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Goshen City FC ready for Midwest Central final

austin hough, goshen news, ind.
·4 min read

Jun. 30—GOSHEN — Goshen City FC didn't come this far just to come this far.

While they are excited for the chance to play in the UPSL Midwest Central championship game Saturday, the first-year club has a goal of winning that contest.

In order to do so, they'll have to defeat defending division champion, Chicago Nation FC, on its home field at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT.

Not only is it for the division championship, but the game is part of the national UPSL tournament, with the winner advancing to the Round of 16. Chicago Nation made the national quarterfinals last season.

"We're just focused on the next step, which is with training," Goshen City FC coach Tyler Born said. "We had a really good session (Wednesday), so we're trying to build off that. Obviously, the big overarching thing is focusing on Saturday and how we can win and how we can perform our best."

Saturday's title game will be played on a turf field. Luckily for GCFC, Goshen High School opened up its turf football field for them to practice on Thursday and Friday to get prepared for playing on that type of surface. GCFC plays its home games on the grass field of Goshen College and typically practices at the Goshen Stars fields, which are all grass as well.

Plenty of GHS alums comprise the GCFC roster, including Born.

"I think it's a very good opportunity for us," Born said. "Jim Pickard (Goshen's athletic director) has been great. He said 'yes' right away and made sure everything was taken care of. We appreciate that."

GCFC advanced to the title game with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Wisloka Chicago last weekend. Tebello Ntene provided the winning goal for Goshen, striking a beautiful header early in the second half to give the team the lead for good.

Ntene leads GCFC on the season with five goals. Originally from Lesotho, a small country located in southern Africa, Ntene played collegiately at Goshen College last year. He wasn't sure if he was going to play for GCFC this season, and he didn't join the roster until after practices had begun for the team.

"At first, I was undecided in what I wanted to do this summer," Ntene said. "I wasn't sure if I was going to stay here or go down to Houston, which is where I normally play in the summer. But then, I decided last minute that I wanted to join this team. I asked (team founder) Henrique (Eichenberger) and (Born) if I could join, and they told me I could."

Goshen has not lost a game since April 29. In that span, they've picked up five wins, two draws and one victory via forfeit. In the seven games they've played, they have outscored its opponents by a 28-5 margin. This came after a 1-3 start to the campaign, including a 3-0 loss to Chicago Nation April 22.

"In the first three or four games of the season, we were playing a different formation," Ntene noted. "The coaches, they decided that maybe a different formation would help us. Back then, we didn't have some of the players that are here now. As new players came in, we changed the formation and then everything changed. The spirit of the team kind of changed, we got rolling and then we decided we have to keep going."

Chicago has yet to lose a game in Midwest Central play this season. They've gone 10-0-1 overall, producing a 47-8 edge in goals scored in those contests. They have one of the top scorers in all of the UPSL, per the league's website, as Zakhar Shkidchenko has 13 goals on the season.

"They're a team full of really high-quality, strong, experienced players," said Born of Chicago Nation. "We saw that firsthand when we played them earlier. As much as I focus on the opponent, I try and leave that on my side and just share enough to the guys. That way, we're still focused on what we need to do, rather than what they do. I think it's important we're focused on the things we can control."

It has already been a remarkable first season for Goshen City FC. That's why guys like Ntene don't want to see it end this weekend.

"I've never won any championships in the U.S.," Ntene said. "I really, really want to win. I want to win not just on Saturday, but I want to go the farthest I can go with this team. I'm not ready to stop on Saturday, so it's going to mean the world to us if we can win. We need to prove a point to people who said we couldn't make it and people who didn't believe in us."

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.