Amateur
Axtman brothers leading West Chester United through busy summer
The word family gets thrown around a lot in soccer, especially during playoff time when teams are pushing for trophies but for West Chester United the family connection has been a key one in their defensive setup this summer with brothers August Axtman and Eric Axtman both serving key roles in the amateur club.
August, a center back, and younger brother Eric, a goalkeeper, shared the field in West Chester United’s last two NPSL playoff games, one a clean sheet led by Eric’s standout performance saving a penalty and making other key saves and the other a disappointing 2-1 loss to Ristozi in the NPSL East final.
Now, they’ll both be part of a West Chester United team that is in Milwaukee representing the Northeast region in the USASA National Amateur Cup.
“August is tremendous when he plays within himself; he knows how to keep it simple and straightforward,” head coach Blaise Santangelo said. “We have a really great goalkeeper core and Eric has shown he’s up there with the top three. Part of our success has been the top guys battling for time.”
In addition to playing this summer, August, who has coached at Widener for the past five years after playing college soccer at King’s, also tied the knot. The wedding overlapped a game but he and Eric were back on the field four nights later in the 4-0 win over New Haven United. It was a first for Eric playing on the field at Widener, where their other brother John played his grad year last fall.
“It’s nostalgic being here on this field,” said August, who has shared the field just a handful of times this summer with multiple teams and competitions running simultaneously. “(Eric) does a really good job reading the game and has a lot of composure, especially in distribution, which I think can be underrated for a goalkeeper at times.”
Eric is heading into his senior year at Lafayette and is hoping to build on the momentum of a successful summer, his second with West Chester United after playing for their local NPSL club, Hershey FC the previous summer. Eric played against August in the Keystone West Conference final that year. Though they are from Harrisburg and graduated from Central Dauphin High School, August moved to the Philadelphia area when he landed a job at Vanguard.
“He’s a great mentor both on and off the field and is very successful,” Eric said of August, noting that when they do get to share the field the chemistry that comes from years of playing in the backyard is already built in. “There’s only so much time you get to play so I’m really glad we’re getting this chance to play together.”
Tonight’s National Amateur Cup semifinal between West Chester United and Sin City FC kicks off at 9 p.m. eastern and will be streamed live on YouTube.
