It has already been an eventful week for the Real Salt Lake-Arizona Academy. With RSL in Casa Grande, Arizona, for preseason training, many of the players within the youth system are getting the opportunity to train with the first team, but three more players received international call-ups along with one other Academy product in Sebastian Saucedo.
First, though, the U-18 and U-16 teams hosted Real So Cal on Saturday, splitting the matches against the Oak Park, Calif., based club. The U-18s got a hat trick from Brooks Lennon – his second in the last three matches since returning from the winter break – to topple Real So Cal 3-0. The match was scoreless until Lennon broke the deadlock in the 60th minute, then he added two more to complete the hat trick in the 90th and 92nd minutes. The victory extended the U-18’s unbeaten run to 14 matches, with 12 straight wins dating back to October. At 15-1-3, they lead the Southwest Division by a comfortable margin.
The U-16s also played a heated contest with Real So Cal, but it was RSC that broke the tie in the 69th minute and held off a late push for a 1-0 RSL-AZ defeat. It was the second straight loss for the U-16s, but they remain in contention in the Southwest Division at 8-6-5 for fifth place.
Next up, on Saturday the two teams will host FC Golden State before playing four road matches in February.
His hat trick wasn’t the only good news of the week for Lennon. The 17-year-old forward joined Saucedo and U-18 teammate Evan Waldrep in receiving a call-up to the U.S. U-18 National Team for the 2015 Copa Chivas Tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico. The U.S. opens play on Friday and will play four Group Stage matches. The top eight finishers in the 15-team tournament will then advance to the quarterfinals with the final falling on February 7, after which Saucedo would rejoin Real Salt Lake’s preseason training camp.
“They guys down here at the Academy do a fantastic job," RSL Head Coach Jeff Cassar said. "It’s a great environment down here. The level is extremely high. I think we’re starting to reap the rewards of that now.”
Meanwhile, 16-year-old Tanner Dieterich of the U-16s was named to the 28-man roster for the U.S. U-17 National Team Residency program. The defender is the 10th Real Salt Lake-Arizona product to earn an invitation to the Residency program, joining Eriq Zavaleta, Riggs Lennon, Ive Burnett, Cole Nagy, Tony Murillo, Jordan Allen, Corey Baird, Justen Glad, Tanner Dieterich and Miles Stray. This is the same program that produced future RSL standouts Kyle Beckerman and Luis Gil.
