By Jay Mwamba

Barnstonworth Rovers, the surprise package in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League [CSL] top flight this fall, are the latest club to beat ailing champions Pancyprian Freedoms.

Coach Stavros Zomopoulos’ in-form side came away from Pancyprian’s once impregnable St. John’s University fortress with a 1-0 victory over the defending CSL champions last Sunday.

Jepherson Vernazza netted three minutes from the interval to give Rovers [6-2-2, 20] a two-point lead atop the East going into the three-month winter break.

“We were better all-around and should have killed the game off early in the second half,” said Zomopoulos. “Finishing top of our division in the fall was our goal and we accomplished it.”

For Pancyprian, who began the season buoyed by a sixth USASA Men’s Open Cup triumph, the loss was their fourth in as many weeks. There were the two defeats to Hellenic rivals New York Greek-American/Atlas in the league and the US Open Cup Eastern New York regional final, and that 5-2 set-back to United FC, also in the league.

And that’s not to mention the 2-1 shocker to Central Park Rangers on opening day, September 11.

Still, Pancyprian [5-4-1, 16] remain second in the West, albeit a gaping 12 points behind Atlas.

In the curtain raiser at St. John’s, Rovers’ 10-man reserves had goals from Chris Bayon [two] and Max Krasilovsky-Revell but still succumbed 7-3 after leading 2-1 at one point.

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CHEERY BHOYS
Two points adrift of Rovers, Lansdowne Bhoys also ended the year on a winning note with a 3-1 decision over Central Park Rangers at Tibbets Brook Park.
Old hand Damien opened the scoring from a header [20th] before Adam Fein, one of several new signings from New York University, made a memorable debut with a brace [25th, 75th].

Kwesi Mills-Odoi scored for CPR.
Lansdowne coach Kevin Grogan, whose lads improved to 5-2-3, 18, had props for Fein and his fellow debutants from NYU, Niki Chow and Mathew Newman. “They showed great attitude and professionalism,” he said.

Michael Fernandez, the Lansdowne reserves’ new Portuguese find, and Richie Morgan connected in a 3-2 defeat in the opener. Chris Norelli, Daniel Coccero and Russell Archibald scored for CPR ‘B.’

GREEK TITANS
In the West, runaway leaders Greek-Atlas beat New York Athletic Club 3-1 to end their fall schedule undefeated [9-0-1, 28].

Chris Megaloudis, Keith Detelj and Diego Velasquez saw off NYAC, who made a false start through their prolific scoring center back Jeff Hare.

“The Greeks had an equalizer. Then they had two more goals in the second half from defensive mistakes that [their] speedy strikers converted,” said NYAC’s Cindy Spera.

While Atlas moved 12 points clear, NYAC [4-3-3, 15] lost ground to Rovers and Lansdowne while dropping to third place.

NYAC’s reserves prevailed 4-0.

EASTERN DERBY
Tommy Mustac, Chris Karcz and Chris Bistre were on target for New York Croatia in their 3-1 defeat of New York Albania at Tibbets Brook Park.

Mario Kapxhiu replied for Albania, 3-0 victors in the reserve fixture.

POLISH IRE
Polonia lost skipper Rafal Stefek with a broken leg in a 4-0 romp over United FC at McCarren Park.

They could even afford to miss an Adrian Sobczynski penalty [38th] as Darek Stankiewicz [18th], Lukasz Jagodzinski [63rd], Sammy [75th] and Marcin Kulak [84th pen.] clinically dispatched United in a physical affair.

Mike Siwiec had the only goal in the Polish reserves’ 3-1 loss.

SPLIT DECISION
Lowly Manhattan Kickers were twice pegged back by Clarkstown SC in a 2-2 tie at Clarkstown North High School.

First the home side’s Kyle Clancy [35th] canceled out Adam Dhanens’ ice breaker [5th] for Kickers and after Djurre Strum [55th] had restored the visitors’ lead, Mike Konicoff fired in the equalizer with 19 minutes to spare.

