both the current Region II Champions and the IYSA State Cup Champions. The impressive run has secured Brasilia a 2nd place finish, and if Futura wins the Missouri State Cup next weekend, Brasilia will qualify for the USYSA Region II Championships for the first time.

The final two games of the MRL season were against Libertyville FC 1974 (IL) and FCX and Brasilia emerged with a 1-0 win in both games.

The Libertyville game started with a flurry of chances for Brasilia which unfortunately weren’t finished. The teams entered half-time tied at 0-0 with most of the play controlled by Brasilia. The second half didn’t generate that many opportunities for Brasilia as the play became a lot more physical. Things then started to change about midway through the second half when Jade Eriksen-Russo collected a ball deep in her own end. Jade beat two defenders and continued to make a 40 yard run before combining with Abbie Severson on a one-two combination play to free herself again. From there Jade served a cross that found the upper corner of the far post to secure the 1-0 victory.

The second game against FCX game had some similarities to Sunday night where Brasilia created some great opportunities but just could not find the back of the net. The goal came as a result of good build up play that resulted in Jade Eriksen-Russo getting the game-winner again.

Congratulations to the girls on a fantastic Fall season. We are keeping our fingers crossed for a Futura State Cup win in Missouri. Up next for Brasilia are college showcases in North Carolina and Florida.

Team Chicago Academy-Brasil Girls finished its U13 MRL First Division campaign with a 3-0 victory over CSC from Kentucky. The game was played on turf last Saturday in Indianapolis, IN on a perfect day. The first half started off with Brasil Girls trying to figure out how to beat an offside trap that CSC was pulling combined with the fast surface that the turf provided. The score at half ended with both teams tied at 0-0.

Coming out in the second half things started to improve for Brasil Girls and they started to figure out how to beat the offside trap. Hailey Newman gathered a ball in the middle third of the field and dribbled through several defenders that resulted in a great finish for the first goal and eventual game-winner. After the first goal things started to come together more and the result was another great finish, this time by Alex Salemy who converted off a throw in from Darby Wade to put Brasil Girls up 2-0. The final goal was a penalty kick that resulted in Amy Flores placing a perfect shot past the keeper to the lower corner to round out the scoring at 3-0.

Great way to end the fall MRL season for the Brasil Girls.

Congratulations to Coach Brian and Coach Anny on the birth of William Robert Bierman, 7 lb 10 Oz 19in and to big brothers Ben and Peter.

Team Chicago Academy-Brasilia continued its U16 MRL Premier I Division play on Monday night with a great result over NSA who on Sunday were crowned IYSA State Cup Champions.

The game started off with a majority of the play on Brasilia’s defensive half of the field. There were many tough battles occurring all over the field and as the game started to settle down Brasilia started to gain more possession. The half ended with a 0-0 tie after most of the game was being played in the middle third of the field.

Coming out in the second half Brasilia started to keep the ball more and possession started to move deeper into NSA’s half of the field. As a result, the first goal came from a great build up that had Makenna Schoolman playing a perfect ball wide in behind the NSA defense where her pass found Kerry Abello (Cruziero). Kerry made a fantastic first touch and got behind her defender to serve a driven ball toward the near post that was met with a perfectly timed run by Jasmine Ruiz who buried her shot past the keeper for the eventual game-winner.

Brasilia continued to have more possession and the second goal started with a ball that Kerry Abello flicked to Jasmine Ruiz who in turn laid it off to Veda Tappin. Veda first-timed her shot from about 30 yards out over the outstretched hands of the goal keeper for the all-important insurance goal.

This was a great team effort and the back line did a great job shutting down a very explosive team. We would like to recognize the efforts of Bailee Witt (Cruziero), Nicole Mondi, Jade Eriksen-Russo, Emmerson Fuller, and Callie Vitro for securing the shutout.
Next up for Brasilia is another MRL match on Sunday October 26th at PlayUSA versus Libertyville FC 1974 (IL).

Team Chicago Academy-Brasil Girls continued its U13 MRL First Division league play with a 4-0 win over Chicago Fire Juniors last Friday night at PlayUSA.

The game started with both teams trying to establish a rhythm. Brasil Girls capitalized on some good build up that resulted in Sophia Majher (Bahia) beating a player on the right side of box and then finding Darby Wade who played herself in on her first touch to beat the keeper for the game-winner. The second goal was a result of great pressure that was being applied causing an error on Chicago Fire Juniors that resulted in a penalty kick. Sophia Majher stepped up and calmly beat the keeper to make it 2-0.

The third goal was another link up between Majher and Wade this time Darby found Sophia who beat her player to the left side of the goal before she buried her shot into the right side-netting. The final goal came off of a nice finish by Sophia Molina who took the ball out of the air and scored on a volley to end the scoring at 4-0.

Special recognition to the entire defense for earning the shutout. Great result for Brasil Girls who finish up their MRL season with a game on Saturday October 25th vs. CSC out of Kentucky.