The UPSL postseason competition continues for the Fall 2021 campaign this weekend. With just the Midwest Conference, Central Division’s Chicago Nation qualified for the national finals, nineteen more teams still have their hopes of claiming one of the remaining three spots very much alive. Of note, all four MLS academy sides* competing in UPSL this season are among these final nineteen. Two of them, Orlando City SC Academy and LAFC Academy, find themselves pitted against seasoned league combatants for a chance at reaching the postseason’s Round of 16.

In the Florida Conference, Central Division, OCSC’s academy will look to improve on their 2nd place finish in the regular season and claim the postseason division title. To do this, they’ll have to exact revenge on the only side to beat them both on the pitch and in divisional standings, Orlando FC Barca.

OFC Barca not only claimed the sole defeat of OCSC Academy in the regular season campaign, but also a place in elite company league-wide with an unblemished record against all division opposition. This isn’t any new accomplishment for the club, as they claimed the Florida Conference - Central Division season titles in Spring 2021, Fall 2020, Fall 2019 and Spring 2019. Visits to the round of 16 aren’t stranger to OFC Barca either, as central Florida side first played for the state title in Fall 2019 (a 2-1 losing effort to Florida South’s Red Force) then carried a win streak to the Fall 2020 national finals before falling 0-1 to host team and eventual national champion Atletico (Ginga) Atlanta.

Having reached that final four last year, OFC Barca appears to be on a clear mission to return. During the regular season they poured on forty-two goals on their competition, allowing just nine scores against them en route to a 9-1-0 record. In the postseason, they swept (2022 USLL2 expansion side) NONA Soccer Academy aside, 2-0, after enjoying a first round bye. They enter the weekend brimming with confidence and eager to advance to the Florida Conference final.

Standing in their way is, of course, the academy of Orlando City SC. The young lions may have fallen to OFCB earlier in the year, but they’ve looked anything but beatable since. Wrapping the regular season at 9-0-1, OCSC Academy lead the division in scoring with forty-five goals and boasted a division-leading 38 GD. Their pace hasn’t slowed in the postseason as the kids clipped Jacksonville’s Oceanway United, 2-1, in the first round, then knocked off Central Florida GOSA Spurs by a 3-1 score.

It’s a matchup that seems more fit for competition deeper into the postseason, but this will be an entertaining match to see if the future stars of Orlando City can return the favor of blemishing league veteran OFC Barca’s undefeated record.

Three time zones and roughly twenty-two hundred miles away from Orlando, the Black & Gold youth of LAFC Academy are also looking to punch their ticket to the Round of 16 in their initial season in the league. So far, the kids have weathered the competition well, boasting an undefeated 8-3-0 regular season record, scoring forty-three goals and allowing just three scored in return on their way to a second place finish behind Capistrano FC. In postseason play, they’ve registered two clean sheets in as many rounds, first pummeling AS Los Angeles by five goals, then United City FC by four. Their third match promises to be of very different flavor though, as they take Santa Ana Winds FC.

If OFC Barca is considered UPSL veterans, then Los Vendavales are certainly legends of the league. Founded in 2006, the Winds played in SoCal premier and NPSL before joining UPSL as a league founding member in 2011. Interspersed among deep US Open Cup runs that helped make them a national name in the lower league ranks, Santa Ana won the UPSL national title in 2013, finished as national runner-up in 2012, Fall 2017 and Fall 2019, and reached the league finals in Spring 2018.

Eight-time regular season winners of the Western Conference SoCal Division, Santa Ana has had a rougher initial go of it in their Fall 2021 campaign. Setbacks against Bakersfield, Mafo FC, and Capistrano FC marred a tough 6-2-3 regular season. If there was a singular bright spot that pointed to brighter heights for the club, it was their 1-1 draw against LAFC Academy. The experience of that well earned draw could be what has toughened the Winds early in the postseason. Fifth ranked Santa Ana first swept aside fourth place Laguna United, then served Capistrano FC their first defeat of the fall season in a 2-0 upset. Now, lead by veteran striker Odoom Mensah, the Winds will look to blow through LAFC Academy and claim a place in the Round of 16.

Two great matchups across two coasts to play out over the weekend. Whether the end of it finds the academy sides of MLS franchises another round further in the postseason, or veteran upsl clubs writing another chapter into their storied campaigns, remains to be seen.

By Ryan Stallings

*Atlanta United Academy & Houston Dynamo Academy are also still in postseason competition.