A late double by Kickers’ Chris Doyle erased Tony Kcira’s early strike for Clarkstown ‘B’ in the reserve tussle, won 2-1 by the former.

PERFECT CELTS
Manhattan Celtic needed just one goal to keep the best record in the entire CSL intact.  Yannick Diese’s solitary strike sent Tesoro Kings reeling 1-0 at Old Boys High School and stretched Celtic’s perfect record to 9-0 [27] atop the Second Division log.

Rasool Alizadeh and Cherif Moktefi were the scorers in a 2-1 Celtic reserve win.

STAL CLOSE
Stal Mielec, beaten just once in eight outings, took advantage of Hoboken FC’s slip up against CPR Reds to move into second place in Division Two after blanking Galatasaray 2-0 at McCarren Park.

Marcin Fijalkiewicz’ brace did the trick for the now 7-1 [21] Polish club, while Adam Siebor exchanged goals with the Turks’ Kofi in a 1-1 reserve tie.

HOBOKEN STUMBLE
Andrew Donoghue [71st] scored for Hoboken in a costly 3-1 loss to CPR at Icahn Stadium that saw the Jersey side [6-2-1, 19] slip to third place.

Dave LaRocca bagged all three CPR goals [37th, 53rd, 87th].

Hoboken’s second unit won 2-0 courtesy of Ed Vincent [82nd] and Fred Amoah [86th].

EMC RELIEF
At McCarren Park, EMC nearly coughed up a four-goal lead before holding off New York Ukrainians 6-4.

Joaquin Avilop [15th], Nick McClefferty [20th, 35th] and Enrique [50th] had EMC 4-0 up and cruising when Ukrainians woke up.  David Alkasim pulled two back, but even then Joaquin’s second strike appeared to have the points sealed at 5-2.

However, two more Ukrainian goals by Mikel Gjani and Claudio Ama set off alarms.

“At 5-4 we were beginning to think our holiday joy would be robbed from us as Ukrainians smelt a reversal, but Scott finally killed them off finishing a rebound off the keeper from Nick McClefferty’s point blank header,” said Eddie Yee Woo Guo.

Ukrainians’ reserves won 4-0 thanks to Lukasz Prawdzik, Aaron Stewart [two] and Larry Crowell.

SHAMROCK FIRST
It took ten matches, but Shamrock finally broke their duck in the Second Division, thrashing FC Japan 5-1 for their first win of the season.

Darren Moen [10th], Joey Aronovski [15th], Andy Horan [50th, 75th] and Kieran Ferguson [60th] tallied for the last place Rocks [1-8-1, 4].

“Needless to say, we’re delighted,” enthused Glen Wrafter. His reserves thumped Japan’s second unit 4-0.

COPS MAULED
Elsewhere in Division Two, Chris Salvage [two] and Diego Martinez tallied for NYPD FC in a 5-3 drubbing by Moroccan Astoria Lions.

Mikejl Agolli was on target for NYPD in the 1-all reserve tie.

IBERIA STUNNED
Piotr Brzezinski’s late effort [84th] for Gwardia PLNY dealt Metro Div. One [East] frontrunners CD Iberia their first defeat of the season.

Iberia go into the break 8-1-1 [25] after the 1-0 setback against the Poles who had Marcin Trzaska ejected for a second yellow.

WONDER STRIKE
Shawn Dos Santos snatched a vital point for Mr. Dennehy’s with an amazing volley in a 1-1 draw with unbeaten West leaders Korabi.

“A goal that would grace any game, at any level,” Dennehy’s Ronan Gardiner described the strike.

Dennehy’s, 5-4-1 [16], are five points behind Iberia.

MISSILE DEFENSE
VV Nieuw Amsterdam, with just ten players available, upset Missile FC 3-2 in a thriller on Randalls Island.

Jo Valentine drew first blood for Missile but Ben Eichenberger leveled for the hosts, then set up Ronnie Swinkels for VVNA’s go-ahead goal.

