This Friday’s UPSL national semifinals will feature two teams from the Eastern United States who will face off for a chance to reach the 2021 spring finals. Those two teams being New York Contour United and Florida Tropics.
New York Contour United
NYCU ended the regular season with a 9-2-0 record for the east coast team, scoring 38 goals and only allowing 8 with a GD of +30. They ultimately ended up in 1st place in the American division of the Northeast Conference. In the American division postseason, they topped Hudson Valley Hammers and Queens Meadow before going to the national playoffs. From the round of 32, they were rolling stones, scoring 10 goals, and only allowing 1 goal in 3 games against Lynchburg, Mass United Rush, and Minneapolis City 2. That marks 6 games undefeated before their encounter with Florida Tropics. When asked how they kept this consistency, coach Christian Turizo stated, “Practice and commitment. These boys have worked very hard for over 4 months, rain or shine to show up to practice. They’ve earned everything they have achieved.”
Going over the hurdle of the national quarterfinals is something Contour paid close attention to as their UPSL postseason run fell short last fall. They had a similar performance in the 2021 fall season; they went undefeated and were 1st in the American division. It would be till they faced Brockton United in the national quarterfinals where their journey would end after a 2-1 loss. Coach Turizo stated when asked how that experience will help them this year; he said, “When I was offered the head coach position, the first goal was to qualify to Nationals. To be able to achieve that, we had to build a solid team not only on the field but off the field. These boys have become family, and that is very important. It makes my job much easier.”
Generally, in these national playoffs, teams will play each other from different parts of the country, which adds an exciting factor to how they perform outside their familiar divisions. When asked whether he would stick to his game plan or adapt to his opponent this Friday, Turizo said, ” We always stick to our idea and game model, I do take the time to watch a few of the opponents games and see where we can do damage, but also where they can complicate us.”
On a moral level, the semifinals of the UPSL is not an easy journey. It is a challenging ride on and off the field for any team. The emotions run high for these adult amateur players and teams who may never have a similar pinnacle in their careers most of the time. Clubs like New York Contour who make it possible to give players a platform, coach Turizo understands what it will mean to reach the finals ” I believe this is bigger than Countour. We’re playing not only for NY, but for every single person that supports us and believes in what we’re trying to do. Winning will definitely be a big step of us as an organization. Every one of our players have a purpose for playing and that has pushed them to achieve great things. We have already made history by making it this far and we won’t stop here. This is just the beginning.”
Florida Tropics
The sunshine state team ended 2nd in the Southeast Conference – Florida West division with an 8-2-2 record. They scored 42 goals (most in the division) and allowing 13 for a GD of +29. In the Florida West playoffs, they narrowly beat PSE Conquistadores and top Florida Premier 2-1 before reaching the nationals. The Tropics defeated in-state foes CFL GOSA Spurs in the nationals by a 3-2 scoreline and Miami Beach CF via penalties. They then faced their first out-of-state opponent Kalonji Pro-Profile of Georgia, who they topped 3-1 before reaching the semifinals.
Florida Tropics coach did not respond to our request for an interview.
The matchup will kick off on Friday at 8 pm pacific at LA Harbor College and streamed on Eleven Sports.