Westchester Soccer Club Ends Inaugural Season: Matthew Bentley’s goal in the 73rd minute broke a 1-1 tie and gave the playoff bound Chattanooga Red Wolves a 2-1 home win over Westchester SC on October 25, snapping WSC’s two match undefeated streak as the club finished its inaugural season at the bottom of the USL League One table with a record of 5-16-9.
Obregón’s Golden Boot Highlights Westchester Soccer Club’s First Year Forward Juan Carlos Obregón, Jr. (New York, NY) was the clear leader for WSC on and off the pitch in the club’s first season. His 22 overall goals easily topped the team in all games played and his 17 USL League One goals topped all scorers. Obregón’s 17 tied for third-most in a season in league history, trailing only the 23 by Trevor Amann (N. Colorado) in ‘23 and the 18 by Emiliano Terzaghi (Richmond) in ’21. He was the third player to net 17 in a season, and was only the second player (Terzaghi being the other) to have scored more than 15 goals in two separate USL League One seasons (JC had 15 with Charlotte last season). His 87 shots in league action was also first amongst all players (the next five players with the most shots on WSC combined for only 44 shots during the season- Dean Guezen was second with 10- and J.C. was the only player to have started all contests in the club’s first season (29). Obregón was a finalist for USL League One Player of the Month for May, and his goal at Naples on August 30 just four minutes into the match was the fastest goal in the brief history of WSC.
Road Work: WSC finished the season 2-8-5 on the road, and 3-13-3 against clubs holding a playoff spot. That includes wins at Madison and Texoma and a 4-4 tie at Richmond, which is the club’s high mark for goals scored.
Completing The Home Sked: WSC ended their inaugural home campaign at 3-8-4 (including their 3-0 forfeit win over Spokane) winning two of their last three home matches on the schedule, 2-1 over Texoma on September 21 and 2-0 over Naples on Oct. 12. Five of their last seven matches in Mount Vernon were decided by one goal.
First Season Superlatives: In addition to Obregón’s superlative season, there are a number of other key notes.
-WSC used 27 players in the lineup, with 11 appearing in at least 20 matches in league play thus far.
-While Obregón was the team leader in most offensive categories including minutes played, there were six other players with at least 1,500 MP.
-In USL play, New York area natives played a big role in season one, with eight players from the area logging time. They accounted for 28 of the club’s 45 goals, giving the back of the net a decided NY area edge so far.
– The Powder brothers, Samory and Noah (Edison, NJ), were the fifth pair of brothers to suit up as teammates in a League One match, and the first pair of brothers to be named to the USL League One Team of the Week as teammates in the same week (April 19 vs. Richmond). Noah appeared in 22 matches with 17 starts and led the club with 4 assists. Samory started in 10 of his 24 appearances.
-Since being acquired from Charleston on May 16, defender Josh Drack started all 21 games he appeared in, and led or was in the top three for the club in virtually all defensive categories.
–Prince Saydee started 17 of the 25 games he appeared in and was second on the team in goals (5) and assists (3).
–Daniel Bouman appeared in the second-most matches (28), with Jonathan Bolanos (27) and Stephen Payne (26) right behind him. Joel Johnson started 22 of his 25 matches and tied for second on the team with three assists.
-On the goalkeeping side, three players appeared in net, with Enrique Facussé started eight of the last 10 matches since he was signed, recording the club’s first-ever fulltime home win over Texoma on Sept. 21 in addition to the first-ever league shutout against FC Naples. The club’s other wins went to Dane Jacomen, who started the wins at Texoma (Mar. 29) and Forward Madison (June 18) and played the most matches in goal (23) and led the club in saves as well (34).
-On the team side, WSC’s best scoring stretch was the 7 matches from May 10-June 18, when they scored 2 goals or more in 5 of 7 matches. The streak started with a 3-2 loss to Charlotte and ended with a 2-1 win @Madison.
Close Shaves Still Cut Deep: WSC was 2-14-7 when they entered the second 45 either tied or behind with Saturday’s draw. They were 2-11 in one goal w/l decisions, and were blanked five times, three times time at home. WSC’s longest winless streak (excluding their 3-0 forfeit win over Spokane on July 16) was a 12 match streak which started after a 2-1 win at Forward Madison on June 18 and ended with a 2-1 win over Texoma on Sept. 21. That stretch included six one goal losses and three ties.
Other League Leaders: Noah Powder’s 4 assists tied for 15th, while Dean Guezen’s and Jonathan Bolanos’ 35 chances each created ranked 14th in the league.
On The Team Side: WSC finished 10th in scoring in USL League One with 40 goals, 10th in shots taken with 340, and tied for 5th in passing accuracy (81%) and 6th in passes. WSC allowed the most goals in league play (59).
Other Honors:
Week Four; Defender Tobi Adewole (Cheverly, Md.) Jonathan Bolanos, Conor McGlynn and Juan Carlos Obregón, Jr. to the USL Bench.
Week Ten; Conor McGlynn and Juan Carlos Obregón, Jr. named to the USL Bench.
Week Eleven: Andrew Hammersley named to USL Bench.
Week Twelve: JC Obregón named to USL Bench.
Week Fourteen: Defender Josh Drack and Midfielder Prince Saydee named to USL Bench
Week Fifteen: Dean Guezen selected to USL Team of the week.
Week Sixteen: Prince Saydee, Juan Carlos Obregón, Jr., and Head Coach Dave Carton were selected to USL Team of the week.
Week 19; Juan Carlos Obregón, Jr. named to USL Bench
Week 22: Juan Carlos Obregón, Jr. named to USL Bench
Week 23: Juan Carlos Obregón, Jr. named to USL Bench
Week 26: Juan Carlos Obregón, Jr. named to USL Bench
Week 27- Bobby Pierre selected to USL Team of the week.
Week 28- Juan Carlos Obregón, Jr. named to USL Bench.
Week 29- Rashid Tetteh named to USL League One team of the week.
Week 33- Joel Johnson was also named to USL League One Team of the Week, Juan Carlos Obregón, Jr. named to USL Bench.
Week 34- Bobby Pierre was named to the Team of the Week, Juan Carlos Obregón, Jr. named to USL Bench.
WSC’s inaugural season partners in addition to Northwell Health and SCORE PT include; Leros Transportation Group – luxury transportation partner, Healthfirst – insurance partner, Manhattanville University – premier education partner, Pepsi Bottling Company of New York – beverage partner, RXR – luxury living/real estate partner, MSG Networks – broadcast partner, Breezemont Day Camp – summer day camp partner, Seatgeek – ticketing partner, and Benjamin’s Steak House – steak house partner.
