New York Red Bulls Academy U16s and U18s win openers at Academy Playoffs

The United States Soccer Development Academy Playoffs kicked off yesterday at the Grand Park Sports Complex in Westfield, Indiana. Both the New York Red Bulls Academy U-16 and U-18 teams won their opening matches.

Here's our tournament preview to get you caught up. The Playoffs run from June 22nd through June 25th and the group winners advance to the knockout rounds.

U-16s

The Red Bulls started their post-season campaign with a 5-1 win over the Florida-based IMG Academy. Rodrigo D'Andrea scored the opener in the 9th minute. Kyle Casey doubled the lead right after halftime in the 47th minute and Jamaican youth international Zaire Bartley scored in the 60th minute to put the Red Bulls up 3-0. IMG pulled one back a minute later via Roalex Molina, but Brian Saramago (24 goals during the regular season) answered in the 66th minute and put the match away for good. Bartley added a second goal to his tally in the 70th minute to complete his brace.

Wojciech Gajda -- who has made the match day roster for New York Red Bulls II -- started at keeper.

The U-16s play Solar Chelsea SC (Dallas, Texas) today at 4:45 p.m. Solar lost their first match to the Portland Timbers, 4-1.

STARTING LINEUP: Wojciech Gajda, Vincent Borden, Kyle Casey, Rodrigo D'Andrea, Mason Deeds, Jared Gilbey, Kevin O'Toole, Zach Ryan, Kazu Shigenobu, Sean Teixeira, Richard Wolf

Substitutes: Zaire Bartley, Jeanpaul Marin, Ryan Mingachos, Brian Saramago

Unused substitutes: Xavier Kennedy, Kyle Perno, Noah Powder

U-18s

The Red Bulls shut out Brooklyn-based Blau Weiss Gottschee, 4-0, on the first day of group play. Georgetown commit and occasional NYRB II player Kyle Zajec opened up the scoring in the 6th minute. Marcello Borges, another player who has appeared with NYRB II and is heading to Michigan in the fall, put his team up 2-0 heading into halftime.

United States youth international and Tulsa commit Juan Sebastian Sanchez put the match out of reach in the 56th minute. Gedion Metrikin added an insurance goal in the 76th minute.

Keeper Thomas Lapnas -- committed to George Mason -- is credited with a shutout.

The U-18's next match is today against Sporting Kansas City at 12:15 p.m. Sporting dropped their first match to the Chicago Fire, 2-0.

STARTING LINEUP: Thomas Lapnas, Sam Carter, Malcolm Dixon, Marcello Borges, Ethan Lochner, Andrew Lombard, Breno Lustosa, Henry Martin, Gideo Metrikin, Juan Sebastian Sanchez, Kyle Zajec

Substitutes: Samad Bounthong, Walter Calderon, Cameron Harr, Gabriel Viana, Wesley Wade

Unused substitutes: Derrick Etienne, Nick Giordano