Sounders Academy advances to first national title game

With the first team struggling, it would appear that the Seattle Sounders future is in good hands, at least. The U16-17 team will play in the U.S. Soccer Developmental Academy national championship for the first time in its history on Tuesday when they face Atlanta United. The Sounders punched their ticket to the final by beating Barca Academy AZ 4-1 on Sunday.

Among the stars of that Sounders team are four players who have already signed to S2 and several others who have made appearances for the USL team.

The Sounders opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Daniel Robles played in Alec Diaz on a throughball. Diaz put it away with a cool left-footed finish.

Barca was able to equalize about four minutes later and the game remained tied until the 59th minute. That’s when Blake Malone rose above the defense to head in a corner kick from Robles.

The Sounders then put the match away with a pair of late goals. First Azriel Gonzalez set up fellow S2 signee Marlon Vargas with a perfectly weighted ball over the top.

About 10 minutes later, S2 signee Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez did most of the work on his own, creating space at the top of the box before firing it in with his left foot.