GPS Omens

2019 US Open Cup Qualifying Round 3: Safira FC’s late equalizer leads to PK win over GPS Omens

November 20, 2018 by Savahna Reuben

Safira FC celebrate after they advance with a 7-6 PK shootout win (2-2 draw) over GPS Omens in the 2019 US Open Cup qualifying tournament. Photo: Chris Aduama | Aduama.com

At 12:35 p.m. on a cold, cloudy afternoon in the south of Boston, GPS Omens and Safira FC kicked off for the third qualifying round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

The Omens went up early with a goal by former Rochester Rhinos player Stefan Defregger. In the 31st minute, Safira answered, and Vander Luiz Bellettini was able to bury a rebound off GPS keeper’s initial cross-net save. In the 74th minute, similar to their first goal, GPS scores on a through ball from Smriko to Defregger. As the clock ran out, with just a minute to play, an unmarked Safira Vidal tied up the game 2-2 off another saved deflection. Overtime saw shared possession, multiple shots, and big saves from the keepers. But ultimately, this game went to penalty kicks, where Safira outlasted GPS 7-6 to advance.

Safira FC now move themselves one step closer to qualifying for the US Open Cup for the first time, while GPS is denied a shot at qualifying for the fifth time in the last seven years.

For the first 10 minutes of play, Safira FC dominated possession with no shot attempts. But in the 10th minute, Omens’ Harris Smriko stripped the ball in the midfield to play Stefan Defregger in between two defenders for a one-on-one with the keeper. He finished to the back post and put GPS up 1-0 early.

Omens showed some life after the goal with their midfield winning 50-50 balls and putting immediate pressure on the Safira backline, finding Pat Murray, Jake Johnson and Defregger in and around the 18. But an organized Safira stayed tight and organized, leaving the Omens with little space to take shots.

Twenty minutes in, Safira found some connections up the left flank with combination play getting Vander Luiz Bellettini up into the attack. In the 21st minute, left forward Hugo Bomfim gave Safira their best opportunity thus far from 22 yards out, kicking a hard, low driven shot off the dribble-but GPS goalkeeper Jason Katz tipped it out, hitting the post and giving the ball to the Omens back line to clear.

The goalkeeper for Safira FC, Patrick Vilela makes a save in the PK shootout against GPS Omens in the 2019 US Open Cup Qualifying tournament. Photo: Chris Aduama | Aduama.com

In similar Safira fashion, a strong GPS backline anchored by Harry Copeland and Brill Samuel with Jake Edwards and Pumelele Maqubela on the flanks controlled multiple challenges from Safira forwards. With two strong Safira corners, Katz made two impressive saves tipping the first over the net and coming up big in the air off his line to make the catch for the second half way though the first half.

Safira continued to put heavy pressure on the Omens, with a dangerous counter attack opportunity by Safira’s Lage Silva finding the forward in, but the Omens back line was able to clear the ball out of trouble. Shortly after, Safira’s Carvalho slotted the ball with great pace as Katz dove across the entirety of goal line to redirect the ball with his fingertips to the opposite side. An unmarked Safira left back, Bellittini, came in with force to drive the ball to the back of the net, tying up the game 1-1 in the 31st minute.

With nine minutes left in the first half, Omens had a good opportunity with Defregger stealing a mishandled ball from Safira’s midfield, leaving a shot opportunity for Pat Murray that he kicked wide of the net. In the 42nd minute, Safira had yet another opportunity to put pressure on Katz, who redirected a ball and made a nice save on an incoming shot to alleviate the pressure. Destin Pierrot made a slide tackle on the counter attack and stayed down with an injury as the clock ran out on the half. He was able to remain in the game.

At the half, the score was tied 1-1. Safira looked confident, playing aggressive soccer and getting the vast majority of calls in their favor. The Omens regrouped, addressing their multiple opportunities and a need to convert.

With the second half underway, Safira applied pressure right out the gate with Bomfim forcing Katz to make a full extension dive, getting both hands on the ball and keeping Safira at bay.

As the half rolled on, possession was even, but the Omens struggled to move the ball upfield. GPS Scott Prozeller and Jake Hyland provided some composure in the midfield to connect lines.

With 32 minutes to play, Safira had a pair of corners beautifully placed in the box. Katz once again came up big, owning his box and punching both balls out of danger. The Omens countered, but Safira keeper Vilela was able to force Defregger to take an early shot, and the ball was blocked by a Safira defender.

