UNITED WAY: Members of the Princeton FC 2009 United 15U pose for a team photo as they took a break from competing in the United States Youth soccer (USYS) Eastern Regional Presidents Cup in Barboursville, W. Va., last month. PFC ended up going 1-1-1 in group play at the competition as they narrowly missed advancing to the semifinals of the tourney. Pictured in the front row, from left, are Griffin Short, Cesar Carrera, Anthony Morales, Dani Da Costa, Dani Ludewig, Oscar Klein, and Gregoire Stefani. In the back row, from left, are Michael Habingreither, Jason Lee, Kingston Lipsey, Macintyre Jerdonek, Michael Caceres, Rayyaan Mohiuddin, Riccardo Meloni, and Nicolas Savard. Not pictured are Simon Danos, Yash Thakur, David Gajewski, Vivaan Ravindran, and Raphael Borentain.

By Bill Alden

Coming off winning the New Jersey Youth Soccer (NJYS) Presidents Cup in May, the Princeton FC 2009 United 15U boys’ soccer team headed to the USYS Eastern Regional Presidents Cup 2024 in Barboursville, W. Va., in mid-June where they battled hard before getting knocked out in the group stage.

The draw for the regional put the United in the same group with two strong foes from Eastern Pennsylvania and Maryland.

PFC United opened the competition by facing the Southern Chester County Dragons, ranked fifth in the Eastern Pennsylvania region. United got off to a slow start, conceding three goals in the first half on the way to a 5-0 loss.

In their second outing, the PFC United offense clicked as the squad posted a 2-0 win over Takoma Park SC Takoma Sport For Life Blue, ranked No. 5 in Maryland. PFC United got goals from Dani Da Costa and Oscar Klein in the victory.

In its final group stage game, PFC United took on Farmington SC Fire from Connecticut. Rayyaan Mohiuddin scored from the penalty spot to give United a 1-0 lead. Farmington equalized right before halftime from a free kick and then scored a second goal early in the second half to make it 2-1. PFC battled back as Mohiuddin scored on a free kick to make it a 2-2 final.

United then needed the Southern Chester County Dragons to win or tie against Takoma Park in its final game of group play in order to progress to the semifinals. Takoma Park, though, ended up prevailing 4-2 leaving PFC in third place, two points away from making the semis.

PFC United head coach Milen Nikolov, for his part, believes that his squad will benefit down the road from taking on the high-level teams it faced in West Virginia.

“Despite failing to exit the group stage, the boys enjoyed and learned from that experience,” said Nikolov, whose squad won the Penn Fusion Winter Showcase and the USYS Regional Showcase this season in addition to the NJ Presidents Cup. “They’ll be ready for the next challenge.”