Casa Soccer League: Kelly Cup semifinals and weekend results recap

Submitted by the league

Primera

FC SouthHouse 4 – Real Vidas 1
A tough match between two classy teams saw FC SouthHouse run out the winners on Saturday and book themselves a spot in the Kelly Cup Final for a second consecutive season. Reese got things underway for SouthHouse in the 17th minute with a sweet strike. Leading their opponents, SouthHouse pushed hard for a second goal but couldn’t find the breakthrough as Real grew into the game. Their pressure didn’t count until the second half, when Salvati found the net on the stroke of sixty minutes. It looked like that goal would set up a nervy finish but SouthHouse were suddenly able to find a different gear. Reese put a second away just six minutes after Real tied the game, and then Bennefors tucked another away to give SouthHouse a comfortable lead. Another goal for Reese gave him his hattrick and gave SouthHouse a nice cushion to see out the game. After the match, SouthHouse captain Trueman was pleased with his side’s resolve. Coming off a heartbreaking loss in the Palangi cup midweek, he was pleased that his side were able to take their chances and put this game to bed when the result was most in doubt. For his part, Real captain Gibbs was full of praise for his opponents, who he felt showed Kelly Cup quality to win the game. Lamenting that his side didn’t play their best football, Gibbs was magnanimous in defeat. SouthHouse will play Rose Tree Gunners FC in the final on Sunday at Subaru Park as a reward for their efforts.

FC SouthHouse: GOALS – Reese (3), Bennefors – CARDS Benner (Y), Castro (Y)
Real Vidas: GOAL – Salvati – CARD O’Conner (Y)
MAN OF THE MATCH – Reese: FC SouthHouse

FC Misconduct 1 – Rose Tree Gunners FC 2
A rematch of the Palangi Cup quarter finals saw Rose Tree rise up over their storied opponents once more to book themselves a ticket to the Kelly Cup Final. Rose Tree got off to a flying start here when Higgins rattled the net after just ten minutes. Showing their best work in the first half, Rose Tree added another when Graul found himself with enough space and time to beat the keeper. Once that goal went in, Rose Tree parked the bus, their captain admitted after the match was over. A nervy fifty-five minutes followed as Misconduct looked for a goal to get themselves back into the game. They finally got it on seventy minutes when Robinson managed to work himself space to shoot past the defender and the keeper, who had played a flawless game to that point. With twenty minutes left on the clock, Misconduct continued to have chances but just couldn’t find a way past this defense. Reflecting on the game after the match, Misconduct captain Gonzalez felt that it just wasn’t his side’s day and credited his opponents for scoring two good goals. Rose Tree captain Giovanopoulos is delighted with his side’s first trip to Subaru Park. With two finals coming up in the next week, it’s been quite a season for the Gunners, and will only be made better by winning some silverware.

FC Misconduct: GOAL — Robinson
Rose Tree Gunners FC: GOALS – Higgins, Graul
MAN OF THE MATCH – Graul: Rose Tree Gunners FC

Segunda

Vidas United 1 – Oaklyn United 0
Vidas United are back in Primera at the expense of Oaklyn United, who put up a good fight in a very close game. This game was a real battle, with neither team giving any quarter in their quest for promotion. The game was settled by a goal from a throw-in. A long hurl from Edgar in the 534rd minute found Vilsaint, who fired home to give his side the victory. According to Vidas captain Bair, this is Vidas United’s first goal from a throw-in in living memory. Bad news for Oaklyn United, who, despite hitting the post in the second half, just couldn’t find an equalizer to take this game to extra time. Talking about his team’s season after the game, Oaklyn captain Lewis pointed to the positives: they’ve had an excellent season and taken all but the final step toward promotion to CASA’s top division. He felt his side were unlucky not to come away from the game with more, having had the momentum at various points in the match. With hard work and consistency, he backed his side to celebrate promotion and hopefully a title next season. For Vidas, the hard work also begins here: they know how hard it is to stay in Primera and will want to consolidate their position next season. For now, however, they’ll be celebrating their victory over a tricky opponent and a long-awaited return to the topflight.

