Academy update: Dixon reaches College Cup again!

There's a lot of news from our Dynamo Academy this weekend, but it starts with forward Alex Dixon, a sophomore at North Carolina, who scored the game-winning goal for the third straight game to lead UNC back to the NCAA College Cup with a 2-1 win over Cinderella story Drake on Friday.

Alex is playing some of his best soccer ever down the stretch, it appears, and says he's the healthiest he's ever been. No. 5 UNC will play either No. 1 Akron OR No. 8 Tulsa (with Academy defender Matt Boullt) in one semifinal next week in Cary, N.C. Boullt and Tulsa play Akron later today.

In Arizona, 15-year-old goalkeeper Fernando Pina made four saves in the United States U-17 team's 2-1 loss to Portugal in a game televised on FOX Soccer Channel. The U.S> has two more televised friendlies this weekend, so hopefully we'll see some more of Fernando. We'll try to get him to post a blog after the showcase with his thoughts on the weekend.

The Dynamo Academy teams were headed to Arizona for three-game runs in the USSF Winter Showcase, but the snow in Houston wreaked havoc with their travel plans. They're still going, thanks to some hard work by our staff, but a few things have changed. The U-18s will now be playing "Match Fit Chelsea" from Bayonne, N.J. today. The U-16s will only play two games as a result. The other games for both U-18s and U-16s are against Met Oval, from the famed Brooklyn location, and New Jersey Soccer Academy, a club from South Jersey.

Also, we announced that the Academy will be sending teams to the Copa Chivas (U-18) in Mexico and the Tahuichi Tournament for Peace and Unity (U-15) in Bolivia in January! Check it out.