The lead held for all of two minutes before Arhin Asamoah equalized.  However, there would be no Missile response to Adam Moss’ winner off a Renaldo Vega free kick.

Said C.P. de Vera: “The 10 guys who were there dug in and lo and behold, we got the win against a great side that is in great form.”

SPORTING HERO
Sporting Astoria talisman Patricio Acosta headed home the equalizer in stoppage time to salvage a much-deserved 1-1 tie with Homenetmen.

Homenetmen had led 1-0 from the 12th minute on Rahail Khan’s penalty shot and then proceeded to park the proverbial bus.

“They had five defenders four defensive [midfielders] and one forward. But at the end of the match – with literally seconds left, the equalizer came,” commented Astoria GM Ed Romero.  “It is great to see our team demonstrate such character.”

TAKE FIVE
Short-handed Gotham Argo hoped for more but could only eke out a point from their titanic 5-5 tie with FC Partizani in a match they led by two goals after 45 minutes.

Anatoliy Taranenko led all scorers with four goals; three of them set up by Nicholas Chang and one by Suneel Grover who bagged the fourth from the penalty spot.

“With only 10 players on the field and missing our key defenders, we aided Partizani in getting their first point this season,” rued Dana P. Dimon.

METRO TWO
Darren McDermott hit a hat trick in Lansdowne Bhoys’ 7-0 drubbing of New Amsterdam.

Veteran Dessie Beattie added a brace with Marty Griffin and Kevin McGinney each connecting once for the third place Bronx Irishmen [7-2-1, 22] who trail leaders Ridgewood Romac by five points.

Ridgewood edged Barnstonworth Rovers 2-1 while Europa FC blew out FC NY Bravehearts 9-1 to cling to second spot [23].

VEGA CONNECTION
Two of AO Brooklyn’s Vega connection, Chris and Bryan connected in a 3-all tie with New York Ittihad. Giancarlos Zambrano was the other scorer.

KICKER RIVALRY
Manhattan Kickers’ two Over-30 clubs both won to retain a share of the Div. One [East] leadership on the 20-point mark.

A late brace by part-time rocker Gilad Bloom scripted a 2-0 decision by Manhattan Kickers Premier over Barnstonworth Rovers Premier.

Colin brown Dylan Dodd and Mischa Retman, meanwhile, were on target for Kickers Over-30s in their 3-1 defeat of NYPD FC, whose Kevin Savary replied.

TOMMY CONSOLATION
The reliable Tom Strumpf [67th] was the SC Eintracht marksman in a 2-1 defeat to Pele SC.

IRISH PARADE
At the Parade Ground, second half goals by Onder Koksol [55th] and Karl Hughes [75th pen.] crafted a 2-0 win for the Shamrock over Guyana Veterans ‘A.’

“We only had 11 players out and they played their hearts out,” said coach Paddy McCarry.

He singled out central midfielders Gormley and Eddie Gilmartin for joint Man of the Match honors, and also had kudos for captain Mike Bishop and Donald “Ducky” Kelly.

“We’re glad to finish the fall on a winning note and all in all we’re very happy to be still in second position,” McCarry added.

ROVERS WALTZ
In other Over-30 play, Barnstonworth Rovers had little sympathy for depleted New York Dinamo, trouncing their nine-man opponents 5-0.

Gabriel Hernandez [two], Aldo Morales, Thomas Kitzing and Pat Wisnom did the business.

New York Greek-American/Atlas had goals from Stelios Stylianou and Theoklitos Papadopoulos in a 2-2 tie with Tesoro.

SILVER RUSH
Argo Silver, meanwhile, hit the motherload at Pier 40, reeling in nine goals in return for three against Hoboken FC.

Mark Webb starred with a hat trick assisted by Derek McKenna, Suneel Grover and Oscar Vazquez.  McKenna struck twice with help from Vincent Grady, who also tallied twice and Carlos Wesley, another scorer.

Ryan Kampe got on the score sheet as well. Grover, on the other hand, had three assists in the match and Pat Berran one.