There is just over a week left in the USL League Two regular season, and since Turlock-based Academica Soccer Club joined the United Soccer League in 2023, it's the latest they have been in postseason contention.
On Wednesday, the guys in yellow and black returned to town with three points after a 2-0 win over Davis Legacy. It was their second straight win and improved their record to 4-2-5 with 17 points, good for fifth place in the nine-team NorCal division.
Scoring that night were University of Pacific teammates Ben Martin-Wilkinson and Ezekiel Padilla, who graduated from Livingston High in 2023 and made his professional debut for Sacramento Republic FC later that year.
First-year head coach Desmond Madrigal and his squad hope to keep the good times rolling when they welcome second-place Almaden FC of San Jose (7-4-1) to Academica Soccer Field at 1343 W. Greenway Ave. on Saturday for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Academica has scored 14 goals this season, with a three-way tie atop the player leaderboards with two goals each between Oscar Govea of Pacheco High and Sacramento State, Andres Velasquez of Ceres High and UC Davis, and Merced native Julian Lomeli.
Lomeli’s scores came recently in the same game on June 29 on the road against San Francisco City FC at Kezar Stadium, finding the back of the net late in the first half to make it 1-1 before equalizing things again at 2-2 midway through the second half. It set the stage for a late, game-winning score from Felipe Lopez.
Also contributing goals over the course of the season has been Samuel Villanueva-Martinez, James Andrew and Daniel Borges.
Saturday night will be the first meeting of the year between Academica and Almaden. After that, there will be just two games left on the schedule. On Wednesday, July 9, Academica will again be home in Turlock to take on first-place San Juan SC, who sport an 8-3-1 record with 25 points. In their first clash on May 28, San Juan defeated Academica by a 2-1 score.
Academica’s regular season concludes on July 12 when they travel to Pioneer High School in San Jose to rematch Almaden.
In the USL League Two playoff format, each division winner automatically qualifies, as well as the second-place team of select divisions. The playoffs are split into conferences and occur in late July, culminating in the League Two Final in early August.
In their inaugural USL season in 2023, Academica achieved a 4-7-1 record. They had a 3-8-3 record last year.
Tickets, livestream links and other match day information can be found at www.academicasc.com/matchday.
