Over 30 Championship Heads Banner Year for Hellenic United Athletic Club.
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Hellenic United AC capped off a brilliant year by winning the National Soccer League Over 30 Championship at Hawthorne Park in Cicero, Illinois on October, 2009. The second year club also won a share of the Illinois State Cup in the Men’s Open Division and made the National Soccer League Men’s Open Division playoffs.
It was a banner year for the club founded just two years ago. After completing the 2008 season with only one team competing in the NSL Over 30 division, club executives John Kosmas and Spiro Arsenis forged mergers with several existing sides in the early spring of 2009. The end result was a “reborn” Hellenic United AC with teams in the Men’s Open Major Division, Men’s Open Second Division, and Men’s Over 30 Division of the National Soccer League. Brought into the fold were Major Division side Royal FC, Second Division side GR 04, and Over 30 tournament side Asteras Chicago, all under the Hellenic United AC name.
“It was quite a year” exclaimed HU Blue coach Sotiropoulos. “Yannie and I put together a team in less than three weeks to compete in one of the toughest amateur leagues in the country. No way could I have done it without Yannie. A ton of credit also goes to former Royal FC captain Alan Malkoc, who came on board as player/executive. Alan brought in quite a few quality players and was instrumental in our success.”
“It really says a lot about the character of the team when we accomplished all we did in such a short period of time with virtually no budget whatsoever” exclaimed Sotiropoulos. “Even though it (NSL) is theoretically an “amateur” league, at the Major Division level it’s anything but that….teams are spending big bucks to bring in professional caliber players. Our club philosophy, from the get go, was to maintain a strict amateur policy. As such, we knew we would be facing an uphill battle.”
“Our initial goal was to avoid relegation and make a good showing in the tourneys” said the HU blue coach. “We did all that and then some. We made the quarterfinals of the Schwaben tourney (won qualifying group) and also did fairly well at the Green White tourney (3rd place in our group). In addition, we went to the Men’s Open Finals of the Hellenic Tournament in Schaumburg, losing in penalty kicks despite fielding a predominantly reserve team.”
“I would have liked to have finished the season stronger” commented Sotiropoulos” but injuries and fatigue really took a toll on us. We simply didn’t have the roster depth to go any further than we did. We made a couple of additions midseason, but for the most part, those didn’t pan out. It was the same core of 13-14 guys that tried to carry us in a 30 game season. That’s asking quite a bit, especially at this level. Hopefully, we can build on this past year’s success in the 2010 season. It was a learning experience for everyone and hopefully we can come back even stronger next year.”
Hellenic United also fielded a team in the Second Division, known as HU White. While the squad had some very impressive showings, including an 11-0 win over Turkish FC, they weren’t able to finish higher than fourth in their section. “The only problem we had was injuries” said White coach Spiro Arsenis. “When we had our full squad available, we were as good as any team in our section. Unfortunately, we only had a full side available for just two games. Hopefully we can add some young players this winter and win promotion to the first division.”
“I’d like to thank Ken Sourounis and Tom Panas for bringing over their GR 04 team to form the core of HU White” added Arsenis. “We’re only one or two players away from being a force in the second division. We played some very good soccer at times during the season, but we just couldn’t get enough of our core guys on the field at the same time.”
Hellenic United’s Over 30 side did not, however, come up short. After finishing third in the regular season, they won three consecutive playoff matches to claim the NSL crown.
HU O30 started the season with a revamped roster, adding five mainstays of the Asteras tournament team to an already impressive core. The team got off to a decent start with only one loss in the first half of the season. The Over 30 side also shocked quite a few observers at the Schwaben tournament by tying the powerhouse host team and advancing to the quarterfinals where they were ousted by another power, Lions, in penalty kicks.
At the midseason mark, HU got another big boost with the addition of playmaker Phil Lencioni and striker Luis Flores. Those two signings quickly propelled HU to top of the league table as they were able to rattle off seven consecutive league wins, including a memorable 5-1 drubbing of regular season champion Lake Shore.
Just when it looked like HU was going to run away with the league, needing only one win in its last three games to capture the regular season title, disaster struck. Injuries to five starters and two key reserves left HU 030 severely depleted down the stretch, as they lost three consecutive matches by the same 2-1 score line.
As a result, HU wound up third in the regular season table and had to play West Indies Jets in the first round of the playoffs. HU posted a comfortable 3-0 win.
Next up was perennial NSL powerhouse Wisla in the semi finals. The teams had split games in the regular season with each side winning by a 2-1 score on its home field. This time, HU prevailed in penalty kicks after the regular match and two overtime periods left the teams deadlocked 1-1. HU had taken an early 1-0 lead, but the Polish side equalized a few minutes later. Neither team could score in overtime so it was on to penalty kicks, where HU goalkeeper Andy Papakostas came up with two big saves to send his team to the final against Lake Shore.
Hellenic United took an early lead in the first half of the championship match, but Lake Shore equalized early in the second half on a free kick just outside the penalty area. Neither team could muster another goal and the sides went to penalty kicks to decide a winner. Erik Moreno, Nick Penesis, Terry Cirbo and Phil Lencioni converted for Hellenic United. Once again, Andy Papakostas came up big for Hellenic United , being mobbed by a delirious throng of teammates and club supporters after his second penalty kick save gave the club it first ever league championship.
“This is unbelievable” said a teary eyed head coach Spiros Arsenis. “We won a championship with half a team today. We played without our two starting strikers and still found a way to win. That tells you something about the heart these guys have and how much they wanted it. Andy (Papakostas) saved us both in the regular match and in pk’s. Gussie (Vellios) was simply awesome, maybe his best game of the year. Phil (Lencioni) played on one leg and still found a way to bury that pk, and Terry (Cirbo) was Terry… he’s always there for us in crunch time. Not to mention Erik (Moreno). Not sure we could have done it without him these last two games. Good thing Andy (Sotiropoulos) brought him over from the CLASA league for the playoffs. All these guys were awesome. “
“I’m incredibly proud of these guys” said club president John Kosmas. “What a season. It was a total team effort. Players, coaches, administrators, everybody. We overcame a ton of adversity, but here we are, league champs.”
Hellenic United’s Mario Mele, Luis Flores and Terry Cirbo finished the season amongst the leagues top five scorers, winding up second, third and fifth respectively.
Hellenic United also made an impressive showing at the league awards ceremony, coming away with team of the year, player of the year (Kostas Vellios) and coach of the year (Spiros Arsenis) honors in the Over 30 division. Club president John Kosmas was also presented a league service award.