West Chester United lift another trophy, book return trip to National Amateur Cup

Seven years after their first trip to the National Amateur Cup ended just short of a national championship, West Chester United booked a return trip to Milwaukee on Saturday night with an emphatic 3-0 win over the team that won it all last year: the New York Pancyprian Freedoms.

West Chester opened the scoring early when goalkeeper Tino Kneis took a ball off his chest and blasted a ball down field that ended up at the feet of Josh Luchini in stride and Luchini finished off the play to make it 1-0. In contrast to the 2018 Region 1 final when they went down to 10 men in the 12th minute against Safira FC, Luchini’s goal gave the Predators a leg up against the defending champs and bolstered an attack that was connecting well all evening.

Seven minutes after the opener, Dylan Lacy lined up a free kick to the left of the box and curling a ball in that found the head of Ridge Robinson, who headed it in it inside the far post to double the lead. West Chester thought they had a third minutes later when Michael teDuits was played in on a break but the offside flag kept the lead to 2-0.

“Getting up early on them was super huge,” said head coach Blaise Santangelo, who was cautious at halftime with the two goal lead. “They’ve been down to Lansdowne (Yonkers FC) twice recently, and they’ve come back to win 3-2 so we knew they weren’t going to go away without giving a fight.”

The Freedoms did just that, pushing forward to start the second half and were able to keep possession and create opportunities from open play and set pieces that stretched but never broke the Predators back line. Whether it was defenders Luca Mellor, August Axtman, Bobby Hickerson or John Ricks stepping up to win a header or tackle, Kneis commanding his box or the Princeton duo of Jack Jasinski and Liam Beckwith intervening in front of the center backs, the defense limited the opportunities when they did come.

Once the Freedoms goalkeeper started pushing further into West Chester’s side of the field, the opportunity came to put the game away when substitute Tomas Ascoli collected a header from Ricks and sent the ball forward to Jasinski who hit a slow roller on goal that made it across the goal line. The goal set off a big celebration from the team at the corner in a collective exhale.

“When the third goal went in, we knew we had the game,” said Mellor, who was the lone holdover on the day from the 2018 final. “Until then, they were a really good team like we were and we were really cautious of their talent. They had some really good guys up top and were really strong. I think we did well to take our chances that we had, and then they were pushing.”

Mellor, who is the head coach at Eastern University, credited Jasinski and Beckwith for their work rate and the amount of ground they covered and noted that the attack was as important to the defense as the back five.

“We played some really good football today,” Mellor said.

Jasinki’s goal came after a harsh challenge near midfield that fired up the team and added a little spice to the contest, which could be repeated next weekend in the APSL finals in Allentown since both teams are also in the final four of that competition.

“I was a little frustrated the play before I felt so I wanted to put one in,” Jasinski said. “I’m glad I rolled it in. It was a slow roller and, you know, they all count the same so it’s fun to celebrate with the guys in the corner.”

As the full time whistle sounded, Santangelo congratulated his players as they came off and praised them for their effort on the day.

“I tell the guys every year at the beginning of the year, this is the one, this is the one we need to win,” Santangelo said. “We lost in the final to Milwaukee Bavarians in 2018 and this is one we’ve been trying to get to and to finally get back there. We still have a lot of work, we’re going to play against some great competition, I’m sure, but it’s to get out of this region is pretty special. A lot of times national champs come out of this region.”

The trip to Milwaukee in late July will be the third final four event of the season for the Predators, who are managing multiple leagues and competitions with a deep and talented pool of players ranging from teenagers to players approaching their 30s and older. They came up short last weekend in the Hank Steinbrecher Cup to champions El Farolito in the semifinal but have a chance to win the American Premier Soccer League title next weekend in addition to this third opportunity.

Saturday’s final for West Chester United nearly didn’t happen. After losing to Christos FC in the semifinal, West Chester United filed a protest that was upheld by the league office in Chicago. Christos FC was still well represented this weekend at the cups. Their Over 40 team won Saturday on penalties and they have teams playing in both the Over 50 and Over 30 finals today. West Chester United also has a final at 2 p.m. with the Werner Fricker Cup against Leros SC and their U-23 team is in the semifinals this morning for the U-23 Tournament.