Both teams continued to create chances and both back lines weathered dangerous storms. On a counter attack, the Omens’ Smriko sent a cross in to Defregger, who had a well-placed flick-on header to Jake Johnson. Johnson, who dominated field coverage as a defender, placed a shot deep to the far corner. Safira keeper Vilela dove, making a great save to deflect the ball off frame for a GPS corner. Just minutes later, GPS was able to slot the ball through two Safira defenders leaving GPS’ Derek Stenquist with a one-on-one opportunity. But Vilela was able to come up with a big save to keep Safira in the game.

In the 74th minute, Omens’ Smriko was able to push the ball up through the midfield and play to Defregger, who had a quality finish to put the Omens up 2-1. After scoring, GPS showed composure on the ball, maintaining a steady attack and looking for another goal.

In the 92nd minute, Vidal beat his defender and was one-on-one with the GPS goalkeeper. Katz was able to force Vidal to shoot early, and he deflected the ball out making the save. But Vidal stayed hunting and, still unmarked, finished into the top corner for the equalizer to keep Safira’s hopes alive. After one last corner opportunity for Safira, the match moved to extra time.

Overtime consisted of nearly even possession. As the referees strived to maintain control of an aggressive game, hard tackles from Safira gave the Omens foul opportunities in key spots across the pitch. A yellow card is issued to Safira’s Geovane Silva. With 10 minutes left to play in the first half of extra time, the Omen’s Harry Copeland hustled to close empty space and deflect a dangerous Safira cross to keep the Omens out of trouble.

In the second half of extra time, GPS dominated possession on Safira’s half of the field. With multiple opportunities for the Omens, Safira was able to buckle down and keep them from converting. Two big saves from Vilela and Katz left their teams in the game with minutes to play.

In the final seconds, Edwards found Copeland for a great chance header to the opposite corner. But Safira’s Vilela made a terrific save, coming up with a catch. On the last play of extra time, Safira earned a corner and played a trick ball short to get a shot off. Katz once again comes off his line to make a big save and send the ball long for a last ditch attempt at a goal. GPS couldn’t convert and the whistle blew to send the match into a penalty kick shootout.

PK Shootout Summary

GPS: Scott Prozeller (Saved)
Safira: De Almedia Correia (Goal)
GPS: Defregger (Goal)
Safira: Bomfim (Goal)
GPS: Hyland (Goal)
Safira: Teixeira (Miss)
GPS: Edwards (Saved)
Safira: De Matos (Goal)
GPS: Smriko (Goal)
Safira: Guimaraes (Miss)
GPS: Stenquist (Goal)
Safira: Andrade (Goal)
GPS: Pumelele (Saved)
Safira: Vidal (Saved)
GPS: Samuel (Goal)
Safira: Bermudez (Goal)
GPS: Copeland (Goal)
Safira: Vilela (Goal)
GPS: Abdu (Miss)
Safira: Bellitinis (Goal)

After 10 rounds of penalty kicks, Safira would prevail, 7-6.

Safira FC manager Andre Ferriera kept his team motivated through full time, extra time and PKs by telling his players to remain focused, and appreciate a second chance.

“After the late goal in the game, I told my team before extra time, ‘You have been given a second chance by the soccer gods!’ and we can’t waste a second chance,” said Ferriera. “Then when we go to PKs, I said it again, ‘we’ve been given another chance by the soccer gods, but anything can happen in PK’s, so we have to do our job and finish the ball.’”

He also commended GPS on their dedicated play, praising, “They’re a really good team. Any team could have won this game. If a mistake is made by a team, a goal is scored, because this is the level of play. Either team would have represented Massachusetts very well.”

Looking forward to their next Open Cup game in the spring, Ferreira smiled, “For now, we have time to rest up and get ready for the next round.”

Maggie Crowe also contributed to this report

2017 US Open Cup Round 3: Last-second dagger for Rochester Rhinos kills GPS Omens’ Open Cup run

June 1, 2017 by Brendan Doherty

GPS Omens came into Wednesday night’s Third Round US Open Cup match in Rochester as the clear underdogs but proved over the course of 120 minutes that they deserve respect on merit, despite losing 2-1 to the Rochester Rhinos.

Rhinos started the match lively, with a lot of pressure early but the hosts failed to capitalize. Unfortunately for Rochester, that pattern would characterize much of the game. The home side had more of the ball, executed deliberate build-up play, and got far more shots off than their amateur opponents, but could only manage a deflected goal through the first 119 minutes of the match.

In the first half, Rochester held an impressive 77 percent of possession but could not manage a single shot on goal. Neither goalkeeper made a save through the first 45 minutes but the second half sparked the contest into life.

