The Chornomorska Sitch-Over 30 soccer team captured 1st place in the 18th annual Nick Hordynsky Memorial SITCH Futsal tournament held in St. John’s – Whippany, NJ gymnasium on March 1, 2025. The Sitch team defeated a very strong Karpaty-Passaic team in an exciting 2-1, come from behind, final. In all, 11 teams competed for the coveted championship trophy.
The opening ceremonies started with all 11 teams lined up, with the playing and singing of the Ukrainian National anthem.
The tournament was high level and competitive with all teams feeling they had equal opportunity to win this years indoor event. George Yurkewych, a Sitch soccer alumni and player, stated that “this was probably one of the more competitive tournaments in the 18 year history that Sitch has been running this event.” The 11 teams who participated were: Sitch-Blue (UPSL), Sitch-Yellow (Over 30), Stamford Lions 1, Stamford Lions 2, Philadelphia Tryzub, Brooklyn Ukies 1, Brooklyn Ukies 2, Karpaty Passaic, KLP Passaic, FC Dynamo NY and Shakhtar United.
The tournament format was divided into 3 phases. Phase 1 was a round robin format, teams placed into 2 groups, teams in each group playing each other once, and determining their place in the standings. The top 2 teams in each group advancing to Phase 2, the semi-finals. The 1st place team from Group A would play the 2nd place team in Group B and the 1st place team from Group B squaring off against the 2nd place team in Group A. The 2 teams advancing from Group A were Stamford Lions 2 and Philadelphia Tryzub. The 2 teams advancing from Group B were Sitch (Over-30) and Karpaty Passaic. (See complete standings and game results at the end of this article.)
The 2 semi final games were epic battles. The first semi final match saw Sitch (Over-30) beating a strong Philadelphia Tryzub side, 3-2 in an exciting back & forth battle. Pete Luce scored 2 goals for SITCH while George Mikula scored the game winner sending Sitch to the final. Sitch goalie Andras Pasztor preserved the victory, making several important saves to deny Tryzub from tying the game. The second semi-final match had the Stamford Levy 2 team squaring off against an impressive Karpaty Passaic team. The Karpaty team scored 16 goals during group play, the highest total of any of the 11 teams who participated. The game was a close battle, and ended 1-1 after full time. The game would then be decided by penalty kicks. As anxious fans looked on, knowing that a berth in the finals was at stake, the Karpaty Passaic team prevailed scoring 2 penalty kicks to Stamford’s 1.
Phase 3 of the tournament was the final, Sitch (Over-30) vs Karpaty (Passaic). During group play, the 2 teams played a close match with Sitch winning, 2-1. The final was no different and also a very close game, from beginning to end. Karpaty took the early lead 1-0. Shortly thereafter, Sitch’s Pete Luce was able to tie the match at 1-1. With momentum on Sitch’s side, they took the lead 2-1. Pete Luce once again scoring the goal for Sitch. The remainder of the game was intense, with Karpaty applying a lot of pressure, hoping to score and tie the game. The Sitch defense, however, were able to defend well and deny any serious challenges that came their way. This defensive effort was no surprise, considering the fact that they were 2nd best defensively during group play, allowing only 4 goals. With the clock winding down, and Sitch maintaining possession in the offensive side of the field, the fans started the countdown and the final buzzer went off, sealing the championship for a jubilant Sitch team.
Winning Sitch team above: Standing (Left to Right): Bo Kucyna-Coach, Andras Pasztor, Mike Knapp, Pete Luce, Gustavo Lopez, George Mikula – Kneeling (Left to Right): Mike Narciso, Joe Cover, Erick Solis, Marco Hordynsky. Not pictured (Andri Kulyk)
After the game, teams and fans gathered in the St. John Cultural Center social club for the trophy presentation, Captain Marco Hordynsky accepted the 1st place trophy on behalf of the team. Next, some words of praise and thanks were spoken by tournament organizer Dan Holowaty, who once again ran an absolutely wonderful tournament, He thanked all teams and fans for attending this years tournament and wished everyone great success in their upcoming outdoor league season . Lastly, Karpaty Passaic captain took the podium and announced that he had 3 items to auction off, with all proceeds going to support humanitarian aid in Ukraine. The 3 items for auction were: 1}. an autographed soccer ball signed by soccer greats Oleh Blokhin and Andriy Shevchenko, 2}. a signed jersey by Michael Mudryk and 3}. a signed jersey by Andriy Lunin. The auction was a great success with a nice pot of money collected and to be donated. After the auction, refreshments and food were served while players and fans continued their discussions of the great games played, goals scored and new memories collected during the afternoon tournament.
