Central Kansas United’s storybook season came to an end in the semifinals of the UPSL National Tournament, but after a historic run, the club walked away feeling nothing but pride.
The long trek to California took over 20 hours and finally ended with the club’s arrival at Drake Stadium on the campus of UCLA.
“We were received well,” said head coach Juan Maldonado. “It was as close to a professional environment as we could get.”
That environment included plenty of media attention. UPSL media and staff were particularly intrigued by CKU’s underdog story and eager to learn more about the team and the rich pool of soccer talent found in Salina, Kansas.
CKU was joined in the Final Four by Deportivo Rose City (Portland, OR), Miami United FC (Miami, FL), and the defending champion New York Renegades FC (New York, NY).
Underdogs or not, confidence has followed CKU into each of its postseason matchups and that same confidence was evident heading into last Friday’s semifinal, Coach Maldonado felt his team was destined to win again.
“Everything just felt good, and I had that same feeling of, ‘We’re going to win,’ and the guys felt that energy from me,” Maldonado said. “No matter who’s absent, no matter the circumstances, I just felt we were going to win.”
CKU had managed to advance through the national tournament without its full complement of players, but two more key pieces would be missing for the biggest game of the season. Seth Flores, who scored a pivotal goal to help CKU reach the Final Four, and Noel Zimbeva, who led the entire league in goals, were unavailable due to commitments with Radford University, their new Division I program.
Still, Maldonado’s message to his team was to continue making history. The greatest season in Central Kansas United history could reach even greater heights with an appearance in the championship game, as no team from Kansas had ever advanced past the UPSL semifinals.
Once the match started, nerves were evident from the club and Rose City took advantage with a goal in the first two minutes.
Being down 1-0 was unfamiliar territory for CKU, but the team responded in the 30th minute after Jose Escobedo drew a penalty inside the box, setting up a chance to tie the game before halftime.
Juan Losado then scored the penalty kick to tie the game at 1-1.
Coming out of break, both teams played each other close until the final moments of regulation.
CKU had made a habit of producing clutch plays when it mattered most, finding signature moments late in regulation and extra time to win, but this time, the decisive play came from the other side.
Rose City found the game-winning goal on the final play of the game off a free kick that followed a series of unfortunate events, eventually leading to a 2-1 loss for CKU.
“I was just left there speechless,” Maldonado told KSAL. “All season long we’ve been on the other end, scoring those goals in the last minute and celebrating… but this time it was against us.”
Maldonado went on to give credit to Rose City for making the play that decided the game but admitted that if the game had found its way into overtime, he felt it would have been a different result.
“I still haven’t gotten over that,” he said. “Because if we go to overtime or penalties I really think we would’ve won.”
Although it didn’t turn out that way, CKU can still say they went down to the wire against the eventual UPSL national champs.
The season officially ended last Sunday against New York in the third place game.