Rochester’s Jalen Brown saw a heavy shot from the edge of the penalty area flash across the goalmouth in the 51st minute but showed he brought his shooting boots out at halftime. Just a minute later Brown picked up an innocuous partially cleared ball in midfield, cut inside on his favored right foot, and shot from 19 yards. The shot took a deflection off a GPS Omens defender before finding the back of the net but gave Rochester the lead in the 52nd minute.

Before the match could settle into a rhythm again, GPS earned a free kick for a foul off the ball as Rochester cleared its lines. Keith Caldwell, older brother of New England Revolution midfielder Scott, lined up the free kick in the 55th minute and fired past Dan Lynd to equalize the game.

GPS Omens went to the bench first, in the 60th and 65th minutes, before Rochester also made two like-for-like changes in the 73rd minute. Omens used their last substitution in the 80th minute and prepared to hold out for a 1-1 draw.

The Rhinos pushed every field player into GPS Omens’ half of the field during extra time, looking to break the deadlock before the 120 minutes wound up. Rochester had mustered 10 total shots through 90 minutes but had 11 shots in extra time alone. Brown and substitutes forward Samuel Edoung-Biyo peppered the GPS Omens’ net in both periods of extra time before the inevitable game-winner.

As fans in Capelli Sport Stadium began to resign themselves to a penalty shootout, Brown and Edoung-Biyo combined for the last-minute go-ahead goal. Brown controlled a long ball over the top from his defense before drilling service into the area. Edoung-Biyo battled to beat the GPS Omens center back to the ball and redirected the cross into the net from six yards out.

In heart-breaking fashion, GPS Omens conceded in stoppage time of the second half of extra time, perhaps seconds away from a shootout.

Elated to have grabbed his first goal for the team, Samuel Edoung-Biyo spoke after the game about his work crashing the net on angled service from wide positions.

“Throughout the game, they kept putting good crosses in and I kept going behind the man. Coach just kept telling me eventually to slash in front of the defender so you can get in front of the ball, because they kept intercepting,” the first-year Rhinos forward said.

“And that one, I just kind of changed my run from the back post to the first post and got to the ball before he did.” Edoung-Biyo, who joined the squad from an open tryout, also talked about the mixture of frustration and relief the team felt and how he dealt with the setbacks late on.

“As a striker, you want to finish the opportunities you get. And I guess, it kind of just speaks to resilience. I had three good opportunities that I should have finished. I just kept working and kept looking for it and eventually I got it in the back of the net.”

Meanwhile, Rochester’s rookie winger Jalen Brown was electric for the home side. Brown made a similarly good impression in Rochester’s second-round match and assisted the team’s second goal against FC Motown. Speaking to media after the game, the former Xavier product laid out his team’s plan late on.

“The gameplan was just to put balls in dangerous areas,” Brown said. “We were trying to go for the game. We didn’t want to go to PKs. The best thing to do is to get the ball in the box, and that’s what we did.”

“I think we took the game and put it in our own hands,” Brown said.

Aside from the daunting challenge of defeating the Rhinos at Capelli Sport Stadium, something that no team has accomplished since the Richmond Kickers beat Rochester on August 3, 2016, GPS Omens faced added fitness concerns and travel issues.

GPS Omens midfielder Gregory Zuboff contrasted his team with other amateur sides who use the cup as a showcase to earn professional contracts but assured his teammates’ dedication.

“Relative to that, we approach the game in a little bit more of a laid back fashion but we’re still very committed. We love our training sessions during the week and guys are excited to show up on Saturday mornings to play in our league matches.”

“Certainly, our guys that were out here are trying to make a living for ourselves and this is something that we do more for passion. But we love the game and games like this are the most fun.”

“We knew they were going to be quite talented,” Zuboff said about the Rhinos. “They’ve done well in the cup in the past. They had a good run last year and had a strong defeat over a fellow Boston team, Southie. We knew we were going to have to play strong defense, to try and hold them to one or no goals and try to slot one in, early, ideally.”

“We found ourselves in a tight spot, getting down 1-0. But we had a great response from Keith . He had a brilliant finish,” Zuboff smiled.

The player noted the rugged conditions for the visiting side.

“We took a seven-hour bus ride up here today,” the midfielder said. “We got in at 4:30, dropped our things off, turned around and came here to the field. We were just trying to get our legs under us.” Zuboff described how the travel and novelty of the experience may have affected fitness levels as time wore on.

“We were definitely feeling it, trying to manage those subs, especially when we saw overtime coming. There were some strategic substitutions that we had to pull.”

“Right now it feels like a defeat but looking back it’s been an exciting run for us. We’ve gotten some fun attention out of it. But most importantly the boys have been excited, we’ve been doing some extra training sessions, trying to stay fit, keep getting touches on the ball.”

