Ukies beat Colonial 3-1 to go top of the table in USLPA

It took a fortunate bounce to break a 1-1 deadlock in the second half, but a goal created off a combination play from a pair of local college players was the one that put Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals top of the table in the United Soccer League of Pennsylvania in a 3-1 win over Colonial SC Tuesday night at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School.

The match between the top two teams in the table – both were even on 19 points going – was as good as advertised with end-to-end play through large stretches of the game. Alexandru Zama, who joined the group from La Salle ahead of the NPSL season, opened the scoring with a great finish off a flick by Pedro Amadou. The lead would hold through to halftime as Colonial found themselves several opportunities to even the score off direct play. That included a chance with the keeper Ivan Melnyk way off his line that went just wide of the open net, a denial by Melnyk on Vito Vincent on the doorstep and a finger tip save on a promising shot on goal.

Colonial found their equalizer just after halftime on a quick counter attack down the left flank that led to a cross that was cleared right to Vincent, who hit the ball first time with his left foot into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

Less than 10 minutes later, the Ukies took the lead through Julian Pittaoulis, who had been threatening down the left flank through combination play with Zama. Pittaoulis, a Drexel attacker who also joined the team for the stretch run and NPSL season, got into the box and squared the ball with his left and the attempt from the Colonial defender to clear the ball ended up in the back of the net.

“I won the ball on the left side off the press, played it to (Zama), he gave it back to me and I tried to cross it but deflection, own goal,” Pittaoulis said. “I’ll take it.”

With Colonial searching for an equalizer and getting some looks at goal through dead balls and play through the middle, Zeke Zambrano was able to put the game away with a clever touch to evade two Colonial players and race forward to collect a return ball from Zama to score on a 1v1 with the keeper. For the Ukies, it was a highlight-reel goal to cap a memorable victory but the standings are subject to change.

The biggest challenger to the spot now held by Ukies is West Chester United, which won their match over Vereinigung Erzgebirge 2-0 to pull within a point of the Ukies at the top of the table with three games in hand. The Ukies have just one game left – a rescheduled match against VE – so they’ll need plenty of help to win the league title but being in this position this late in the season shows the competitive nature of the local league, which dates back to 1959, and the upswing the program is experiencing.

“Colonial is an unbelievable team; they just played in the Amateur Cup,” head coach Neema Mohajery said. “The quality was top notch from a lot of our guys today and it showed on the field. We beat a very good team today.”