Vidas United: GOAL – Vilsaint – CARDS Edgar (Y), Adeleye (Y)
Oaklyn United: CARDS Berezin (Y), Lim (Y), Patterson (Y), Pastore (Y)
MAN OF THE MATCH – Vilsaint: Vidas United

Tercera

Fishtown FC 3 – Philly Black Stars 4
The promotion finals for Tercera saw the East champions, Fishtown FC, face off against the third place of the West, the Philly Black Stars, for the right to move up to Segunda. After not playing for a couple weeks, Fishtown FC look eager to take the field and proved it by scoring the first goal of the game at the 16 th minute courtesy of #11 Gulama. The Black Stars responded with a goal from #10 Agpayong to tie the game in the 27 th minute and took the lead shortly after with a goal from #13 Mensah. But their lead would not last long as #11 Gulama scored another one for Fishtown to tie the game immediately after and go to the half all even. In the second half, it would be the Black Stars who had the better start and jumped to a lead once again in the 63rd minute through #36 Weah. Fishtown did not let their arms down and got a goal back in the 70th minute to tie the game once more but they let themselves loss focus for few moments after the goal, allowing the Black Stars #10 Agpayong to score the decisive 4 th goal that will give them the promotions spot. With this win, the Black Stars move up to Segunda with Yardy FC, giving the West the two promoted teams and the bragging rights over the East division.

Fishtown FC: GOALS - #11 Gulama (16’ 32’) #16 (70’)
Philly Black Stars: GOALS - #10 Agpayong (27’, 72’) #13 Mensah (30’), #36 Weah (63’)

Cuarto

Aston Phila 3 – Rebels FC 3 (Aston Phila on PKs)
The Cuarto final was played at Bartram Supersite and it came down to the wire to decide which team would get promoted. Both teams fought hard to be here and thus were not planning on going down easy. Rebels got the first goal of the morning courtesy of #3 Brown in the 11th minute. Aston Phila responded with a goal from #25 Freeble just a few minutes after to tie the game. It took a couple minutes but Aston Phila found another goal, this time through #6 Cervantez to take their own lead but it would be quickly match by Rebels’s #2 Weed to go back into a tie game. Just when Rebels though they would walk into halftime with a tie, #25 Frebel scored once more for Aston Phila to give them a lead just before the break. The secod half had a little less action as legs started to get tired, neither team was able to score or assert much dominance through a contested first 20 minutes. But in the 75th minute Rebels found an equalizer as #2 Weed scored his second goal of the game to once again, level the scoring and that meant we were going to overtime. Neither team was able to scored there so we moved up to PKs to decide the winner. Rebels missed their first shot while Aston Phila scored heir first three takes, but then they missed the fourth bringing Rebels back to life. Each team scored their next kick an then, Aston Phila’s goalie saved Rebels final and decisive PK to give his team the victory and the promotion.

Aston Phila: GOALS - #25 Freble (15’, 44’), #6 Cervantez (34’) CARDS - #7 Reber (yellow)
Rebels FC: GOALS - #3 Brown (11’), #2 Weed (38’,75’) CARDS - #2 Weed (yellow)
MOTM: Aston Phila #25 Freble

Quinto

Philly Athletic Club 1 – 2 Oaklyn United Pride
After coming out on top of a hard fought 2-1 match against Inter Phila, Philly Athletic Club were running circles around Oaklyn United Pride as their midfield found open spaces all over the pitch and when there was no space given, Philly created space with clever 1-2 touch passing that left Oaklyn flat footed much of the first half. Some poor man marking in the 35th minute would allow Philly to take the lead when Oaklyn failed to clear the ball out of the 18 following a well struck free kick from roughly 30yds out, the ball would fall to #9 Jamil who took a touch and drilled his shot into the upper 90 to put Philly up 1-0. Coming back from a goal down has always been a struggle for Oaklyn, having a stellar defensive core but failing to find the back of the net often was often the case and much to the dismay of #33 Carmody who struggled during the season to finish his chances in front of goal. The game tilted towards Oaklyn in the second half as they opened up their attacking and focused on winning as many 50/50 balls as possible, the change in pace and physical play from Oaklyn was causing havoc for Philly who found themselves on the ground over and over again. Having to pick themselves up after nearly every hard challenge, Philly no longer controlled the midfield as they did for much of the first half and a costly turnover would give Oaklyn an opportunity to bring the game level when #6 Bua found himself in space and slotted home the equalizer. The celebrations wouldn’t last long as the aggressive play from Oaklyn would result in a second yellow being shown to #88 J. Adcock, with the game tied but now playing down a man one would think you play conservative and focus defensively. Oaklyn had no such plan and continued to run at their opponent looking for the go-ahead goal, tempers would flare again and another poor tackle would result in a red card being shown to Philly’s #17 Bryan. Oaklyn’s high press would see Philly counter with a pair of decent looks in front of goal as Oaklyn scrambled to track back. With open looks from 15 and 20 yards out, Philly witnessed two great shots get pushed wide by Oaklyn’s keeper who came up big multiple times in the second half to keep his team in the match and gave #33 Carmody a shot a redemption for his team, with the game clock winding down and extra-time looking more and more likely, the hard working yet unlucky striker was able to shed his defender and breakaway towards goal, with the game and promotion on the line, with all the miss hits, poor first touches, errant headers running through his mind, Carmody was able to drown out all the noise and all the past errors that ate away at him all season and finish his chance with just moments to spare. Elation and exhaustion best describes how the Oaklyn’s players felt when that final whistle blew, Philly gave it their all and had a number of chances to put the game out of reach but it would be Philly that would leave the game feeling unlucky. Oaklyn captain Evan Duncan made it clear that although Carmody put away the game winner, that one moment doesn’t outshine what his team has done this season, with defensive and offensive contributions from Martinez, Bua, Carmody, Bucher and Hickman, Oaklyn were able to accomplish their goal of promotion by always believing they were the better team. No matter who they were matched up against, Oaklyn always believed they would walk away with all three points and will take that mentality into Cuarto in the fall as they look to continue the success and evolve into a powerhouse in the 4th division.

