St. Louis, MO – The Owensboro United U17 Boys Team clinched the 2026 NL Cup Champions title earlier this month in Missouri. After six games (five wins and one draw), the team was able to finally reach their goal after four years of not qualifying for nationals. However, this year the team won the Great Lakes Division of the NPL 2, qualifying for the NL Northwest Playoffs in Provo, UT, and after an undefeated campaign at regionals, qualified for the Finals in St. Louis, MO, to face off as one of the top four teams in the country.
To qualify for the NL Cup, teams first must win their way out of the regular season, either by winning their National League division outright, or by advancing through one of the Winter Events (held in November and January). Those serve as a qualifying round into the postseason. From there, qualifying teams move into Regional Playoffs, with four regions total in a group-play event. The winner of each regional group advances to The NL Cup Finals, a single bracket event that runs quarterfinals through semifinals to the final, crowning one national champion per age group.
The Finals consisted of Round-Robin play, with each team having an opportunity to show their best against the others in the group. An accumulation of points determines the final standings. Owensboro took on HFC Thunder out of Mississippi for their first game, easily winning 4-1. The team then faced PDA Vistula from New Jersey which proved to be a tug-of-war battle in extreme heat. The teams went back and forth on leading and trailing behind, but it was Owensboro who persevered in the end, winning 4-3 as time expired, and securing a crucial three points before heading into their final match.
A big part of the team’s success came from Owensboro Club Director, Andrew Livingston. “Coach Livi” as the team calls him, stepped in to help train and prepare the team for the tournament, knowing what it would take for them to compete against top-tier talent from across the nation. With Livingston’s wealth of experience in coaching at several universities around the U.S., Team Manager Chase DiProssimo-Dunaway knew he would be the key to the team’s achievements in this ultra-competitive tournament.
As their third and final game against CESA Pachuca got underway, Owensboro fell behind 0-2 in the first 13 minutes, but “Coach Livi” wouldn’t allow the team to lose hope. He spoke to the squad, said DiProssimo-Dunaway, with some simple yet effective advice: “calm down, trust the process, trust your skill, one goal at a time,” he encouraged. And with that, the team caught up 2-2. The team needed only a tie to become champions.
Late in the second half though, Owensboro took the lead, seemingly securing a win, but with just under 15 minutes left in the game, a PK was awarded to CESA who tied it up 3-3. Owensboro then took charge and possessed the ball to maintain the tie and capture first place. After several years of attempts, Owensboro United was now 2026 NL Cup National Champions. “Even when things didn’t go to plan, they didn’t get distracted and kept fighting,” said Livingston. “The boys’ results over the past six weeks have proven again what I know to be true. If you give young people that right amount of expectation mixed with freedom, they can achieve incredible things.”
The team is made up of boys from across Kentucky and parts of Indiana, but all of them call their club Owensboro United home. And despite being from different areas with diverse backgrounds, the boys have worked vigorously together and become close friends while doing so. DiProssimo-Dunaway noted how these individuals came together as one, which resulted in success and a title. “They united around a common goal, bought into the work required, and saw it through to a national championship.”
Planning ahead, the team faced a decision this offseason brought on by the restructuring announced by USYS and US Club Soccer: keep the current group together and move up to play as a U18 team or split the roster apart by age. The team voted overwhelmingly to stay together and play up a level. With roughly 60% of the roster still age-eligible to remain at U17, the choice is like a boxer choosing to move up a weight class; the group is betting on itself to contend for titles at both levels rather than settle for one. And hopefully next season, even more hardware will be hoisted.
