Oyster Bay United

2022 US Open Cup Round 2: Hartford Athletic takes control late to eliminate Oyster Bay United

April 8, 2022 by Eric Casey

Hartford Athletic Oyster Bay United 2022 US Open Cup — Hartford Athletic players celebrate a goal scored against Oyster Bay United in the Second Round of the 2022 US Open Cup. Photo: Hartford Athletic

Amateur side Oyster Bay United FC’s run in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup came to an end Thursday night, as USL Championship side Hartford Athletic patiently marched to a 3-1 victory at rain-soaked Trinity Health Stadium.

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For Hartford, it was their second opening round win in the club’s second appearance in the tournament since joining the USL Championship in 2019.

Oyster Bay went toe-to-toe with Hartford for the duration of the first half, which saw no goals and only a handful of chances. In the 17th minute, Hartford’s Joel Johnson put in a cross that was headed by a Oyster Bay defender to the left foot of Mitchell Curry, who put the ball off the post.

Oyster Bay countered with an attack of their own in the 23rd minute, where a pass from the left side of the box from Sebastin Ruiz fell to the foot of Junior Rosero at the top of the six yard box, but Hartford defender Modou Jadama deflected away the certain goal.

Hartford Athletic would have one more chance right before the halftime whistle, when the Oyster Bay goalkeeper misplayed a cross and it fell to the foot of Mitchell Curr. But Curry was unable to wrangle the bouncing ball and put his shot over the crossbar.

Hartford Athletic finally broke through in the 49th minute, when Johnson headed home a corner kick into the back of the net. The Liberian-born defender joined Hartford Athletic less than a month ago following a six-season stint with the Charlotte Independence.

Hartford’s Walid “Tulu” Yacoubou picked up a yellow card in the 55th minute for needlessly prolonging a throw-in attempt, and nearly picked up another three minutes later when he took down Sebastian Ruiz in the box with a slide tackle. He avoided the second yellow card despite fierce protest from the Oyster Bay players, but the penalty was awarded, and Junior Rosero coolly slotted the ball inside the left post while the keeper guessed right.

The chance of a United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) team upsetting a Championship side remained a distinct possibility until the 70th minute, when Hartford’s Luke Prpa fired a shot that deflected off Oyster Bay goalkeeper Jean Perez into the net. Prpa’s second goal with the club gave Hartford a 2-1 lead, and the hosts never looked back.

MEET THE UNDERDOGS: OYSTER BAY UNITED

Tulu’s earlier yellow card again seemed relevant in the 82nd minute, when he took down Oyster Bay’s Dillon Woods with a standing tackle and then appeared to bounce the ball off Wood’s face. Despite another fierce round of protest from the Oyster Bay players and staff, the official decided to let Tulu off with a stern warning again.

Hartford Athletic cemented their victory in the dying embers of the game with a stoppage-time goal. Rashawn Dally’s slick pass found another Liberian-born player — this time winger Prince Saydee — to go up, 3-1. Saydee joined Hartford from Phoenix Rising FC in the offseason.

“It was a professional performance,” said Hartford head coach Harry Watling. “I have to congratulate our players first of all … halftime, calmness in the locker room. We knew what we needed to do to unlock the opposition. These games are so difficult. We’ve seen the amount of Championship teams that have been knocked out already.”

“I thought we were patient, I thought we broke them down and I was really happy with the second half performance,” added Watling.

With this victory, Hartford Athletic will be the only team from New England in the next phase of the competition, as the New England Revolution will not join the competition until the Fourth Round.

A goal and an assist for @Luka_Prpa in tonight’s 3-1 win earns him Man of the Match Honors 👊👏 pic.twitter.com/4XfHl0HWEo

— Hartford Athletic (@hfdathletic) April 8, 2022

Hartford will learn their Third Round opponent on Friday at Noon. They will be grouped with D.C. United (MLS), FC Motown (NPSL), Flower City Union (NISA), New York Red Bulls (MLS), Rochester NY FC (MLSNP).

Founded in 2018, this victory marked Hartford’s third game in Open Cup competition, and their second-ever win in the competition. The club’s first win came in 2019 when they defeated New York Cosmos B of the NPSL in the Second Round by the score of 2-1 at the University of Hartford. They would fall in the next round, on the road at Memphis 901 FC (USL Championship)

While Oyster Bay was eliminated from the competition, surviving to the second round was an accomplishment for a squad that almost almost ceased to exist just a year ago. Formerly known as Queens Meadow FC, the club nearly folded in the spring of 2021, but a last ditch effort from players and the Long Island Sound community saved the franchise, albeit with a slightly more colorful moniker

2022 Meet the Underdogs: Eight-month old Oyster Bay United making US Open Cup debut

March 22, 2022 by Grace Ott

Oyster Bay United 2022 US Open Cup Qualifying Meet the Underdogs — Oyster Bay United poses for a team photo after the club’s 4-1 win over Westchester United in the final round of qualifying for the 2022 US Open Cup. Photo: Karla Esqueche | E&M Photography

At this time last year, when in any normal year the US Open Cup would’ve been kicking off its opening round, Oyster Bay United FC did not exist.

