New York Pancyprian-Freedoms
Amateur club with three U.S. Open Cup titles.
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New York Pancyprian-Freedoms is an American amateur soccer team based in Astoria, New York, United States. Founded in 1974, the team currently plays in the Eastern Premier Soccer League. The team plays its home games at Belson Stadium on the campus of St. John's University. The team's colors are white and blue.
History
The Pancyprian-Freedoms were founded in 1974 and have competed in New York City’s Cosmopolitan Soccer League since that inaugural season. The league is a member of the United States Adult Soccer Association Region I group of leagues and dates back to the 1920s. The Freedoms have won eight Cosmopolitan League titles: in 1979, 1980, 1982, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2019.
The club is one of the all-time great U.S. Open Cup clubs, having qualified or attempted to qualify every year of its existence. It won the cup three times in the pre-Major League Soccer era, in 1980, 1982, and 1983. After the 1983 triumph, the team reached the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup in 1984, beating Mexican side Puebla on penalties and overcoming Honduran champions Vida, before both the Freedoms and their semifinal opponents CD Guadalajara were disqualified after failing to agree on match dates.
In the MLS era, the Pancyprian-Freedoms have qualified for the final stages of the U.S. Open Cup several times. They lost 3–2 in extra time to the Real Maryland Monarchs in the first round in 2008, lost 2–0 to the Long Island Rough Riders in 2010, and fell to FC New York 4–3 on penalties after a 0–0 draw in 2011, having defeated the Brooklyn Italians 2–0 in the first round.
In 2016 they advanced to the second round by beating the Red Bulls U23 2–1 at Belson Stadium, then lost 1–0 to Jersey Express. The club also won the USASA Open Cup in 2008, 2010, and 2011. The current men's team is composed primarily of players from the Eleftheria-Pancyprian Youth teams, with most having played NCAA Division I college soccer and now working as young professionals or attending graduate school.
Did You Know?
- The club's second team, New York Freedom, joined the USL Premier Development League in 1999 and won the Northeast Division title in their very first season.
- The Freedoms won the USASA Open Cup in 2008, 2010, and 2011, with the 2011 final decided 5–4 on penalties after a 2–2 draw through two overtimes.
More in Diaspora Soccer Clubs in the United States
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: New York Pancyprian-Freedoms (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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