By Michael Lewis

A year ago, the American Soccer Club NY – “Fighting Tomcats” were an unknown to the soccer world.

 This week, the National Premier Soccer League team will have been given the rare and unique opportunity to expand their horizons and with a great challenge.  They will be battling for a spot in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

 The Fighting Tomcats will meet the New York Renegades at the SUSA Complex in a first-round qualifier at the SUSA Orlin & Cohen Sports Complex in Central Islip, N.Y. on Sunday, Sept. 14 at 8 p.m.

"The opportunity did come up, even though it's ahead of schedule from what we had planned, Club Leadership felt that it was good for the club to participate," head coach John Fitzgerald said.

They want the club to participate as much as possible and be front and center and put us out there and give our players opportunities."

In July, the NPSL approached the Fighting Tomcats about participating in the qualifiers. The team had last played in a competitive match, a 3-2 season-ending home loss to New Haven United FC on July 5.

"When the NPSL came to us with the opportunity to put in an application to be involved in the 2025-26 Open Cup, we were surprised but honored to be involved in the U.S. Open Cup, the oldest tournament in the country," managing partner and general manager Kilmeade said. "We took the opportunity, and we went straight ahead, even though, for an NPSL team, it means us fully reconstituting the team what would have been our off season. But coach Fitzgerald and our coaching staff and I all looked at each other and said, 'You know what? We can do it. We need to do it.' It's what we're we put our business together to do. So, here we are."

The Fighting Tomcats had to make a decision on competing by Aug. 4 and needed to file a roster by Aug. 26.

Because most of the players are performing for their respective college teams and some others are competing with club teams, the Tomcats had to put together a new roster. Invitation-only tryouts were held while Fitzgerald, Kilmeade, sporting director Brian Neumeyer and the coaching staff "put our heads together and we recruited into our network," the GM said.

"It was challenging. A lot of it is word of mouth," Fitzgerald said. "I'm very involved in different levels of the game, so I have a lot of contacts. So do my assistant coaches and as well as people in the club like Jimmy himself. Jimmy's not just a GM; he's a soccer guy. So, he has a lot of contacts. We reached out, spread our tentacles."

The Fighting Tomcats wound up adding a dozen players to go along with eight returnees from a team that finished with a 2-4-4 record in the North Atlantic Conference.

Team captain and forward Brian Saramago will be back, along with vice captain and midfielder Matthais Adamek, goalkeeper Kenny Cordova, defender Jorgé Nieto and midfielders Leo Pinto, José Mejia, Alberto Nieto and Stalyn Acosta.

Newcomers included former Long Island University midfielder Alan Martinez of Inwood, N.Y., who recorded eight goals and 18 assists in his four-year college career. The team has had four training sessions. "Should we move on, then we'll start building from there," Fitzgerald said.

The Renegades compete in the United Premier Soccer League. "They register a lot of guys, so they've got some flexibility, kind of like we did during the season," Fitzgerald said. "We had upwards of 30 guys on the roster. So different 18 if we needed. The UPSL is different with players signing and playing on a couple of different teams and at different levels. So, you're not totally sure what you're going to get yet." Added Kilmeade: "I know that they're a well-established and well-respected team that's been around for a number of years and highly regarded. We've been able to look into some of their games and scouting. We have great respect for the Renegade organization and expect a very, very competitive match."

Kilmeade knows something or two about competitive matches in the Open Cup. As the first general manager of the Long Island Rough Riders three decades ago, Kilmeade understood the risks and rewards of competing in the Open Cup. Amateur and lower division sides have pulled off “upsets” of higher division and Major League Soccer sides.

The Rough Riders, who defeated the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in a friendly in 1997, then stunned the New England Revolution with a historic 4-3 comeback win in an Open Cup game a little later. That set up a quarterfinal confrontation with the MetroStars at Stony Brook University in which the MLS side recorded a 1-0 win. It should be noted that the MetroStars boasted the likes of Italian international midfielder Roberto Donadoni, Brazilian Branco, U.S. men's national team goalkeeper Tony Meola and Gio Savarese in its Starting XI, among other talented players.

"We have to realize that if you're going to enter the U.S. Open Cup, you could be on two sides of this," Kilmeade said. "Those Rough Rider teams in those days had beaten MLS teams but also lost to the South Jersey Barons. So, it’s tough. It could be gut wrenching, embarrassing. It could also be thrilling. We know that's exactly what we've just stepped into again. But if we're going to be who we plan on being, which is a major nationally, internationally known organizations, known for identifying, developing, giving young American players a chance to play, then there's no better way to do that than put us into The U.S. Open Cup, we're a year ahead of schedule."

There are plenty of hoops to jump through before the Fighting Tomcats can reach the Open Cup proper.

The second qualifying round is set for Oct. 11-12, the third round on Nov. 1-2 and the fourth round on Nov. 22-23. Sixteen teams from across the country will book a spot in the 2026 competition.

If the team does run the table and book a berth, it would be quite an accomplishment for any first-year club.

"I think it would be a nice notch in our belt, especially since we're still a first-year club," Fitzgerald said. "Don't forget, we started out. We had a lot of young players as well. We've got a mix this time now for the Open Cup. Some of these guys are a bit more experienced, a little bit older. For most of the guys that we're bringing in, they've been around the game, and I think they see the value in being part of this. We call it the project. Now the challenge is getting them together, getting them to know each other's strengths and weaknesses, just understanding each other's inclinations on the field. They've handled it well." Kilmeade agreed and elaborated. "It would be a first off, it would be a year ahead of schedule that we'd be having this discussion," he said. "Having a game on the 14th is a milestone for the club. If we can get to the next round, that's a second milestone. We're taking this very incrementally with a lot of intention, very focused and also very realistic. We're trying to put together a team in a short period of time and they can compete at a very, very high level, and ultimately, at a super high level."

In fact, among the club's ultimate goals are beyond just reaching the Open Cup. "In the big picture of life, one of the dreams of the American Soccer Club Fighting Tomcat team is to have a deep national run in the U.S. Open Cup," Kilmeade continued. "And I'm talking quarterfinals, semifinals. That's part of what we're aiming at, and we're going to be building toward. This just puts us a year ahead. It's been a very good move.