Now, eight months after their entrance into the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL), they are set to make their debut in one of the oldest and most storied soccer competitions in the world. Playing their games at Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park in the town of Oyster Bay on Long Island, New York, the club has become a part of the fabric of the community.

It is not uncommon to see a lot of fluctuation in soccer clubs in the lower division leagues in the United States. Clubs can form, move and fade away, but sometimes there is a resurrection of sorts, as a newly-rebranded club rises from the ashes of a former team’s instability to try again.

Oyster Bay United was formed from the core of Queens Meadows FC, a team that was, itself, a rebrand of a previous UPSL team called Santa Fe NY. Queens Meadows FC was successful on the field in the spring of 2021, finishing second in the American-Premier Division and making a run in the division playoffs, but struggled off the field.

In the midst of their successful spring season last year, the team found itself without an owner and on the verge of being removed from the league. It was bad enough that they didn’t know from week to week whether they would have a field to play on for their next game. But by using some personal connections and with a stroke of luck, they were able to relocate to a new home field in Oyster Bay and start to build a fanbase to finish out the campaign.

But the club still needed an owner, so when team captain Dan Giorgi put the word out in the local soccer scene, Mark Colacioppo, whose son played at the youth club Giorgi worked for, got involved.

“I liked that the team showed the grit to finish the season without an owner and made it to the conference final,” said Colacioppo.

After conversations with team staff, the new ownership was made official in the summer of 2021 and Oyster Bay United was born, ready to take on the UPSL Northeast and their first crack at the Open Division Local qualifying tournament for the US Open Cup.

Despite the newness of their branding, the team had no trouble readjusting to play in the league. After an opening loss to the eventual division winners New Jersey Alliance FC, Oyster Bay United went on to win their remaining nine games, finishing second in the UPSL American-Premier Division with a goal difference of +38. They then made a run to the division playoff final, where they fell once again to the New Jersey Alliance.

In between dominating their regular season schedule, United, who were less than a year old, found themselves matched up with a New York team with a storied history that dates back to the 1940s in the opening round of the Open Cup qualifying tournament.

Northeast region teams began the competition in the second round, with Oyster Bay United taking on four-time Open Cup champions, New York Greek American SC. This first challenge was made tougher by registration issues leaving the team with only eleven players available, including two goalkeepers: keeper Kevin Shannon played the entirety of the match as a forward. To add to their struggles, one player arrived late and one was sent off in the second half, leaving them to play much of the game with ten men. Though they had no chance for reinforcements or fresh legs, the team preserved a scoreless draw for the full 90 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of extra time, forcing a penalty kick shootout. Against all odds, Oyster Bay United emerged victorious, as their non-forward-playing keeper, Jean Carlo Perez, made three saves and they won 3-2.

In the next round, they faced another Big Apple club with a rich Open Cup history: three-time champion New York Pancyprian Freedoms. They earned a 2-0 win over the three-time Open Cup champions with two breakaway goals, one in each half of extra time.

That win put them into the final round against UPSL division foe Westchester United FC, who they handily defeated, 4-1.

Just four months after their founding, Oyster Bay United FC had qualified for the 2022 U.S. Open Cup, one of three teams from the UPSL Northeast to do so.

Colacioppo, for whom potential Open Cup participation was a big motivating factor to get involved, made it clear how much this tournament means to the team.

“The team really understands and appreciates the significance of being in a tournament like this; we talk about it a lot” said Colacioppo. “ super excited to realize our biggest club goal to qualify for the US Open Cup.”

He continued on and mentioned how good it felt for the team to win their last qualification match just days after losing in their UPSL conference final and to know they would be able to compete in this tournament in the spring.

Giorgi said qualifying for the Open Cup helped them forget the pain of that championship game loss.

“We were all buzzing. It was crazy. I’ll never forget it,” he said.

Both Colacioppo and Giorgi mentioned that the team’s story could be a Netflix documentary series. But a natural disaster that showcased the grit of the team turned into the perfect storm with a passionate owner to provide stability and a chance to compete in one of the oldest and most storied soccer tournaments in the world.

“So many reasons and things that went wrong, each week not being sure if we would have a field to play on, so many reasons to give up but we never did; we found a field and a team owner,” said Giorgi. “I’m really proud of my team for that.”

