The Lexington Wanders

The USASA National Cups Tournament was this past Friday through Sunday in Dayton, Ohio.

The Lexington Wanderers entered the USASA National Cups program. The USASA National Cups program is the oldest and most prestigious competition offered to all affiliated teams of the United States Adult Soccer Association.  It is also open to any youth soccer team whose players are registered with the United States Soccer Federation. Eight divisions of competition are offered each year: Men and Women’s Open Cup, Men and Women’s Amateur Cup,  Men and Women’s Over 30 Cup and Men and Women’s U-23 Cup. National Cups are divided into Regional competitions. After the Midwest Regional 2006 National Cups Tournament has been completed the winners go to Dallas, TX, to compete against the other regions.  There are four Regions in the United States Adult Soccer Association.

Each Region is made of state associations.  In Region 2, there are 14 state associations.  The 14 state associations are as follows: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Southern Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota,  Ohio North, Minnesota.  9 state associations and 1 NPSL team entered the Amateur Cup for the United States Adult Soccer Association.

The Lexington Wanderers qualified to represent the Kentucky Soccer Association in a competition against an opponent from the Greater Bowling Green Soccer Association.  In the tournament, the Lexington Wanderers played a St. Louis, MO team called Norco Soccer Club in a tied game.  The next game was against the NPSL Detroit Arsenal, which the Lexington Wanderers won.  The final game in competition to get to the semifinals was against Lafayette Veracruz, from Indiana, which the Lexington Wanderers won.  In the semi Final game, they played  Detroit Eagles from Michigan and won.  In the Finals, they lost to the HNK Zrinski (Croatian Club out of Chicago) from Illinois, in a hard fought game, 2 to 1.

The Lexington Wanderers played hard and represented Kentucky Soccer Association well, to gain the Runner Up trophy for the Region 2 Amateur Cup. 

The Kentucky FC from Danville, KY, qualified to represent Kentucky Soccer Association in the U-23 Cup competition.  Region 2 had 7 teams and one NPSL Team enter the U-23 Cup competition out of the 14 state associations.  The Kentucky FC played against FC Indiana and won.  The next game was against the FC United Select from Illinois and Kentucky FC tied. The final game was against the NPSL Milwaukee Bavarians from Wisconsin, which Kentucky FC lost.

The Kentucky FC played hard and represented Kentucky Soccer Association well.