West Chester United’s first NPSL roster filled with familiar names

West Chester United’s first NPSL roster includes four Philadelphia Union Academy alums, familiar names from college soccer and others who demonstrate the wealth of talent available right in the club’s backyard.

“We knew going into this that an NPSL team in our area would bring a lot of talent that’s nestled around here at the college level,” head coach Blaise Santangelo said.

That includes Villanova standouts and Philadelphia Union Academy grads Shane Bradley and Conor Bradley, who are entering their second year at Villanova. Villanova teammates David Bettenhausen (Media, Pa.) and Max Kroschwitz (Pipersville, Pa.) are also on the team.

Dartmouth midfielder Matt Greer (Chadds Ford, Pa.) and Lafayette defender Chris Gomez (Jamison, Pa.) were teammates on the first Union U18 team in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy back in 2013-14. Gomez transferred to Lafayette from Syracuse in the winter.

The 2015 High School Player of the Year for Pennsylvania is also on the squad in Lafayette forward Evan Vare. Vare led the Leopards with seven goals and a pair of assists in his first season after leading Central Bucks East to an undefeated season and a state title in 2015.

Other notable college players on the team include Penn teammates Gavin Barger and Austin Kuhn (Wyomissing, Pa.), who was on the Union U17 team that won the Generation adidas Cup in 2012.

Florida Atlantic midfielder Christian Williams (Southampton, Pa.) and Lehigh goalkeeper Will Smith (Devon, Pa.) round out the current Division 1 talent on the squad. West Chester University teammates Sami Phelps and James Wood (West Chester, Pa.) come from the D2 ranks and Lycoming midfielder Jordan Logan (Oxford, Pa.) and Franklin & Marshall forward Ryan Fincher (West Chester, Pa.) both play at the D3 level.

“About 60 percent of the roster is made up of players from college soccer,” Santangelo said.

The rest found plenty of success in college soccer and many have contributed to West Chester United’s successful adult amateur team that won a national title in 2015. This includes forward Ben Maurey (Downingtown, Pa.), who starred at Brown and Indiana, former Philadelphia University standout Sandro Surabischwili (Media, Pa.), Temple alums Jake Lister (Exton, Pa.) and Chas Wilson (West Chester, Pa.) and brothers Kyle Martyn and Alexander Martyn (Media, Pa.) who both played at Alvernia and Michael Gonzalez and Andrew Gonzalez (Berwyn, Pa.) who played at Penn State and Lafayette.

West Chester United opens their NPSL campaign at home against Junior Lone Star FC on Saturday, May 13, at 7 p.m. Their U23 teams, which includes a host of other local players from the college ranks, will play a friendly at 4 p.m.