CASA GRANDE, Ariz. – Real Salt Lake U-15/16 goalkeeper Christian Herrera was selected to play in the U-17/18 Development Academy Select match by U.S. Soccer technical advisors on Thursday night in Sarasota, Florida.
Herrera entered the match at the start of the second half and preserved the shutout for the red team when he saved a penalty in the 49th-minute. A match recap from ussoccer.com is below:
LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. (Dec. 12, 2013) – The U-17/18 Development Academy Select Game ended in a respectable 0-0 draw between the Red and Blue Teams at Premier Sports Campus.
Plenty of quality play from both teams led to players from both teams giving a good account of themselves with the Red Team’s Jackson Yueill putting a particularly strong offensive performance, as well as goalkeepers Christian Herrera (Red Team) and Bennett Sneddon (Blue Team) showing off solid skill sets.
An early chance by the Red Team’s Brendan Constantine was post-marked for the far right corner, but Blue Team starting goalkeeper Justin Vom Steeg got enough of a touch to deflect the shot wide before making a good punch clearance on the resulting corner.
As the half reached the 20th minute, a spell of pressure by the Red Team nearly resulted in a goal when Yueill chested a long pass into the air and brought it down with a deft second touch before splitting two defenders only to see his snap shot fly past the far right post.
Yueill was close again minutes later. With a great bit of skill to pick a Blue Team defender’s pocket, Yueill sped forward and ripped a shot that nearly snuck in at the near left post.
The Blue Team ended the half with two excellent chances of its own. Christian Lucatero set Jorge Ruiz free in the right channel but the striker fired his shot from 16 yards out over the bar. Moments later, Ben Swanson sent Ruiz in again, but starting Red Team goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski charged off his line to smother the ball at Ruiz’s feet.
The second half provided less action, but in the 49th minute the Blue Team’s Nash Popovic was taken down by Willie Maddox in the penalty area. Amir Bashti stepped up to take the PK but saw his shot pushed aside by a sprawling Hererra.
In the 70th minute, Red Team’s Ethan Lochner evaded two defenders and rushed down the center channel before unleashing a fierce drive from 25 yards that Sneddon parried with a leaping save.
The teams traded a handful more opportunities as time wound down, but ultimately each team had to be happy with a strong all-around display.
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
BLUE 0 0 0
RED 0 0 0
Lineups:
BLUE: 20-Justin Vom Steeg, 2-Austin Maloney, 16-Quentin Pearson, 11-Mauricio Pineda, 13-Nigel Blackwood, 4-Christian Lucatero, 3-Cameron Lindley, 6-Ben Swanson, 9-Jorge Ruiz, 12-Nash Popovic, 7-Coy Craft
Subs: 1-Christian Herrera, 20-Christian Herrera;, 3-Brendan Constantine, 4-Collin Fernandez, 5-Eddie Venta-Yepes, 6-Ethan Lochner, 7-Jackson Yueill, 8-Jeremy Ebobisse, 9-Justin Stinson, 10-Willie Maddox, 11-Dominic Jensen, 12-Henry Martin, 13-Miles Robinson, 14-Abuchi Obinwa, 15-Ryan Sierakowski
RED: 1-JT Marcinkowskit, 2-Alex Ramos, 12-Henry Martin, 2-Austin Maloney, 12-Henry Martin, 13-Miles Robinson, 10-Willie Maddox, 4-Collin Fernandez, 14-Abuchi Obinwa, 7-Jackson Yueill, 15-Ryan Sierakowski, 8-Jeremy Ebobisse, 3- Brendan Constantine
Subs: 1-Bennett Sneddon; 2-Austin Maloney, 3-Cameron Lindley, 4-Christian Lucatero, 5-Amir Bashti, 6-Ben Swanson, 7-Coy Craft, 8-Jonathan Leal, 9-Jorge Ruiz, 10-Kendall Stork, 11-Mauricio Pineda, 12-Nash Popovic, 13-Nigel Blackwood, 14-Pablo Pelaez, 15-Tommy Madden, 16-Quentin Pearson