Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Goal Scoring Streaks in the Development Academy



Inspired by a tweet by Albert Chia from Dallas Cup, here is a post on some of the players who are lighting up the Development Academy with their scoring recently.
Kekuta Manneh – Texas Rush U16
The Gambian youngster has eight goals in his last four games (excluding the FC Dallas game on Sunday). The hot-streak brings his total on the season to 27 goals in 17 starts. A very impressive number considering Soony Saad was the only player in the Development Academy to score that many goals last year. Texas Rush is tied for first in the Texas Division with three games remaining on the schedule.
Christian Thierjung – Irvine Strikers U16
The streaky winger has been the only player close to Manneh in the goal-scoring race recently with 9 goals in his last five games. Thierjung only had six goals in his previous 17 games prior to this crazy streak. The Strikers U16 team is 3 points back of the automatic playoff spot with six games remaining. They will depend on their talented winger to keep his hot streak alive and carry the Strikers into the playoffs.
Villyan Bijev – Cal Odyssey U18
The U.S. U18 forward is a natural born goal scorer. Last year, he had 18 goals in Development Academy play. This year, he is up to 18 already with a handful of game remaining on the schedule. [Bijev will miss a few of those games while on national team duty in Portugal.] He has 5 goals in his last 5 games. The hot streak has propelled Cal Odyssey to the top of the Northwest Division with three division games remaining.
Dylan Kelly – Real Salt Lake–Arizona U16
Kelly has scored in nine games in a row and brought his season total up to 19 goals in 18 games. The streak began in late February and has lasted into mid-May for the 16-year-old forward. Kelly has seven games left on the schedule to add to the tally and push the RSL residency program into the playoffs.