Asteras Tripolis New York literally fought to the very end, but fell short at Randall’s Island against Cosmopolitan’s League NY International with a 3-2 loss for the Flamhaft Cup round of 16.

Asteras sprung into action from the beginning of the game, having good possession and missing two great chances to score, by Distasi at the 5th, and Colin Volpe at the 11th minute. It proved this wasn’t good enough, where NY International scored the opening goal at the 14th minute. Asteras players complained that there was a preceding violation by the hand of an opponent, but the referee regarded had maintained his initial ruling. However the ref at the 18th minute of the game disallowed a goal by Quintin Volpe, where this time he ruled a hand ball had indeed previously occurred. Asteras continued aggressively searching to score and came close for one more time when a shot by Guerrier at the 28th minute hit the post. The equalizer came at the 32nd minute, after a backward shot by C. Volpe, went right over a defender and surprised the goalie. In a five minute span, the “Arcadians”, managed to score again and make a great comeback during the game. At the 37th minute, a free kick was given to Asteras, midway between the halfway line and the penalty area. Q. Volpe took an insane shot from around 30 yards to put it in the back of the net and get his team ahead 2-1.

In the second half, NY International came out a lot stronger in order to get a quick goal. They managed when they won a penalty kick at the 55th minute of the game, equalizing 2-2.  Since the game was even again, the two teams really came out each other for the winning goal and avoid the process of penalty kicks. The deciding factor came in the 75th minute, when a tragic mistake by Asteras defenders, gave the opportunity for the striker of NY International to get a strong shot inside the penalty area and score his team’s winning goal.

Judging just by the final score, it might have been a tightly contested match, however NY International managed to punish Asteras for every defensive mistake, as such lapses continue to haunt the Hellenic-American team throughout fall season.

In their last game before the winter break, Asteras Tripolis NY will face NY Blue Angels for the LISFL Open Cup. Both teams are in first place in their group and the winner will have a chance to qualify for the quarterfinals in March 2023. The game is scheduled to take place this Sunday, December 11th, at 8 pm, at College Point Field (130th st. and 23rd ave, College Point)

Source: Asteras Tripolis New York (Denos Vlahos)