Dallas Related Soccer Articles and News by Soccer Xpert

FC Dallas sign three youth to pro contracts

staff — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:12:08 GMT

FC Dallas has signed three players from their youth academy to professional contracts. Technical Director Barry Gorman announced Friday the signings of Ruben Luna, Moises Hernandez and Victor Ulloa were contracted under the MLS homegrown player initiative.

“Graduating players from our development academy on to the professional team is our ultimate goal within the program,” Gorman said. “That we've been able to do exactly that with four players already is a testament to both the quality of the players in our program and the hard work of our academy coaches.”

The three players will travel to Colorado with the first team this weekend to take part in a reserve game after FC Dallas’ match with the Colorado Rapids Saturday evening. All three players were recently honored by the US Soccer Development Academy during Finals Week.

“Today marks a momentous achievement for our organization,” Vice President of Hunt Sports Group Dan Hunt said. “One of our principle initiatives at FC Dallas is to identify and develop home grown players and to graduate those players from our academy onto our professional roster. To now have four players come through our youth development system symbolizes more than the culmination of their individual hard work and determination. It is a testament to the fulfillment of the goals of this organization, and the success of the development system we are building.”

Playing alongside Hernandez and Ulloa, Ruben Luna scored a team high 26 goals in 29 appearances for the U18 FC Dallas Juniors this season. The team won the Central Conference with a record of 11-2-3.

A defender, Hernandez started a team high 30 matches for the Juniors. Coming forward from his defensive position, he also scored two goals. Ulloa started 29 of 31 games in the midfield. He scored two goals during the regular season.

The FCD Juniors captain, Victor Ulloa also scored during the group stage of USSDA Finals Week. His goal came in the team’s second match of the season-ending tournament against the Derby County Wolves. The match finished 1-1.

Heading into their third game, FCD Juniors were poised to finish first in their group before falling, 3-2 to CASL Chelsea FC Academy on a stoppage-time goal. The loss pushed the team to third place in their group. Luna converted a penalty kick goal in 61^st minute of that match.

Solar Red 94 girls take nationals over McLean Strikers

staff — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:04:23 GMT

The Solar Red 94 girls claimed the USYSA U16 National Title winning 1-0 over McLean Strikers from Virginia. Despite the 1-0 scoreline, it was a dominating performance from Solar Red as they were unlucky to have not scored a couple of more goals. A Lauren Heller goal in the 33rd minute would stand up as the only goal of the match.

Solid defense was the name of the game for Solar Red throughout the USYSA Nationals as they only allowed a single goal over the course of the four games with the final three being all shutouts. Goalkeeper Jennifer Jasper, who is already committed to Notre Dame, won the Golden Gloves award for her efforts in the Solar Red net. The Golden Ball went to Solar Red's Taylor Smith who led all scorers in the age group with three goals.

Sting 95 take USYSA National Title over Scorpions Elite

staff — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 08:00:54 GMT

Sting 95 claimed the U15 girls USYSA National Championship and the Kristine Lilly Cup on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Scorpions Elite from Massachusetts. Scoprions Elite came out flying and could have notched a couple of early goals, but Lauren Berman was unable to put the ball away. Sting got their footing and set about getting into the attack.

In the 23rd minute they would find the goal that would turn out to be the winner as Madelyn Crabtree scored. Scorpions’ Katelyn Mountjoy had a dangerous ball in the 39th that struck the crossbar, but Sting would bunker down and hold onto the shutout from there.

The title marks the ninth national championship for the Sting club and moves them into a tie with Colorado Rush for the most girls’ national championships by a single club. Madalyn Crabtree of Sting claimed the Golden Ball award and the Golden Glove went to Sting's Miranda Larkin who posted a shutout in all four matches at the finals.

FC Dallas grabs important road point in Toronto

staff — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:53:08 GMT

FC Dallas visited Toronto FC Saturday and faced off against the best home side in MLS. Toronto entered the game unbeaten at home in eight matches. FC Dallas has shown they are a very good road team as they entered unbeaten on the road in six games. The only result at the end of the day is that both teams extended their streaks after the tie.

The game was marred by heavy rains the entire opening half and a sloppy half it was. There were more sloppy passes and clumsy tackles than anything and the game went scoreless to halftime. The second half saw the weather improve and the play got better as well.

A pivotal point in the second half came when FC Dallas centerback George John had to be removed with an injury. It took less than three minutes for his replacement, rookie Zach Loyd, to be beaten for the opening goal. A good pass to Maicon Santos caught Loyd out of position and Santos raced in on goal where he hit a low shot to the near post that surpised Kevin Hartman as it zipped into the net.

It looked dire for Dallas, but they set about trying to get the equalizer. Just as they had in Seattle two weeks earlier they would find it. In the 77th minute some sloppy play from Toronto in the back gifted FC Dallas a corner kick which they would cash in. David Ferreira whipped in the corner and Milton Rodriguez headed it home.

With the draw, FC Dallas has been to the two hardest road venues in MLS and earned two ties in the last three weeks. The team currently sits third in the Western Conference trailing Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles.

Three North Texas girls teams to play for National Titles

staff — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:39:42 GMT

Three North Texas girls teams have advanced to play for USYSA National Championships at their respective age groups. Sting placed two teams in the finals while Solar Red 94 grabbed the other North Texas slot at U16.

Sting 96 won their opening two games and had a spot in the national championship clinched heading into their last group match. Thus they chose to rest some players and fell to Michigan Hawks 1-0 in a meaningless game. Sting 96 will play Columbia United Premier from Maryland in the title game. Sting defeated Columbia 1-0 in the opening match behind a first half goal from McKenna Whitaker.

Sting 95 will also be playing for a national title as they went through group play with two wins and a draw. After winning their opening two matches by identical 7-0 blowout scores, Sting faced off with another undefeated side in Scorpions Elite from Massachusetts. The two teams played to a scoreless draw setting up a rematch for the national championship.

Solar Red 94 girls earned a spot in the title game by winning all three group matches. The took care of Minnesota Thunder, Colorado Rush and NASA Elite of Georgia in dominating fashion. With matches still in progress it looks like Solar Red will face McLean Strikers from Virginia in the title game.