MATCH PREVIEW IS PRESENTED BY OUR PARTNERS AT HEALTHFIRST
WSC Continues Solid Home Play: Maybe it’s the popular new kits, maybe it’s an extra motivation and support of playing at home, but Westchester Soccer Club continued to impress in their Mt. Vernon matches, jumping out to a 3-0 first half lead last Saturday before holding on for a 3-2 win over struggling FC Naples. Conor McGlynn broke the ice for WSC in the 29th minute, banging home his 10th goal of the season off a pass from Tim Temchenko to get things going. Jonathan Jiménez then made it 2-0 just six minutes later off a feed from Kyle Evans, and only two minutes after that the lead jumped to 3-0 when midfielder Piero Elias, playing in his first match after being signed on Wednesday, beat keeper Edward Delgado to push it to 3-0 at the break. Naples fought back in the second half, with Andres Ferrin’s penalty conversion making it 3-1 and Niklas Likulia converting a pass past keeper Luca Marinelli to make it 3-2, but the equalizer never materialized, and WSC took home the W to start a three in four match home streak.
The win moved them to 6-2-2 at home, with their only losses being a tight 3-2 loss to defending champion One Knoxville on opening night, March 7 and a 1-0 loss to Boise on July 5. It was also the fifth time in 10 home matches they have scored three or more goals this season, and the second time this season they have scored three goals in a half (most in club history), with the first time being in the initial 45 of their 5-1 vs. Corpus Christi on April 5.
This Week’s Honors: Westchester Soccer Clubs’ win Saturday produced a number of accolades from the league this week:
Tim Timchenko: The 23-year-old from Russia and Iona University had eight clearances and a passing accuracy rate of 90% in Westchester’s 3-2 win over FC Naples, where Timchenko also recorded an assist.
Conor McGlynn: The captain of Westchester SC kept pace in the Golden Boot race, scoring his 10th goal of the year to remain one back of Souaibou Marou. McGlynn led Westchester with four total shots, three of which were on target.
Additionally Kyle Evans and Jonathan Jiménez (WES) were named to the League bench for the week.
Winning A Close One: The win was WSC’S first the season by a one goal margin, after going 0-7 in their previous one goal decisions, and moved them to 6-2-2 at home, with their only losses being a tight 3-2 loss to defending champion One Knoxville on opening night, March 7 and a 1-0 loss to Boise on July 5. They went 2-14-7 when they entered the second 45 either tied or behind and were 2-11 in one goal w/l decisions last season.
Series History: The series history between Westchester SC (WSC) and Corpus Christi FC consists of just one recorded match, a regular season USL League One fixture. Westchester SC won the only prior encounter, defeating Corpus Christi 5-1 on April 4, 2026. Conor McGlynn recorded the first multi-goal game of his career, opening the scoring on a converted penalty 16 minutes into the match and following that up with a thirty yard volley in the 65th minute past keeper James Talbot as WSC recorded its first win of the 2026 season. The five goals are the most WSC has recorded in a match in their two year history.
Road Draws, Shutouts Other Notes: Saturday is the only road match in a four match string for WSC. While the winless streak reached 19 games (0-14-5) with their Aug. 1 2-0 loss at Madison, WSC recently achieved something for the first time in their two year history, earning a road point for the second consecutive match with a scoreless draw at AV Alta on July 26 and a 2-2 draw at Union Omaha on July 18. The draw at AV Alta combined with a 3-0 home win over NY Cosmos on July 22 marked the first time the club had posted back to back clean sheets in their history.
WSC’s streaky season has seen them go through droughts of one goal in their three matches (including being been shutout in two straight) from June 24-July 5, after going 2-0-1 and scoring ten goals in a three match stretch in just nine days June 10-19. That was preceded by three consecutive 1-0 League losses in May. They have been shutout in two or more consecutive games four times this season.
Marinelli The Stopper: Keeper Luca Marinelli continues to impress as he has ascended to the starting spot after replacing injured starter Andrew Hamersley. He has allowed just 16 goals with 43 saves in his 14 starts in league play. In 11 of his 14 league starts WSC has scored one or fewer goals, including 4 1-0 losses. The draw at AV Alta combined with a 3-0 home win over NY Cosmos on July 22 marked the first time a keeper had posted back to back clean sheets in club history. He was named to USL League One Team of the Week on July 28 for the first time for his work.
Evans Excelling: Kyle Evans continues to impress, and was named to the USL League One Team of the Week presented by SiteOne for the second consecutive week on July 28. One of only two players to start every match for WSC this season, the 20-year-old assisted on both of Westchester’s goals in its impressive showing on the road at Omaha, as Evans also won a tackle and had seven clearances. He followed it up with a goal and an assist in Westchester’s win against the Cosmos, then had two interceptions and an 85.7 passing percentage against AV ALTA FC. Evans is the first player to record a goal and assist in the same game for the club this season, and only the fourth overall following Conor McGlynn, Juan Carlos Obregón Jr. and Noah Powder. Earlier this year, Evans became the youngest goalscorer in club history with his stoppage-time finish against One Knoxville in the opener, notching his first professional goal aged 20 years, 146 days old, surpassing the mark of Ermin Mackic (20 years, 174 days). His five assists are sixth in League One play.
McGlynn, Guezen Steady Play: WSC’s growth has been fueled by its young players, as both midfielders Conor McGlynn (Middle Village, NY) and Guezen (Amsterdam, Netherlands) continue to emerge as the leaders on the young WSC squad. McGlynn, one of two WSC players to start every league game this season (Kyle Evans is the other) landed on the Team of the Week June 23 after scoring in three consecutive games. He now has a team high (and career high) 10 goals in league play, tied for first overall in the league in scoring. The 10 goals make him the second player for WSC to reach double digits in their young history, with the other being J.C. Obregon Jr., whose 17 last season set the one season mark for USL League One. McGlynn’s pair at home vs Corpus Christi was his first two goal game, with his second brace coming June 19 vs. Portland. He also was named to the USL Bench July 28.
