U.A.S.C. TRYZUB CELEBRATES 56 YEARS OF UKRAINIAN
NATIONALS SOCCER
AND SPORTS PROGRAMMING
First fielded in 1950, “Tryzub’s” amateur soccer team rapidly
became the premier professional soccer franchise in the United States. In 1959, the club acquired the American Soccer League’s
Philadelphia Nationals, aptly renamed it the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals
and proceeded to win the U.S. Open Cup Championship the very following year.
No one will ever forget the fever-pitched deafening thunder of the
Ukrainian American community’s cheers as “Nasha Druzhyna” (“Our Team”)
reached the heights of success. Some
highlights include:
·
1956 - U.S. Amateur Cup
Final in St. Louis, Missouri
·
1960’s – Six American Soccer League Professional Championships
·
1960,61,63, and 66 – Four U.S. Open Cup Professional Championships
·
1960’s – Five U.S. Open
Cup Finals
·
Ten Pennsylvania State Championships
·
Seven United Soccer League Majors Division Championships
·
Three Inter-County Soccer League Majors Division Championships
Tryzub’s was the first soccer team in the United States to have home games
televised and played in the first indoor regulation
soccer game in Convention Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey. Soccer teams from around the world visited Philadelphia to
play “Our Team”: Manchester United, England; Dundee, Scotland; Stuttgart,
West Germany. In 1967, the
Ukrainian Nationals represented the United States in international competition
before 102,000 fans in El Salvador.
After a number of additional professional years in the German American League of
New York, Tryzub focused its
efforts on amateur soccer and the development of a youth program.
In 1983, the club purchased 38 acres of farmland in Horsham, Pennsylvania
and transformed them into a premier amateur soccer venue with Class A fields,
lighting, a clubhouse and picnic grove. Twenty
youth teams, boys’ and girls’, in age brackets between “Under 10” and
“Under 17” years of age, play under the Ukrainian Nationals’ flag.
Over half of these teams are in the top 3 in their respective divisions.
An exceptionally dedicated crew of coaches and parents under the
leadership of Taras Kozak
(President), Danylo Nysch, John Nimczuk, Stefan Kunderewych, Orest Lesiuk, Alex
Hrauer, Walter Maruschak, Fernando Rubio and Pam Zingle have made “Our Club”
a most desirable place for children to play soccer and to sharpen their skills.
The First Ukrainian Nationals Invitational Tournament, held over Memorial
Day weekend, 2002, was a resounding success attracting over 52 teams to
Tryzub’s fields. A Memorial Day
Weekend tournament is planned for this year as well.
In 1988, 1996 and 2000, Tryzub held three memorable Ukrainian Olympiads
and youth jamborees, to which thousand of fans gathered to see the best in
Ukrainian sports and cultural programming.
The year 2002 also held witness to the 26th annual golf
tournament and yet another series of tennis tournaments, soccer camps
(Philadelphia Kixx and Charge camps) and tennis camps.
Tryzub’s swim team competed in the USCAK National Finals.
But, the pride of Tryzub still rests on the shoulders of its Majors
Division soccer team, the Ukrainian Nationals, currently coached and managed by
Petro Boretsky and Mykola Jurchak. The
team continues annually to capture its league championship and perennially wins
the Eastern Pennsylvania Championship. In
the year 2000, the team won the Region I Championship and progressed to the
final four of the US Amateur Cup. This
year the team again stands atop its division
In the Spring, Tryzub will defend its Eastern Pennsylvania Championship and is
heavily favored to appear at the US Amateur Soccer Association’s Region I
Amateur and Open Cup Championships to be held at Tryzub for the third year in a
row on Father’s Day, June 15, 2003.
The Ukrainian Nationals invite you to attend the games and to cheer
“Our Team” with the pride and enthusiasm of old.
Your presence as “The Twelfth Man” in the stands will no doubt again
push “Our Team” to recapture the championship for our community.
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