2026 US Open Cup Qualifying: CD Faialense back in USOC after win over FC Lonestar

Bay State Soccer League stalwarts Clube Desportivo Faialense of Cambridge, Mass. made a 45-minute trip North up I-93 to the Merrimack Valley to face FC Lonestar Global Pro Soccer Exposure (GPSE) on Saturday night. It was the visitors from a Portuguese community club that emerged with the win, and a spot in the first round proper of the US Open Cup for the second year in a row. Lonestar had been making their qualifying debut, after a 2-6-2 debut in UPSL Premier New England North. 

“I couldn’t be prouder of the guys,” said CD Faialense head coach Paul Correia. “They went out there from the first whistle and really played with an incredible energy and showed their quality from minute one to minute 90. We’re so happy to have qualified again for the US Open Cup as it was one of our objectives at the start of this year.” 

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On his return to the area where he went to Merrimack College, Alessandro Negri made the breakthrough after 16 minutes, smartly sweeping home a ball which took a deflection off a defender who had intervened to stop a right wing cross.

North Carolina Tar Heel Martin Vician made it 2-0 only two minutes later, capitalising on some loose defending to latch onto a long ball down the right wing. Vician turned the defender inside out before finishing himself. 

A turnover in midfield saw Faialense break forward, although the eventual chipshot by Max Krause into the ground required an element of luck to bounce into the back of the Lonestar net. Krause, who attended Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., had given the visitors a commanding 3-0 lead. 

The hosts returned the favor immediately, a long ball down the center of the pitch from close to the halfway line beat the defense and former pro Luke Stavros Campbell dashed onto the end.

Krause restored the lead to a three-goal margin in the 38th minute, blasting home from 30 yards out of goal with a precision strike past a fully stretched Lonestar goalkeeper after he dribbled in-field from the left.   

The second half of the match saw the CDF left back baited into a penalty-conceding slide tackle down their right wing and Eddie Yepes picked out the opposite bottom corner from the spot to make it 4-2. 

The final blow by the Lusitanians saw play down the Faialense left wing reversed into the penalty area and another Holy Cross product Jonathan Klein drew the ball back past the onrushing goalkeeper in the 88th minute.  

“While we know that the next opponent (in the US Open Cup) is going to be an incredible challenge, we’re gonna work to try to put ourselves in the best positions to have our best showing that we can,” said Correia. “I know that the guys are up for it and they’ll do whatever it takes to to make that happen.”