Goals: Oaklyn United Pride - #6 BUA 68’, #33 Carmody 89’
Philly Athletic Club - #9 Jamil 35’
Yellow Cards: Oaklyn United Pride - #88 Adcock reckless tackle using excessive force 34’, #88 Adcock reckless tackle using excessive force 70’, #6 Bua harsh tackle 74’, #69 Stever unsporting trip 76’; Philly Athletic Club - #17 Bryan reckless tackle using excessive force 58', #14 Ted unsporting hold 60’, #99 Samm tactical foul 68’, #17 Bryan unsporting tackle from behind. Red Cards: Oaklyn United Pride #88 Adcock 2 cautions. Philly Athletic Club #17 Bryan 2 cautions
Man of the Match: Oaklyn United Pride GK #1 J. Martinez

Sexto

Philly Saint German 2 – Still Processing 0
The road to the final for PSG went through Telle Bouche FC who were heavily favored to win promotion after narrowly missing out on the division title. It was a tough and well deserved win as PSG displayed great skill on the ball and enjoyed a bulk of the possession. Still Processing FC had a similar outing against a tough Bench Mob FC squad that really made it difficult for Still Processing to move the ball but once they got their shot, they capitalized on it and earned the 1-0 victory that sent through to the finals against PSG. Earlier in the season PSG were bested by Still Processing FC and came into the final with pent up frustration regarding their poor showing and were determined not to allow Still Processing to disrupt their game as they did just a few weeks ago. From the opening whistle on, PSG dominated their opponent in possession, when PSG wasn’t in full control of the ball in their opponents half of the pitch, they were focused on winning the ball back to continue their attack. SPFC would find themselves down a goal after some good link up play from Pedro Frazao and Dave Gnopo resulted in Pedro taking defenders on 1v2 in the box and slotting home the opener in the 20th minute. SPFC would struggle to find any offensive opportunities in the first half and those struggles would continue into the 2nd half as well, unable to get anything going outside of their own defensive half, it was the relentless pressure of PSG defender Wale Adeyinka and midfielder Jaeic Moriarty that smothered SPFC and triggered numerous turnovers. Jaeic found himself in the right place at the right time several times throughout the match, disrupting passing lanes and winning more than his share of duels and 50/50 balls. Dave ‘Doc’ Gnopo would orchestrate his team’s second goal as his perfectly weighted pass made its way to his captain, #22 Tyler Dewey who buried his shot and put the game out of reach in the 74th minute. SPFC would generate a few scares for PSG towards the final moments of the match but it was nothing they couldn’t handle and with the final whistle blown it was a dominate and impressive 2-0 victory for PSG who will move up to Quinto and give teams like Inter Phila and Philly Skyliners a tough match up as they have already proven this season that braun doesn’t always beat speed/skill on the ball. SPFC have grown a lot the past two seasons and have only gotten better so it is to be expected that they make another run at the division title in the fall while PSG will focus on their finishing as they do not want to head into another round of playoffs as the lowest seed, although that did nothing for them here in Sexto and if anything, motivated them to prove the haters wrong, PSG shocked the division and league and will now look to keep the momentum going as they move up to Quinto this fall.

Goals: PSG #18 Frazao 20’, #22 Dewey 74’
Yellow cards: N/A
Red cards: N/A
Man of the Match: PSG #3 Jaeic Moriarty