Lutz Pfannenstiel is running through the roster of ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC’s academy team that lost in the championship game of the UPSL final on Feb. 3, and it’s bringing back memories.
Last year may have been City SC’s first season and the year before that City2’s first season, but before both of those teams, there was the club’s academy teams, at the under-16 and under-17 levels, taking the field in 2021. And the players who lost in the final 2-1 in Irvine, California, all younger than 19, were part of that original group.
“Most of them, from Day 1,†Pfannenstiel recalls. “Adam Boykin, Jackson Delkus, the first parents I met ever was Jackson Delkus’. Anthony Faupel, a kid we found in some high school game in St. Charles and invited to the open trial. Gavin Netzel, the first kid selected to be an academy player. Tyler Sargent, there from Day 1.†He goes through nine more names, all of them followed by either “there from Day 1,†or “came a bit later.â€
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“I think back a long, long time,†Pfannenstiel said. “The first-ever group who wore the crest, the first games in 2021. The boys are still in the system. It was very emotional for me to still see these kids around, all developed. ... It’s very special. We saw them when they played in high school games in Troy Illinois, at St. Dominic’s, Fort Zumwalt. That’s kids we basically found, like Miggy Perez. The boys.â€
The story didn’t have quite the storybook ending Pfannenstiel and the rest of City SC would have liked. The club lost in the final to Chiriaco FC of Coachella, California, but therein lies another part of the story of City SC almost getting the first championship trophy in club history.
It goes back to the start of the club’s academy system. MLS Next, the league-run developmental program, offers competition at the U-13, U-14, U-15, U-16, U-17 and U-19 levels, but Pfannenstiel and academy director Dale Schilly wanted to do something different with its oldest group.
“We wanted to find something more; we wanted to find a different challenge, wanted to find a league that provided some obstacles for the players that were unique and different from what they would see in a normal youth league,†Schilly said.
Schilly searched around and found that two other MLS academies, the Los Angeles Galaxy and Houston, had joined the UPSL, the United Premier Soccer League, a fourth-division semipro league made up of clubs with players of all ages. By joining the league, City SC’s under-19 players would be going up against grown men in some cases, which is exactly the challenge Pfannenstiel was looking for.
“It’s different to play against kids your own age or play against guys who have experience to push you around, to kick you if they have to, to make you run. It’s the difference between a guy who’s 30, 31 playing at decent level against a 16-, 17-year-old that still needs to find his way. That’s the game to make us better; that’s the games where we can pull something out for future. Win or lose, that’s the stage we want to be. We want them to out of their comfort zone.â€
“The competition was bigger, much stronger,†said midfielder Mikey Lay, one of those original academy members who went from the UPSL final to training camp with City2 in Florida. “It helped a lot, especially when we want to move up in the world at our age. I don’t know if easier is the right term, but you got more used to it, had more experience with it.â€
That was exactly what the club got in the final against Chiriaco, a team with veteran experienced players, including players who had been pros in South and Central America. They gave the academy players, most either in high school or players taking a gap year before starting college, a lesson they would never get against a U-19 team.
“It’s more about playing men’s soccer instead of youth soccer,†Schilly said. “The men’s game looks completely different than the youth game. The fact that we were in possession and couldn’t penetrate against Chiriaco in the second half, I think is a good indicator of what the men’s game can look like when a team wants to lock you down and keep you away from goal, and that’s something they’re going to experience for the ones who keep moving up the ladder.â€
And that’s what it’s all about for these players, many of whom will soon be leaving the club. Some are going to college: Delkus is headed to SLU, Faupel to Virginia. Six of them, including Lay, are in camp with City2 at the moment, along with some other products of the City SC academy.
“Maybe one or two or three guys are late developers,†Pfannenstiel said, “have an unbelievable college career, maybe come back, join in City2 or higher up. That’s what we want to do, give local youngsters a chance.â€