Another year, another NoVA FC EPSL Championship.

This weekend, NoVA FC repeated as champion of the Eastern Premier Soccer League. It was an impressive season of dominance for NoVA as the team went undefeated in its regular season run in the EPSL Mid-Atlantic Conference, 11-0-0. Not only did the team go undefeated, it also only gave up 5 goals the entire season, while scoring 67. That’s a goal differential of +62, if you’re counting. Unbelievable stuff.

After a dominant regular season run, NoVA beat N-Lite FC 2-1 in the Mid-Atlantic Championship match to advance to the EPSL Final Four. The yearly competition pits the 4 winners of each EPSL Conference against each other to crown the champion of the league. This year, the four clubs were NY Pancyprian Freedoms (Metropolitan), Fall River FC (Northeast), Oaklyn United FC (Delaware River), and NoVA FC (Mid-Atlantic). After the draw for semifinal matchups, NoVA faced NY Pancyprian Freedoms, a team with a long track record of winning.

The semifinal match was an absolute dogfight, with NoVA jumping out to an early lead. NYPF equalized, then lost the lead again, only to get to a draw in the final play of the match. The match ended 2-2 and a penalty shootout decided the semifinal winner. NoVA would convert 3, while NYPF only netted 1, so NoVA advanced to the final to face Fall River FC, who had advanced past Oaklyn United 4-1 in the other semifinal.

With both teams playing matches on back to back days, it was hard to predict how the EPSL Championship would turn out. Instead of a close match, it turned out to be a blowout. NoVA FC won 4-0 and claimed its second consecutive EPSL title. Head Coach Kareem Sheta had his team humming and goals came from four different players: Jonathan Rivera, Declan Quill, KJ Nadeau, and Vagner Marquis.

While I’m on the subject of the EPSL championship weekend, I have to give a major shout out to the EPSL broadcast. It was absolutely top-notch and everything you could want out of a league feed. I watch a lot of bad soccer feeds, so these matches were especially impressive to watch and were presented more professionally than so-called professional leagues. Also, congratulations to the league on having a Championship weekend title sponsor, Capelli Sport. The EPSL is a model of how a regional can be run to the benefit of its member clubs and the product shown on the field and screen. The entire EPSL leadership team should be commended for their work, it showed over the weekend.

NoVA FC has been on a bit of a tear in the last couple of years, claiming titles and filling its trophy case. Those trophies include multiple championships in the MASL, Virginia State Cup, USASA Region I, and, of course, the EPSL. We’ve written about their success before and we’re sure to be doing it again. It’s clear that the team has grown into a juggernaut in amateur soccer.

- Dan Vaughn