Long Island-based American Soccer Club New York ready to make noise in the US Open Cup
Long Island-based soccer team, American Soccer Club New York. Credit: American Soccer Club New York
Everyone loves a good underdog story.
On Sunday night, American Soccer Club New York will have a chance to pen the first chapter of its own.
ASC, which goes by the moniker Fighting Tomcats, is a Long Island-based soccer team in the National Premier Soccer League, a men’s soccer league on the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid that provides a pathway for college players, amateurs and rising professionals. The Fighting Tomcats will play at NPSL rival Osner’s FC in a qualifying first round match in the U.S. Open Cup at 8 p.m. Sunday at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.
The U.S. Open Cup is the country’s oldest ongoing national soccer competition — this year’s tournament is the 112th — and the American version of England’s FA Cup, in which teams from lower divisions have a chance for national glory against teams from the highest level.
“It's the ultimate heritage of American soccer,” ASC managing partner and general manager Jim Kilmeade told Newsday. “Before we had what we had today, we had the U.S. Open Cup. Before we had professional leagues, we had the U.S. Open Cup. So for us, it's an international soccer tradition. When we launched this club in 2025, we knew this is a club that is always going to play, if accepted, into the U.S. Open Cup, be part of American history.
“And as a lower-division club, this is your chance. This is your chance to try and rise up and be a giant killer one day.”
As a club in good standing in the NPSL, ASC was eligible for the qualifying round of the U.S. Open Cup. It will be the franchise’s second appearance in U.S. Open Cup qualifying.
A record 155 clubs — all technically amateur clubs, according to U.S. Soccer — entered U.S. Open Cup qualifying, and 16 will be rewarded entry into the 96-team tournament that kicks off in April.
Kilmeade said ASC is an independent professional soccer organization and operates as a “major-league soccer franchise at a league four level.” Though the Fighting Tomcats’ players are not signed to U.S. professional soccer contracts, they can earn wages by working independently and in the community.
They have hosted games across the Island, welcoming crowds of over 1,000 at Stony Brook University and Mitchel Athletic Complex, and are hoping to finalize a permanent home base in Suffolk County soon.
All 27 U.S.-based Major League Soccer teams, including New York City FC and the New York Red Bulls, will enter the tournament in the round of 64.
“It's a great competition,” said ASC coach John Fitzgerald, who also is the men’s soccer coach at Molloy University. “It's got a lot of history. Just to be able to be part of it is cool. We're excited that we could get into it, and they allowed us to come into it. I know they could be selective with who they let in or not.
“The biggest carrot is that if we do continue to win games at our level, and then we keep going up and up and up to get a chance to play the big boys, maybe at some point, would be really exciting.”
A good chunk of the ASC players are active college players — meaning they won’t be able to participate in Sunday’s match, and the club has had to recruit new players for the tournament — and others are players out of college pursuing a professional career.
Some of the team’s players are not yet in college. Dylan Lopez, a Connetquot High School alum, joined ASC as a 16-year-old and now is a freshman midfielder at Stony Brook.
A major part of ASC’s philosophy?
“We are here to identify, develop and launch players into the European professional soccer ecosystem,” Kilmeade said.
He said another of their players, forward Aidan Kolbe, a Northport High School alum, is in Germany looking for his first professional contract.
Kilmeade recognized that Lake Grove’s Joe Scally, who was on the last two U.S. World Cup squads, is “the source of pride and joy for all of us here on Long Island.” He mentioned other former national team players from the Island, too, including Chris Armas (Brentwood).
The talent didn’t just dry up on Long Island, Kilmeade said, and ASC is focused on identifying the next great players and jump-starting their careers.
That will be boosted by the ASC Bolla Market Youth Academy, which Kilmeade said will begin this fall and be the first fully-funded youth academy on the Island.
For now, the Fighting Tomcats have been training at 9 p.m. in Massapequa. They are led by their captain, Sean Fitzgerald, also John’s son and his assistant coach at Molloy, and vice captain and defender/midfielder Leo Pinto.
John Fitzgerald said a bulk of the players playing Sunday are “our original players,” and he feels that their experience will be their biggest strength.
“In the beginning, we have to avoid being the giant that's killed,” Kilmeade said. “Then hopefully we get to the point where we can play a couple of games that are groundbreaking for our club and for the Long Island region.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
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