Billy James

Eastern Pennsylvania will soon have a representative in the USASA Region I Finals as the championship game was set in stone this past weekend. The United German Hungarians (UGH) and Phoenix SC will meet in the deciding game after posting Semifinal victories in matches held around the Philadelphia area.

Phoenix earned their spot in the the Eastern PA Open Cup Final with a 3-1 win over Danubia SC with UGH defeating long-time rivals Vereinigung Erzgebirge (VE) 1-0 in the second game. Phoenix SC will host the title game on December 6 with a kickoff scheduled for 2 p.m.

At Beneficial Bank Field at the United German Hungarian club in Oakford, Pa., the game was a rematch of last year’s Open Cup Final, which VE won 3-0. UGH had eliminated VE in the Semifinals the year before on their way to capturing their last Eastern PA title.

The German Hungarians came out strong early in the match. The hosts put pressure on VE’s backline and scored the game’s only goal 20 minutes into the game.

Central midfielder Blair Carson sent a long ball over the top to forward Ryan Mosley, who controlled and dribbled in from nearly 40 yards out with a VE defender on his shoulder and beat the goalkeeper from just inside the penalty area.

UGH continued to put pressure on the VE goal, but before the halftime break, the visitors shifted the momentum. Their attack on the UGH goal continued into the second half and the pressure increased at the midway point of the half when they went up a man.

The German Hungarians had their outside midfielder ejected, which shifted their focus to defending. With the back four and the midfield dropping back to help out, UGH limited VE’s chances. The best scoring chance for VE came late in the game when a cleared ball struck a VE player in the chest and rebounded toward the UGH net and nearly caught goalkeeper Eric Talbot off his line. Talbot was able to recover in time and keep the ball out of the back of the net to preserve the clean sheet.

In the other Semifinal, Phoenix SC took another step toward capturing their first Eastern PA Open Cup title as they knocked off Danubia SC.

On a bumpy field, each team kept their shape and played conservatively in the early going while probing for weaknesses in their opponent. In the 22nd minute, Phoenix forced the Danubia backline into an error, with Steve Mellor’s pressure allowing Roman Escobar to steal the ball and poke it home from 10 yards out. The goal spurred Phoenix on as they created several other chances, before capitalizing again in the 36th minute. Danny Murtagh and Steve Mellor’s one-two in the midfield released Murtagh down the left side, whose cross found the foot of Mellor for the second goal of the game. Danubia found a lifeline just before halftime as they were able to capitalize on an error by the Phoenix defense, with Pete Pitoulis slotting the ball into an empty net to make it 2-1.

With mascot Carlson Thomson performing a rousing rendition of Phoenix’ “Lisztomania” at halftime, Phoenix came out ready to rise to the challenge of defending their one-goal lead. The visitors used the crowd to soak up Danubia’s momentum as the half began. The Danubia goalkeeper kept his team in the game with fine saves on shots by Ryan Soroka and Kamara Freebolle. Phoenix were in full flight in the 71st minute when Ben Castor released Murtagh down the left with a 30-yard first time ball, Murtagh cut inside and forced the goalkeeper into a flying save, only for substitute Billy James to put the ball into the back of the net with his first touch of the game.

The state final will be a rematch of a United Soccer League match from last week when UGH came out on top by a score of 1-0. The German Hungarians will be playing in their fourth Eastern PA title game in five years, having only lifted the trophy in 2007 (for 2008 Open Cup qualifying). UGH has a strong history of not only in regional qualifying, but in the national tournament as well. They have never won the US Open Cup, but they were the runner-up in 1977 and 1993.