Guezen is second on the team in scoring with five goals, and was voted Player of the Week presented by Konami eFootball after recording a pair of goals in his side’s victory against Sarasota Paradise on April 8. The Dutch midfielder recorded his first two-goal game for the club against Sarasota, striking twice in the second half to lead his side to a 2-0 win. Guezen’s goal vs Charlotte earlier in the season just 45 seconds into the match was the fastest in club history.
Jiménez Accolades: Westchester SC forward Jonathan Jiménez is coming off a series of strong performances, and was voted Player of the Week presented by Konami eFootball after scoring two goals in Westchester’s 5-1 win against Portland Hearts of Pine on June 19. Jiménez was at the center of it, tallying six shots – the most of any Westchester player in a single game this season – and found the back of the net twice. The Mexican national’s accolades followed his first USL League One Team of the Week selection the previous week. Jimenez helped Westchester earn four points from two outings as he completed 34 of 41 passes and notched five chances created while winning 10 of 16 duels and 3 of 4 tackles in a draw against Fort Wayne FC and victory against Greenville Triumph SC.
Maximus Effort: The club has also been buoyed by the improved play of Maximus Jennings. Jennings recorded a goal contribution in five of the last ten League One games (1G, 4A) as well as scoring the club’s only goal at Hartford to close out USL Cup play.
WSC Becomes a MAAC home: The addition of the two keepers (Luca Marinelli- Sacred Heart and Giuliano Santucci-Iona) gives WSC seven players who called the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference home during their collegiate days, a pretty unique stat for a mid-major conference. That includes three players from Sacred Heart and two from Iona, as well as one from Siena and Marist.
Youngest, Fastest and First: The season has brought WSC some new milestones. Kyle Evans became the youngest goalscorer in club history with his stoppage-time finish against One Knoxville in the opener, notching his first professional goal aged 20 years, 146 days old, surpassing the mark of Ermin Mackic (20 years, 174 days). Andrew Hammersley also notched his first career clean sheet against NY Renegades in US Open Cup play and followed that up with his first in League play against Sarasota on April 8 and Matias Molina had his first career clean sheet at Vermont in Round Two. Hammersley’s 11 saves in a loss at Greenville on March 29 were the most in club history and one shy of the League record for saves in a game. Rookie Alexi Armas also added to the youth movement, nailing the winning penalty over Portland in USL Cup play.
Local Flavor: Westchester Soccer Club has a decidedly young and local look in 2026 as Head Coach and General Manager George Gjokaj has at least 17 athletes with local roots on the roster. Kyle Evans (Rock Hill, NY/Marist), Maximus Jennings (Montclair, NJ/Georgetown), Tim Timchenko (Kyiv, Ukraine/Iona), Daniel Burko (Løvenstad, Norway/Hofstra) , Charlie Dickerson (Norwich, England/Providence) and Aleksei Armas (Floral Park, NY/Hofstra and Adelphi) have had substantial playing time across the board. Colin Veltri joined in mid June WSC after a standout collegiate career at Elon and St. John’s and in mid August the club added Queens native Piero Elias to the roster via a 25 day contract. The 22 year old central midfielder comes to Westchester from Sporting JAX in the USL Championship. After attending and playing for Forest Hills High School in Queens, N.Y., Elias transitioned into becoming a member of the NYCFC academy system instead of stepping into a collegiate career. While playing for NYCFC II, he played over 5,600 minutes, tallied 11 goals, 11 assists, and started 63 of 77 games.
The others: Goalkeepers: Marinelli, Santucci, and Mattias Molina (Rosario, Argentina/Seton Hall), Mo Williams (West Orange, NJ/Notre Dame/Seton Hall), Midfielders: Aiden Borra (Syosset, NY/Sacred Heart and St. John’s), and Miguel Diaz (Brooklyn, NY/St. John’s).
The 14 newcomers join 14 returnees on the WSC roster. Amongst the returning players, Goalkeeper Hammersley (Garden City, NY/Sacred Heart), Defender Noah Powder (Edison, NJ), Midfielder McGlynn (Middle Village, NY/Siena College), and Forwards Mackic (Yonkers NY/SUNY Purchase), and Samory Powder (Edison, NJ) also have ties to the New York area.
Partners for ’26: WSC’s list of partners for the season include: Northwell (Healthcare), Healthfirst (Health Insurance), Leros Transportation Group (Transportation), Meagher & Meagher, Attorneys at Law (Personal Injury Law), Breezemont Day Camp (Summer Camp), RXR (Real Estate Development), MSG Networks (Media & Broadcasting), The Taco Project (Restaurant & Food), Duck Donuts (Restaurant & Food), Score PT (Physical Therapy), Walter’s (Restaurant & Food), Keller Williams (Real Estate), ICE AIR (HVAC), Westchester Smoothie (Restaurant & Food), Saw Mill Stone & Masonry Supply (Masonry/Retail), Floor & Décor Flooring & Home Improvement (Home Improvement/Retail), The Gentleman’s Lab (Men’s Grooming / Barbershop), Agora (Social Group), CPR Foundation (Non-Profit/Foundation), Velvet Llama (Liquor), Rory Dolan’s Restaurant & Bar (Restaurant & Food), and Strategic Security Corp (Security Services).
Up Next: WSC hosts Spokane on August 29 and Chattanooga on September 2.
