Century FC soccer team with local ties wins national title
Winning a national championship is a dream come true for anyone, but each team’s journey to get there is unique.
Defeating a team that beat you earlier in the tournament makes it even sweeter and being the first from your organization or league to win a national title is a cherry on top.
That’s what the Century FC U17 boys soccer club, which has several local ties including a Washington County native, Dave Molisee, as head coach accomplished Monday afternoon.
Century FC defeated Pitt-Greenville Stars (N.C.), 2-1, in the U17 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship in Salt Lake City to become the first team from the Pennsylvania West Soccer Association to win a national title.
The history-making aspect added to a memorable day of redemption for Century FC, which is based in the South Hills of Pittsburgh.
Pitt-Greenville beat them 5-2 in the opening game of the tournament, but Century FC responded well in the final and earned a place in the history books.
“It was definitely nice to see the boys fight back,” Molisee said. “I think the first game there was a little bit of shock from getting off the plane the night before and it was really our first time travelling for a big event like this. We didn’t play at our best, but we knew it would get better from that point on.”
Molisee is a teacher in the Ringgold School District and will be the head coach of the Rams’ boys soccer team this fall after 13 years as an assistant coach to Pat Vereb on the Peters Township girls soccer team.
He had several players from Peters Township and South Fayette on the Century United roster.
Brendan Seaman (goalie) and Jude Kwiatek (central defender) are students at South Fayette and Jake Gawenus (midfielder), Nathan Matuszewski (forward) and Collin Exley (defender) are students at Peters Township.
Exely had a goal in the championship game, which knotted the score at 1-1 after Pitt-Greenville scored an early goal on a free kick.
Cody Cwynar, of Avonworth, scored the game-winning goal and was named the Tournament MVP.
Seaman was awarded the golden glove as the tournament’s top goalie.
Molisee said his team showed a lot of moxie in the tournament. The championship match wasn’t the first time his team trailed early. In the semifinal against Kickoff Soccer Academy of South Carolina, an early red card put Century FC down to 10 men, but they fought back from a 1-0 deficit to score twice in the final 10 minutes and earn a 2-1 win.
“I think we gave up the first goal in every game that we played and the final was no different. We gave up the first goal probably five minutes in off a free kick, it was a great finish and we were down 1-0. We battled through after that and got the tying goal and then Cody Cwynar scored the second goal in the second half and we held on from there.”
Century FC won five straight matches after their opening loss during their 11-day stay in Utah.
They defeated Gretna Academy (Neb.) 5-1 and Sporting Arkansas 5-3 in pool play. That got them into the quarterfinals where they edged Manderville Soccer Club (La.) 5-4 in penalty kicks after the teams tied 1-1 in regulation.
Molisee said several players will age out and move on after this season, so he was pleased that they were able to make history together before they go their separate ways.
“There will be some changes with the team going into next year, so it was nice for these guys to finish out strong,” Molisee said. “They became almost a family and worked very hard for each other. That was probably our biggest strength this season. All 15 kids on the team contributed in a major way on our run to the final.”