Osner’s FC Defeats American Soccer Club New York 2-1
By Michael Lewis/NPSL.com
Not even the pouring rain from kickoff to the final whistle could douse the enthusiasm of a pair of clubs competing in their inaugural National Premier Soccer League match on Sunday night.
For Osner’s FC, it was the thrill and satisfaction of a 2-1 road win.
Head coach Christian Turizo was pleased that his side got off to a victorious start.
“It’s always comforting to win, to start off winning, because it gives you confidence,” he said. “It boosts the confidence of the players. We’re very happy that we were able to walk away with the three points, especially in our first away game. It means that our upcoming home game should be much more exciting. It was an exciting match.”
For the American Soccer Club New York Fighting Tomcats, the team felt it showed its true character during a late comeback attempt at Captains Field on the campus of Hofstra University.
Captain and forward Brian Saramago, who scored the team’s goal in the 89th minute, was impressed with his teammates’ attitude.
“It’s easy when you go down two-nil, to just lower your head and say that the game is over, but we reacted really well,” he said. “We started picking up the play after we conceded, and we started going after it. Those final moments of us pushing, it really showed a bright spot, and it’s something that I think that we’ll continue to build on.”
It was a hard-fought encounter.
Osner’s FC tried to use its speed to break the Tomcats’ defense, while the hosts combined short and long balls in an attempt to find the net.
The visitors drew first blood in the 37th minute, when Watz Landy Leazar slammed home Sylnick Pierre’s left-wing cross from close range past goalkeeper Kenny Cordova.
Four minutes into first-half stoppage time, the Tomcats put the ball into the back of the net but were ruled to be offside.
Pierre gave Osner’s FC a two-goal advantage, scoring from close range in the 57th minute.
Before their late goal, the Tomcats’ best chance in the second half came in the 77th minute when goalkeeper Gooly Elien produced a spectacular save on forward Kenny Gomez.
The Tomcats made it exciting as Saramago backheeled the ball from six yards into the net in the 89th minute to set up 10 nail-biting minutes of injury time for both sides.
“It was a fun game to watch,” Turizo said. “. It was an exciting last 10 minutes. We held them off. It was a little bit frightening, because of [10] minutes of added time. It’s a whole new game, especially when you know you’ve attacked and you’re hanging on as much as you can.”
ASCNY head coach John Fitzgerald, who said his team’s start was “tenuous,” would like to see the squad play more like the final minutes.
“It’s a new season,” he said. “We’ve got more games to play. We play these guys two more times. I’m confident in us, and I just think that if we could take those last 15-20 minutes and bottle them a little bit and bring that out sooner. I know we can. I think that our work rate was just freaking phenomenal, even if it wasn’t always pretty. That’s the way you work your way through things, grinding, hard work, good, positive attitudes. As much as the game didn’t go our way, we have guys that still had a positive attitude about it. … We still need to get to know each other just a little bit, find out each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
After securing three valuable road points, it was difficult not to hear the music emanating from the Osner FC’s locker room as the squad celebrated its first result. The team has decided to play either Haitian, African American or Spanish music after wins.
“It’s a very diverse team,” defender Benedick Augustin said. “We don’t have a certain type of song that we listen to. We enjoy everything.”
Added Turizo: “The boys are happy. They fought hard. I always tell them, ‘Enjoy the moment but don’t get comfortable. Keep working hard, keep aiming high.’ I let them have their moment after every game.”
The rain started several hours prior to kickoff, holding the crowd down to 819.
Tomcats managing partner and general manager Jim Kilmeade said that he was shocked that there were 520 fans who walked up and purchased tickets.
“In all my years in doing this at the lower division pro soccer level, I never had a walk up like this, including with our national championship team in the USL,” said Kilmeade, referring to the 1995 U.S. Interregional Soccer League champion Long Island Rough Riders. “I’m blown away we had this many people come. I’m pleasantly surprised at the fact that there’s genuine enthusiasm for a team that hasn’t played a game and only announced its schedule four and a half weeks ago. As much as you win, with this rain, we exceeded expectations by a lot.”
The Tomcats hope to have some clear skies for their next home game, against the New York Shockers on Saturday, May 10 at 7:00 pm.
“This group is fairly new,” said Saramago, referring to a pair of preseason friendlies. “This is our third game together. So, it’s a learning experience and building on that, building connections. In order to build on that, you need to play with each other for a while. The more you play, the easier the game becomes. You learn habits from your teammates, and my teammates learn my habits. It just facilitates the game. I think that we’ll definitely end up building on that and continue to make these connections on the field.”
Osner’s FC will host New Haven United FC in their home opener at Belson Stadium on the campus of St. John’s University in Queens, NY on Sunday, May 11 at 7:00 pm.
“All I can say is, I feel so proud of the moment,” Augustin said. “I feel excited because we’ve been working since January. We’ve been preparing for this, and we’ve been through hard moments because the weather wasn’t great. Sometimes it was raining, it was snowing, so we had to go through it. We’ve been ready for it. … We wanted to show who we are as a team. We’re ready for the next match.”
Photo Credit: Ray Nelson/American Soccer Club New York
