MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact U21 played two games on the road, winning its 6th and 7th games in a row, while the U18 and U16 sides played a double header on Sunday afternoon, at Claude-Robillard Sports Complex, losing both games to the New York Red Bulls Academy – the Impact’s first matchup this season against an MLS academy in the US Soccer Development Academy (USSDA).
The Impact U21 squad (12-3-5), playing two games in two days on the road, were victorious in both matchups. In extending the team’s winning streak to seven games, the U21s climbed into third spot in the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) standings and earned a playoff berth.
Saturday, the U21s blanked the North York Astros 3-0. Forward Yacine Ait-Slimane, from the U18 team, scored a brace while midfielder Felix Cardin opened his account this season with a long blast in the 8th minute. Ait-Slimane scored his first goal five minutes later, off of a volley from a pass by forward Mircea Ilcu.
Then on Sunday, head coach Philippe Eullaffroy’s side earned another shutout, this time over the York Region Shooters 1-0. Ilcu scored the game winner in the 38th minute.
Note: goalkeeper Jason Beaulieu earned both shutouts, and defender Francesco Augustin suffered a serious knee injury in Saturday’s game.
The Impact U18 suffers first loss
The Impact U18 (0-1-3) lost its first game of the season, falling to the Red Bulls in the first matchup by a 4-1 score, with midfielder Jeremy Gagnon-Laparé scoring the lone goal for the home side. The Impact played the final 10 minutes of the game with a man down as forward Charles Joly was shown a red card.
“The quality of the opponent was high,” said Impact U18 head coach Wilfried Nancy. “It’s the first time that we faced an MLS academy, and we had some difficult moments where we weren’t very efficient with our transition game. But the young players will learn from this and adjust for next game. The level is higher than we are used to, and the competition will be strong every weekend, so we will have to adapt.”
“The Red Bulls are a bigger, stronger and faster competition than we’ve seen so far,” said Joly. “Now that we’ve seen them, we’ll have to adapt and be ready for our next matchup.”
Impact U16 defeated
The Impact U16 (2-2-0) were defeated by New York 4-0 on Sunday in the second game – for just its second loss this season.
“The reason why we came into this league was to play better competition, and today we probably faced one of the best in the USSDA,” said Impact U16 head coach Jason Di Tullio. “I’m proud of the way the boys competed, despite the result, but now they have seen firsthand how good their competition is. A loss like this is part of the learning process. I saw it in the boys’ eyes that they realized this league is another level, and they are ready to work to get there.”
Upcoming matches
The Impact U21 squad will play its final two games of the season, starting with the matchup this Sunday against SC Toronto, at 2pm (ET), at the Claude-Robillard sports Complex, before heading to Toronto to play TFC Academy, at Downsview Park, on Wednesday, October 10, at 8pm (ET) in a makeup game that was cancelled earlier this season due to electrical problems.
The Montreal Impact USSDA Academy teams will travel to Newark, New Jersey on Saturday, October 6, to take on the BW Gottschee Academy at Lubetkin Field. The U18s play at 3pm (ET) while the U16s play at 5:30pm (ET).
