CDA 16’s Start Season with a Pair of Victories

September 28, 2009

The CDA 16’s kicked off the 2009-10 US Soccer Development Academy season with a pair of victories against two of their Northern California rivals. Friday night the CDA 16’s took on the Mustang and Sunday afternoon the team took on Santa Cruz. Both matches were played in the stadium at Woodcreek High School.

The CDA 16’s came to play Friday night as they were able to defeat Mustang by a score of 3-0. The few hundred fans that came out were entertained by an attacking style of soccer. Connor Hallisey was the man of the match as he netted all three goals. Halliseys first goal was created by Seth Casiple. Casiple had a strong performance through the central midfield as he was dangerous on several occasions. The second goal came off a well driven ball out of the central back position by Grant Silvester put Hallisey in on goal. The third goal was set up by Matt Lagrassa. Lagrassa came on as a sub and raised the level of the entire match. Goalkeeper Jon Murray earned the shutout with the help of a strong performance from the back line.

The CDA 16’s were able to beat a very strong Santa Cruz side on Sunday. Both sides had to withstand extremely hot weather conditions on the Woodcreek High School turf. Santa Cruz got on the board first with a clinical finish in the 24th minute by #24 John Chronopoulos. CDA was able to even the score in the 30th minute when Seth Casiple served a free kick into the box which Matt LaGrassa redirected off the post and Grant Silvester followed up to finish off. The second half started off poorly for CDA. Just 15 seconds into the second half, Santa Cruz went up once again with a goal from Daniel Johnsen. Matt Wiesenfarth and Ty Thompson were brought into the match shortly after the half and made immediate contributions. Wiesenfarth scored only four minutes after being introduced to the match. Thompson’s energy and skill helped the CDA side maintain more possession and create more chances. In the 67th minute Matt LaGrassa scored what would prove to be the match winner. He was able to chip the keeper from a tight angle near the endline. Goalkeeper Andreas Garcia and the backline withstood a strong Santa Cruz attack to escape with a 3-2 victory.

The CDA 16’s will resume their Development Academy season on Saturday, October 24th when they take on Crossfire Premier in the stadium at Oakmont High School at 1:00.