Academy News

Academy Notebook: Results & a look ahead to Week 3

Tommy Thompson Academy

Many of the great goal-scorers eventually become known by a singular name - Ronaldo, Messi, Pele, Fabbretti…..Fabbretti???
OK, maybe not quite yet. But there is no denying the torrid start that Kaya Fabretti is off to in his Quakes Academy career. Fabbretti continued to dominate the early season as he found the back of the net four times in a 6-0 victory over Bay Area rival Marin FC Alliance last Saturday. It’s not an easy task to top a 9-1, season-opening victory, but the U14 did just that as they rolled at the Earthquakes Training Facility to start the season 2-0.
Fabbretti, a late-summer transfer into the Quakes program, tallied once in the season-opener, and then exploded in Game Two as he staked San Jose to a 4-0 lead within the first 31 minutes of action. In the 11 minute, Fabbretti took the lid off the goal, and it didn’t take long to find paydirt again. He proceeded to add goals in the 21st, 28th and 31st minutes to nearly put the game away single-handedly.
Forward Ivan Valencia has also asserted himself around the box on this young season, adding his 2nd goal of 2013 in the 50th minute. Gerson Perez, a 66th minute substitute, didn’t take long to get in on the action either as he got his first goal of the campaign in the 77th minute to put the finishing touching on a dominating performance. 
The U14 Quakes are tied with San Juan for the division lead, but San Jose is unmatched in the “goals for” tiebreaker, as they have scored 15 times in two games. Even more impressive, they have only allowed one goal against them. 
Looking ahead to the weekend, the 14s will take on Placer United Soccer Club Saturday at 2:45 in San Jose at the Earthquakes Training Facility. Placer is coming off of a 2-2 tie with Cal Odyssey, and carries a 1-0-1 record into the match.

Goalkeeper Remi Prieur kicked off the season on a high note as he shut down Crossfire Premier this past Saturday in a 2-1 victory to open the U16 season. San Jose battled Crossfire for nearly 35 scoreless minutes before Edwin Lara buried the first goal of the season for the Quakes. Shortly thereafter, Yousef Diyab gave San Jose a lead that Prieur would not relinquish. Crossfire would finally get on the board in the 66th minute, but it was too little and too late.
Sunday’s U16 match against division foe Vancouver didn’t go as well as San Jose had hoped, as the Whitecaps scored four goals, including three times in 15 minutes early in the 2nd half. The Quakes had great success against Vancouver in this age group last season, but the Whitecaps won this one 4-0. 
The Quakes will look to bounce back from Sunday’s result with another pair of home matches coming up this weekend. Saturday, San Jose will face Arsenal FC at 12:30 p.m. at the Earthquakes Training Facility, Arsenal took the lone matchup last season 1-0. Sunday, the Quakes will square off with Real So Cal, which dropped San Jose 3-0 last season. That match is set to kick off at 1:30 p.m. at the Mustang Soccer Complex in Danville.

The 18s stumbled a bit coming out of the blocks this season, but have a great opportunity to right the ship this weekend with another set of matches on the home pitch. Last Saturday, San Jose fell to Crossfire Premier 3-2 after taking an early lead. Alex Valencia got the Quakes on the board with a goal in the 30th minute, but Crossfire jumped right back and evened the match just one minute later. After some back-and-forth play, a tally in the 54th minute put Crossfire ahead for good. Jeremy Romero scored the first of his two goals on the weekend in the 84th minute, but it was too late for San Jose as the clock ran out on them while pushing for the equalizer. 
Sunday saw a bit of the same luck as San Jose fell 2-1 to Vancouver. Romero put San Jose ahead in the 29th minute only to see the match tied again, just one minute later. The match would eventually tilt in Vancouver’s favor on a goal in the 65th minute, and once again time ran out as the Quakes were pressing to even the match. 
Romero has already eclipsed his goal total from last year and will look to continue to be a potent scoring threat this weekend, when the 18s take the pitch Saturday at 10 a.m. in San Jose against Arsenal, a team that they bludgeoned 4-0 last season. Sunday, they face off with Real So Cal at 11 a.m. in Danville and will look to avenge a 4-3 defeat from last year. 
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Alumni Update
Indiana University freshman and Earthquakes academy alum Tommy Thompson has not disappointed in his first handful of matches with the Hoosiers. Thompson has started all six of his team’s matches and has already tallied two goals in the young season.
Thompson, of Granite Bay, is following in the family footsteps. His father, Gregg, co-captained the Hoosiers to their first national championship in 1982 and is in the IU Hall of Fame. Tommy joins his older brother, Tanner, who is also a freshman on the IU team. The boys’ cousin, Bobby De St. Aubin, played for the Hoosiers in 2000 and 2001 and was named to the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI Freshman team. 
- Richter Media