If there’s one thing to know about clubs from the New York area, they all have interesting backstories.

“We believe in one Cyrpus. The Cyprus, that was Greek, was first occupied by the British and then taken over by the Turks. ‘Pancyprian’ means everyone of one Cyprus, one language, one people,” Paul Kontonis responded, when asked about the name and mission of the club. “To this day, we still help students from Cyprus to come to school here in the United States. We help them get scholarships. We’re still active to this day in doing that.”

While most people in the lower league soccer community have heard of the Pancyprian Freedoms at one point or another, the link to Greek culture and the historical and political subdivision of the island of Cyprus is certainly less known by soccer fans outside of New York.

Founded in 1974, the club is everything that you’d expect of an ethnic-based New York club. Run out of a clubhouse in Astoria, Pancyprian is a multi-leveled sports and Greek culture club. The ground floor of the club is a restaurant and when I sat down with Paul Kontonis to talk about Pancyprian Freedoms, he and his team had just finished a meeting downstairs in the restaurant. It’s the stuff of dreams for a soccer history fan wishing for the past.

Of course, outside of New York, Pancyprian is known for being one of the best amateur soccer clubs in the country. Winner of three US Open Cups (‘80, ‘81, ‘82) and an nine-time champion of the famed Cosmopolitan League, the Pancyprian Freedoms now play in the Eastern Premier Soccer League (EPSL). Since joining the EPSL, Pancyprian has won the Metropolitan Conference playoff in three of four seasons. The team knows how to compete and win and do it year after year.

“We’ve had a very stable operation,” is how Kontonis describes it. “Sure, some seasons are better than others, but because we’ve had consistent leadership at the top from our club president Philip Christopher. We’ve kept a very consistent drive.” That’s the first half of the winning formula and Paul is part of that leadership, coaching within the team’s youth organization and serving as an assistant coach on the Freedoms. The second half may be the harder part to achieve, identifying talent for the club. “We have players coming out of USL and MLS who need a serious team to play with serious players, but then there’s players on the up and up…We have a steady pipeline of players headed up and players waning in their careers who want to still play on a serious team.”

This year’s team finished second in the regular season in the Metropolitan Conference. It’s path to the USASA semifinals was no easy one. The club’s opening match was against long-time Cosmopolitan foe, Hoboken FC 1912. That match went to penalties, where Pancyprian won 5-3. After that opening round test, it was an easy march to Dekalb. Wins over Newtown Pride, Providence City FC, and Christos (three of the most famous clubs in the East) came with a combined scoreline of 15-2. The Freedoms rolled Region I.

Heading into the USASA Amateur Cup next week, you’d have to think they were one of the favorites, given their current squad and a whole lot of history.

The Pluses and Minuses of History

The club plays with the weight of its historic success on its back. “It’s not so much pressure, it’s more like focus. Yes, we’ve done a lot, but we feel like we haven’t done anything until we can’t win anymore. Coming out of the US Open Cup in the first round was not something we wanted, so we want to at least get this.”

Plenty of teams went out in the first round of USOC, but for Kontonis and his team, it wasn’t good enough. “We thought we’d make it to the third round at least. But the game just didn’t go our way. There were five goals in the last minute and a half. It was one of those ridiculous games.” As he says it, he shakes his head and you can see he’s reliving the Freedoms Cup exit in his head.

Pancyprian plays in one of the strongest leagues in the country.

But there’s plenty of success in the club’s past which gives the team and its players a tremendous amount of confidence. “We feel like we’ve earned the right to be at these games. We never feel like these games are bigger than us. We’re where we’re supposed to be and now it’s time to go win it.”

Pancyprian drew USL2’s Tobacco Road FC for its semifinal matchup and the standard is high. “Our expectation is to get to the final and play for a championship. That is what we are planning for.” Given the club’s consistent level of achievement and historic success, that expectation seems pretty reasonable. Winning is what they do.

- Dan Vaughn