NY International repeat as Kilby Cup champs, but promotion hopes fade

By Noah Zimmerman

It was a beautiful Sunday morning at McCarren Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn as the two top teams in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League got set to face off. Polonia Soccer Club and New York International FC entered the day level on points, but Polonia held the tiebreaker via head-to-head.

When the two sides met in September, it was a rainy affair at Randall’s Island. After a scoreless first half, NY International got on the board through Josh Adejokun in the 52nd minute. Polonia weren’t able to answer until the 75th when they scored the first of three unanswered goals. A Lukasz Bielen header, Hazel Coogler free kick, and Jakub Madej strike gave Polonia a late comeback win.

It was one of just two losses in the Fall portion of the 2024-25 season, as International won 8 of their 11 matches, before winning 7 of 8 in the Spring. Despite this they were right in the thick of a wild title race, separated by mere points from Polonia, FC Sandzak, Hoboken FC 1912 II, and Central Park Rangers II.

It was a busy week for International, with cup finals for both their reserve and first teams. On Wednesday night the Lions won the CSL’s Kilby Cup for the second straight year, defeating Hoboken FC II, though their reserves were unable to claim the Saunders Cup the next night.

Polonia were also busy over the week as they played their game in hand on Thursday night against Borgetto FC. A 3-1 Polonia win avenged their 1-0 loss in October, the latter of just two losses suffered this season.x

As expected, the visiting Lions started the match hungry, pressing hard and fighting for early chances. Despite this, it was Polonia who found the match’s opening goal. A brilliant diagonal ball by Sam Resnick was redirected in at the far post by Filip Glowala to put Polonia ahead 1-0 inside the first quarter of an hour.

20 minutes later, the task got more daunting for International as a straight red card was shown to Alexandru Teodorescu for making contact with the linesman. The Lions were forced to see out a 1-0 deficit for the final 10 minutes of the half.

Even with a man disadvantage, International were persistent in the second half. Once again, their efforts were hindered by a controversial red card. The referee claimed to have heard discriminatory language towards the assistant referee and despite NYIFC’s protests that he had been speaking in Spanish to a teammate, the Lions were down to 9 men.

Polonia were able to add two late goals, with Matthew Saluga making it 2-0 in the 70th minute and Conrad Nowowiewski scoring the third in the 80th. International were able to pull a goal back from a free kick, but that was all they could muster as they fell to Polonia 3-1 for the second time.

Polonia is yet to concede more than one goal in a match during league play, only allowing 13 goals in their 20 matches played. The impressive defensive record has been paramount in their title push.

“It justifies what we’ve been working on all season. From the very first day of training in the summer we all had a sense that there was something special with this team,” said Filip Glowala following the match.

“We’ve always had the guys, we finally have the commitment and it’s really nice to see it finally come together. We wanted to be a top dog and we showed that we are one,” said head coach Corey Smith.

“Today our discipline let us down, not just with the cards,” lamented NY International coach Nick Platt. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but ultimately I’m very proud of the guys and of the cup win. Now we’re gonna push hard for the rest of the season and hope for a miracle.”

Polonia can clinch the Division 1 title and promotion to the American Premier Soccer League (APSL) with a win over NY Ukrainians next week. In order for International to sneak back in, Polonia would need to drop points in both of their last two matches.