Reading United beats West Chester United 3-1 for third straight win

Reading United integrated some new faces from FC Delco’s MLS Next Cup finalist squad and played spoiler to West Chester United with a 3-1 win in USL League Two play Saturday night at YSC Sports.

West Chester United came in needing a win to pad their chances of playoffs but Reading United had other ideas. Aided with the addition of Liam May, Jack McDaid and Joe McDaid in the starting lineup and Kaio Reis off the bench, Reading was able to limit West Chester’s chances and create plenty of their own going forward in a game that saw four goals in the second half.

After a scoreless first half, Ammit Boghal opened the scoring with a goal against his former team off a corner kick. Sam Hershey doubled the lead 10 minutes later on a shot that hit both posts before going in and an own goal late made it 3-0 before Dom Bachstein was able to pull a goal back five minutes before full time.

The win was the third straight for Reading and extended an unbeaten streak to five. Though they moved even on points with second place West Chester in the Mid Atlantic Division they’ll need a win in their last game and help since the Mid Atlantic shares a wild card spot with both the Chesapeake and the South Atlantic.

Ocean City Nor’easters hold the division lead and are five points clear with two games left while West Chester has three games left on their schedule.

“I thought we played great as a team, everyone was really connected, really committed to what we wanted to do,” said head coach Casey Moore. “I just thought it was a great performance against a really difficult team to match up against.”

While USL League Two rosters typically feature current college players, Saturday night’s game had a number of standout players who recently finished high school. The four players from FC Delco are all headed to Big 10 and Ivy League schools and two recent YSC Academy grads in Logan Oliver (Indiana) and Luke Martelli (Villanova) saw the field for West Chester. YSC Academy grad Brady McSwain (Cornell) started in goal for West Chester and former Union and FC Delco defender Andrew Johnson (Cornell) put in a solid shift on the back line for the visitors.

The FC Delco players from the U19 team that just played in the MLS Next Cup were integrated into the team shortly after returning from Dallas.

“We felt comfortable plugging them in right away because we thought it would solidify certain positions but also make us dangerous when we have the ball,” Moore said. “They’re kind of a perfect fit with how we play.”

Reading will close out their season next Saturday against Lehigh Valley United and while the playoffs are a long shot, Moore likes where the team is at and the recent run of form.

“Our group is really strong,” Moore said. “The performances we’ve put in I feel like have deserved more points but it’s a great group and they’ve been really receptive to the coaches and what we’re asking of them.”

West Chester has two road games in New Jersey: at Real Central NJ and Ocean City Nor’easters on Wednesday and Sunday and then at home for the regular season finale against Philadelphia Lone Star on July 18. A path to the division title is there if they win out. If they drop points the playoff picture gets a lot murkier.