Derek Antonini scored a first-half hat-trick to lead Vereinigung Erzgebirge over Philadelphia Soccer Club 8-1 Saturday afternoon in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Second Round qualifier. Chris Baker added a second-half brace, and Justin Ruth had a goal and two assists as VE looked sharp from the start against their new APSL counterpart.
Both teams entered the matchup with a positive start to the APSL season. VE (3-0) picked up convincing wins over Feelsgood FC and Lighthouse 1893 while PSC (2-1-1) put up two good results against former USLPA teams Westtown (3-1 win) and Colonial (2-2 draw).
After several minutes of settling in, VE broke the game open in the 8th minute when Justin Ruth took Reed Sturza’s through-ball to the corner before dribbling inside and finding Antonini at the top of the six. Antonini’s header beat PSC keeper Daniel Saint-Pol for the 1-0 lead.
After the goal, VE applied more pressure on consecutive corners but couldn’t find a second, while at the other end PSC nearly equalized in the 18th minute. Lucho Narsisi slipped Rasheed Thomas clear to goal on a PSC counter, and Rasheed’s feet got caught up in a VE bounce before Steve Paul made a sprawling save. VE continued to find space through the PSC defense, and Danny Bloyou had a great chance when he ran onto a pass down the right channel and steered toward the near post. Saint-Pol challenged Bloyou’s angle and made the first of many fantastic saves on the day to keep the score at 1-0.
Antonini scored VE’s second in the 27th minute after a PSC giveaway in the defensive third. The VE striker took the turnover down the left side, dribbled around the final defender, and beat Saint-Pol low to the far corner to extend the lead. Six minutes later, Antonini earned his hat-trick. Baker launched a long throw in from deep inside PSC’s end, reaching Antonini at the near post, and Antonini sent a backwards header over Saint-Pol and into the net.
“We’re always happy to get these wins,” Antonini said after the game. “We expect to be in the Open Cup, so we need a few more.” Antonini was one of the top scorers in last year’s national amateur cup competition and also had a few strong performances in The Soccer Tournament this past spring with the 610, which included several other local amateur and college stars.
“Super happy I finished those three. I probably should have put a few more in the second half away, but those three helped, and I think it made the other team pull out a bit.”
As the intensity of the game picked up over the final minutes of the first half, PSC came back with another chance when Thomas dribbled two VE defenders and hit Sean Murray at the penalty spot. Murray took one touch and beat two defenders with a low bouncer that Paul saved.
In the 52nd minute, VE’s Jalen Weatherspoon took a PSC free kick back the other end, setting up Bloyou on an overlap down the left side. Bloyou’s cross met AJ McIntyre in stride at the far post, and Saint-Pol made a sprawling save from point-blank range to deny the VE midfielder. But a minute later, Bloyou added a fourth for the hosts when he ran onto Ruth’s through-ball and slotted it home.
In the 56th minute, Baker finished off Sturza’s shot after a successful VE combination down the right side put Sturza one-on-one with Saint-Pol. The PSC keeper made the intial save, but the rebound fell to Baker in front of goal, and he finished off the play to make it 5-0.
Thomas pulled a goal back for PSC from the spot in the 63rd minute after substitute Gabe Dwyer took him down inside the penalty area. Thomas sent Paul the wrong way, side-footing the ball into the right corner to close the gap. Eleven minutes later, Thomas beat a VE defender with a meg down the right side, but his cross through the box was too hot for Henry Guzman, and several VE defenders intervened before Henry could turn his second touch on goal.
VE kept pushing for more as the game continued to open up late in the second half. In the 76th minute, Weatherspoon’s pass put Ruth in on a breakaway, but Saint-Pol made another spectacular save, this time pushing Ruth’s shot out of the top corner with a diving top-hand. Narcisi took a strike from distance two minutes later that Paul saved, then at the other end, VE added a sixth. McIntyre broke free down the left on a VE counter and slipped a pass across the spot with the outside of his right foot, and Baker smashed it into the back of the net.
Baker wore the captain’s armband for VE, a significant moment for him because he grew up playing in the club. “It’s incredible,” he said. “The club’s like a family for me. I have a lot of respect for it, so to be able to represent as captain in a U.S. Open Cup qualifier is a huge deal and something I take a lot of pride in.” Baker is just over a year removed from an ACL reconstruction and was forced to watch VE’s amateur cup run that ended in the regional semi-finals, the club’s farthest step since 2021, when they also qualified for the Open Cup but never played due to the Covid shutdowns.
“We finally hit the ground running,” Baker said about his team’s performance and their strong start to the season. “We had a few new pieces this year, and we’re starting to gel together.”
In the final five minutes, VE scored two more goals. Ruth curled a fantastic free kick over the wall in the 85thminute, and Bloyou ran onto Ruth’s pass over the top, picking out Weatherspoon in front, whose shot took several deflections before a PSC defender pushed it over the line for the own goal.
“Our name of the game was advance,” VE coach Rob Oldfield said after the game. Oldfield said he was happy with the way his team started, though a little short-handed due to injuries, a wedding anniversary, a broken down car, and overall time mis-management. And midway through the half, when tensions rose, he said he wanted his team to handle the situations better. “We want to talk and create this environment, then it gets chippy, and then we’re mad it gets chippy. But we created it. We could have just taken the steam out of that game, popped in a couple more, and be done.”
“We had a couple chances we probably could have scored on,” PSC coach Aaron Sexton said after the game. “So you go into the half cautiously optimistic. We stuck with a conservative formation in the second half, at least for the first little bit, then we started the second half really well, then just got too open when we’re trying to build out, and they hit us for one.”
PSC made their debut in Open Cup qualifying after a strong 2024-25 in the APSL. Last season, they finished 11-5-6 and just missed the Delaware Conference playoff. They also took VE to the brink in last season’s EPSA amateur cup semi-final, conceding late. Though the result may not be indicative of how his team played, Sexton saw some bright spots in the game.
“It’s committing to playing the way we want to play. You can see in the second half, we have the quality to knock the ball around, and we just have to commit to doing that as a group.”
VE crashed out in the Third Round of qualifying last season, falling to Oaklyn United 3-1.
In other local action, Colonial defeated Vidas 3-1, and West Chester beat Oaklyn 3-0. In an all-UPSL matchup, Philly Lone Star advanced over PA Prime via forfeit. The next round of games is scheduled for the October 31-November 1st weekend.
