Kingston Stockade wins playoff opener
Kingston nets Atlantic White Conference title; advances to Northeast Regional semifinals
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Kingston Stockade FC captured the National Premier Soccer League Atlantic White Conference title in their first-ever postseason match with a 2-1 overtime victory over Hartford City FC at Dietz Stadium on Saturday night.
With the win, Kingston advances to the Northeast Regional semifinals on July 22 where it will face Keystone Conference Champion Clarkstown SC Eagles (Rockland County) at a time and location to be announced. The other regional semifinal features The Elm City Express (New Haven Connecticut) and the Legacy 76 Soccer Club (Williamsburg, Virginia).
As Kingston Mayor Steve Noble presented the trophy, players and a record crowd of nearly 1,400 chanted “ole, ole, ole Stockade,” Noble, Stockade chairman Dennis Crowley, and captain Jamal Lis-Simmons of Highland all gave brief speeches to a deafening roar.
The team then hoisted Stockade chairman Dennis Crowley who founded the team two years ago as he clutched the trophy.
Speaking after the celebration, first-year Kingston coach David Lindholm said the win was simply incredible.
“It’s a testament to the hard work these guys put in,” Lindholm said.
Michael Creswick scored in the 94th minute to break a 1-1 tie that went back to the equalizer by Kingston’s Bruce Jeter in 15th minute.
That goal represented Creswick’s first home goal of the season.
“It’s a good time to get it,” Creswick said.
Creswick added it felt like they could never back off with Hartford.
“They’re a physical team, they were on that goal line at the last minute so they’re the toughest team we could of played, and it just took team spirt and fitness,” Creswick said. “And that got us there in the end.”
“Mike Creswick scores a goal like that and the whole team puts on an amazing defensive effort,” Lindholm said. “We gave up a bad goal, at the beginning of the game, but we never put our heads down and we got result we needed in front of this unbelievable crowd.”
A small, but loud, Hartford supporters group called “Hale’s Guard,” named after Nathan Hale, the famed Patriot spy during the American Revolution, fell quiet after the goal.
Throughout most of the match “Hale’s Guard” used a combination of a drum and pounding on the metal away section grandstand in a mostly futile attempt to outdo the Stockade fans led on by the Dutch Guard.
But it would just be the start of 27 minutes of wild soccer, With Hartford nearly scoring the equalizer in the 99th minute only for the shot to sail over the cross bar.
As the sun set, a light tower went out, creating a bit of confusion, but play continued uninterrupted, and the lights came back on several minutes later.
Hartford nearly put one in again in the 101st minute, but Kingston goalie Steve Skonieczny came up with the save.
One minute later, it appeared Hartford had scored, but a call for an infraction in the box resulted in no goal. In the 118th minute, Stockade earned a penalty kick, but Matt Koziol kicked it right to Hartford goalkeeper Hami Kara who earned a yellow card on the same play for wasting time.
Hartford almost spoiled Kingston’s party in the 120th minute as they swarmed the goal and tried to score with the final seconds, but Skonieczy came up with another save to seal the victory for Kingston.
Hartford got off to a fast start with Sebastian Stezewski finding the net in the sixth minute.
Eric Fortier nearly tied it in the 11th minute, but his shot went high and over the cross bar.
After Jeter tied the score in the 15th minute, both teams had several opportunities to take the lead, but neither could find the net in the regulation.
“It’s just unbelievable considering this started just last year,” said former SUNY New Paltz standout Lis-Simmons. “We made a huge improvement as squad overall this year and it’s just great. To be here in front of our home fans, family, friends community who supported us from day one, this is just really something special.”
Lis-Simmons credited the come from behind win to the fans.
“We play in front of the best fans in the whole conference,” he said. “They picked us up so many times and even though we went down and we’ve been a resilient group all year and just really proud we were able to continue to fight through the whole game.”
Lis-Simmons admitted it was no easy task keeping Hartford from finding the net.
“It was tough man, we were just fighting with everything we had left,” LisSimmons said. “Everyone was tired, 90-plus minutes — just a lot of heart and determination it was a real group effort.”
Crowley also billed the win an unbelievable achievement for his team and its supporters.
“It’s crazy, two years ago people told us this would never work and here we are, we just hoisted a trophy over our heads,” Crowley said.
Crowley praised the fans who make it “one of the hardest places to play in the league.”
“They are so loud, the crowd is into it all game long,” he said. “It’s a huge advantage, and it was a record crowd, you couldn’t see an empty seat, It’s phenomenal.”
Crowley said he always had big dreams for the Stockade, but he always reminded himself that sometimes dreams take a long time realize.
“This team is capable of doing amazing things and this is our second year,” Crowley said. “It blows my mind to think of how much we’ve been able to accomplish as a team, a community, an organization and a city coming around us together in two years time.”
Looking ahead to next week’s regional semifinals and next season Crowley said he just wants to keep doing what they’ve been doing.
“We’re going to take it one game at a time,” Crowley said. “It’s like the most cliché thing to say, one game at a time, but that’s what you do.
“You play this, you play well, you train in between, you get people excited, it just happens organically.”
“We just keep going week by week, hopefully by another four weeks, we get to the final, but to have another night like this,” Creswick said.