Oyster Bay United FC will make their first-ever Open Cup appearance against the NPSL’s Hartford City FC on Tuesday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Dillon Stadium in Hartford, Conn. The match will be streamed on ESPN+. The winner will return to Dillon Stadium for Round 2 where they will take on Hartford Athletic of the USL Championship on April 7.

2022 US Open Cup Qualifying: Oyster Bay United ousts third NY team to earn first USOC berth

December 9, 2021 by Michael Battista

Oyster Bay United poses for a team photo after the club’s 4-1 win over Westchester United in the final round of qualifying for the 2022 US Open Cup. Photo: Karla Esqueche | E&M Photography

Oyster Bay United FC clinched its spot in the 2022 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup after defeating Westchester United FC, 4-1, on Sunday, Nov. 21. By the time the Long Island club turns one calendar year old it will have made its US Open Cup debut.

Team owner and president Mark Colacioppo knows first-hand all the work his team has put forth. While the team’s winning record in United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) play has been incredible to see, he admits the tournament held a special place in his ambitions.

“The opportunity to play for a berth in the main draw of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup was a huge reason for me personally getting involved with the club,” Colacioppo said. “Winning matches against three strong teams made earning our spot even more rewarding. The players understand the history and prestige of this tournament and look forward to going as far as we can and putting Oyster Bay United FC on the map of US soccer.”

Like the win over the Pancyprian Freedoms, Oyster Bay battled chilly, Northeast autumn weather on the road in order to secure the win. The game at Brewster High School near the Connecticut border dipped close to 35 degrees as the sun set. Luckily for Oyster Bay, the team got off to a quick start.

A couple of long passes in the 29th minute moved the Westchester lines enough to give Luis Altuve space on the right side. Another long cross from the opposite side gave him the chance to simply lift one leg and redirect the ball into the net. Despite being a 73-mile trip, the traveling support shook the bleachers. Immediately Colacioppo felt his side had more confidence following this moment.

In the interim, OBFC’s goalkeeper JC Perez made multiple saves to keep the game in his team’s favor. Early shots that would have given Westchester the lead or tied the match back at one goal a piece were blocked out by the Keiser University alumni. This meant when Sebastian Ruiz got a chance to finish off a through pass up the middle in the 39th minute, it put the visitors up 2-0 heading into halftime.

However, the home team was not about the let that happen unopposed. United had already come back from a 2-0 deficit in its first qualifying match against NJ Alliance. In that game, the team scored a late first half goal to completely switch the game’s momentum. They followed the same script and a free kick into Oyster Bay’s box was headed away in the first minute of stoppage time t make it 2-1.

The player that scored that fateful goal was Christopher Ribet, a former professional with the Los Angeles Force of the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA). He’s also someone Colacioppo and the team know well from UPSL play.

“We knew Westchester was a tough club from when we played them during our UPSL season,” Colacioppo said. “Ribet was one of the league’s top scorers and a handful to defend but we were able to deny him service for the most part.”

For OBUFC’s head coach Josue Esqueche he knew his team was going to have to change up their play despite the success they’d had in the middle of the first half.

“We knew that the field was small and was a very defensive team,” Esqueche explained. “We had to make some adjustments since the 2-1 score was not a comfortable result for us. In the second half we knew how to maintain possession of the ball, continue with our advanced lines being responsible, and we were able to demonstrate total superiority.”

Early in the second half, pressure by captain Dan Giorgi and Sebastian Ruiz on the left side created the opportunity for a third goal. A feed from Ruiz was calmly finished by Davidson Marseille into the top left corner and passed the jumping keeper only a minute in. The fan closest to the camera letting off a Howard Dean-esc “Yeah” counteracted the feeling the home side began to show.

As the final 45 minutes continued on, Oyster Bay’s time of possession greatly increased. The visitors bossed the midfield leaving Westchester to play keep-up. A few offensive breaks were interspaced between forwards playing back hoping to avoid a fourth goal. That finally came through in the 85th minute when Ruiz was fouled in the penalty area. Mathews Carriel slotted in the penalty kick to seal the result firmly in favor of the visitors.

“Happy for the result and for the team’s performance,” coach Esqueche said. “We were visitors with a goal and it was achieved, this is the best thanks we can give to the fans and the team management for all the support provided. Thank you and now the team prepares to face the new challenges in the best way.”

The win was the boost the team needed as well. The Thursday prior to the match, Oyster Bay fell to the New Jersey Alliance in the UPSL American Premier Division Playoffs Final, 1-0. With the team’s inaugural season at an end, the group now has more time to fully prepare for both the Spring season and the 2022 US Open Cup tournament.