“Looking back, it’s something we’ll talk about for a while but next year we’ll be looking to do the same thing and take it to the next round.”

While GPS Omens returns to Bay State Soccer League play where they are undefeated reigning champions and contemplate a potential 2018 cup run, the Rochester Rhinos move on to the fourth round of the Open Cup.

The Rhinos will travel to Providence, Rhode Island, to face the New England Revolution on June 14 at 7 p.m. EST. It will be the seventh all-time meeting between the two clubs in the tournament.

2017 US Open Cup Round 1: GPS Omens earns first-ever win in rematch with GPS Portland Phoenix

May 23, 2017 by Ian Foster

GPS Omens, of the Bay State Soccer League, took down GPS Portland Phoenix of the PDL, 2-0, to advance to the Second Round of the 2017 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. It was the second-ever Open Cup meeting between these two members of the Global Premier Soccer organization and Omens made good on avenging their 2-0 loss to Portland in the 2013 Second Round.

Jake Johnson opened up the affair early with a 2nd minute strike to give Omens the 1-0 lead at Memorial Park in Portland, Maine. But it was Ben Shuleva, centerback for the Omens, who really shone on the night.

Omens found themselves a set piece opportunity in the 25th minute of a relatively dominant first half. Shuleva came up from the backline and headed in the insurance goal.

Shuleva and Zach Abdu-Glass, the goalkeeper for Omens, kept the door shut on Portland despite ever mounting pressure on the visitors’ goal. Portland pounded four of their five shots at the Omens goal, but Abdu-Glass saved four of them to preserve the shutout.

“This game is historically a tough one for us as we have very little lead in time,” said Portland coach Craig Fannan after the match. “We were a little naive in the first half and got punished for it. We continued to push, never gave up and can count ourselves unlucky not to get back into the game.”

After their first win in Open Cup history, GPS Omens has a Boston derby to look forward to as they take on Boston City FC in the Second Round.

2017 US Open Cup Round 2: GPS Omens edge Boston City to earn first date with pro team

May 20, 2017 by Greg Orlandini

GPS Omens (white) defeated Boston City FC 2-1 in the Second Round of the 2017 US Open Cup. Photo: Boston City FC

Story courtesy of New England Soccer Today

GPS Omens authored another US Open Cup victory by handing Boston City FC a 2-1 second-round loss at Harry Della Russo Stadium in Revere, Mass. on Wednesday.

Omens’ victory followed last week’s 2-0 defeat of PDL side GPS Portland Phoenix, a victory which set the stage for Wednesday’s proceedings.

“We have a tight-knit group of great guys and everyone is all about the team and I think that showed tonight,” said GPS goalscorer Keith Caldwell after the match. “Boston City was a great side and we were struggling to keep the ball, so in the second half we played a little more direct to put them under pressure.”

Indeed, Omens struggles nearly put them in an early ditch when midfielder Nana Addai, fresh off a hat trick against the Rhode Island Reds on Saturday, rifled a one-timer off the underside of the bar in the 3rd minute.

However, it was Omens who drew first blood, as Keith Caldwell curled a shot from the top of the box into the far corner past Lions keeper Vitor Scariot.

“I got a great ball played into me by Harris Smirko,” Caldwell said. “I typically try to beat the guy down the line, but I saw a player coming in with a full head of steam, so I cut back across him, saw the far post and was fortunate to curl it into the top corner.”

The Lions almost leveled the score minutes later as a Gilly De Souza’s shot was saved and the rebound was shot just wide of the goal by Addai as Omens went into halftime with a one-goal margin.

Omens doubled their lead in the 63rd minute when captain Jake Johnson whipped a cross in from the right wing, finding Charles Romero streaking through the box, where he headed the ball past a helpless Scariot.

Down a goal with time winding down, Lions switched to an offensive formation with three defenders, pushing forward and earning a goal to get on the board. Kevin Herrera played a through ball for Jhonata Batista, who scored his third goal of the year and the second of the US Open Cup tournament.

However, Omens held the Lions from scoring an equalizer. In fact, the BSSL side nearly added an insurance goal in the 84th minute when a loose ball in the box was fired on net while Scariot was out of position. The Boston City keeper recovered, however, making a diving save and keeping the game within reach.

With the victory, Omens will look to extend its impressive run on May 31 in upstate New York where they’ll face the Rochester Rhinos (USL) in the third round.

The Rhinos punched their third round ticket by beating FC Motown of the Garden State Soccer League by the score of 3-0 on Wednesday. The Rhinos took care of business early, with goals from Sofaine Tergou and Jochen Graf within the first 8 minutes of the game. Rayane Boukemia added a tally in the 85th minute for good measure.