L to R: (back row) Nick Jachwak, James Brett, John Gravelle, Sixtus Akinlosotu, Jason Pixley, Pat Raykovitz, Ken Tomczuk, Matt Sullivan, Ken Lassiter, Trevor Hopf, & Gabe Dwyer. (front row) Finn Reese, Dakota Taylor, Reed Sturza, Bob Hennesey, Belal Mohamed, Dan Grindrod, Joey Hansen, Adam Nork, & Anthony Amore.
Thursday, night, December 16th saw our Major Men play in the Semi-Final of the Eastern Pennsylvania Soccer Association’s Open Cup. The final score was 3:0 in favor of the German Hungarians and cinched the slot in the state cup final for our club.
Two goals were scored by Finn Reese, the first on a penalty kick, with the third from none other than Matt Sullivan. Keeper, James Brett, came away with another clean sheet and was bestowed the title of Man of the Match by head coach Jason Karasow.
The competition is a remnant of the old USASA Open Cup that nationally was named after Werner Fricker. East Penn as well as a number of state associations still hold the open competition even though the national association no longer holds a national final 4. The various regions most often One, Two, and Three now host yearly the “Championship of Regions” which includes the finals for the Open as well as the Over-30 competitions. Recently EPSA announced their leg of the open cup would be named in honor of longtime referee administrator Frank Giancroce who recently passed away.
Important to note also our team staff and the hard work organizing, scheduling and getting this match played. It was originally scheduled last week and was postponed due to illness and had to be rescheduled.
The win Thursday night at the Proving Grounds puts our Major team into the first cup final in a number of years and all accounts the team is in great spirits, but also focusing on getting ready for the Championship State Cup Final on Sunday.
A small but dedicated group of members came to watch the semi-final this week and it would be a great help to the team if our ranks could bring about a bigger crowd for the final. It’s a busy time of year but watching our club in the final match on Sunday will be a great way to end the fall portion of the season, and a winning a trophy will be an even better Christmas Gift for the German Hungarians.
Come out Sunday, wear your club gear and your Santa hat and cheer on our team for a hopefully great Sunday win!
The featured image was taken by Michael N. Fricker on Thursday, December 16, 2021 at the Proving Grounds
Featured image by Michael N. Fricker
(Canon Eos Rebel T7. EF-S18-55MM f3.5-5.6 IS II. ISO 2500. 0ev. f4.5. 1/50 s)
