CHAC Home Opener History
Chicago House AC History: Home Openers
In the brief history of Chicago House AC men’s soccer team, we have had two home openers: August 21, 2021, in a National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) match versus New York’s New Amsterdam FC, and May 13, 2022, in a Midwest Premier League game against Illinois rivals Steel City FC from Joliet.
As we prepare for Sunday evening’s third Home Opener against Chicago City SC, at Loyola University, the House historian looks back at what happened in those first two games.
August 21, 2021, at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois
It was a cloudy, late summer Saturday night in Chicago’s western suburbs, but the House faithful turned out early to tailgate in the SeatGeek stadium parking lot for that inaugural home league match.
Unfortunately, the opponent that night was a table topping New Amsterdam FC team, who took advantage of House’s missed early chances, and went up 2-0 before halftime. It was more of the same in the second half as House’s Derek Huffman’s 56th minute header from a Drew Connor cross went just wide of goal. New Amsterdam took advantage of a jittery House backline and put the game away with goals in the 66th and 73rd minute. House did not give up, and forward Wojciech Wojtek almost scored House’s first ever home goal, but he was denied by the post in stoppage time.
As Coach and Technical Director C.J. Brown reflected on the match, he praised New Amsterdam’s “excellent game plan” and “clean and clear-cut soccer” while recognizing that House would have to “look at ourselves and see what we have to fix.”
Final Result: New Amsterdam FC 4 Chicago House AC 0
May 13, 2022, at Stuart Field on Illinois Institute of Technology Campus, Chicago, Illinois
House kicked off our inaugural season in the Midwest Premier League with a Friday night match against Steel City FC of Joliet, Illinois. The starting lineup that night included a lot of fresh faces, but there were four 2021 alums in the starting lineup: Kim Seo-In (aka Soso Kim), Damon Almazan, Musa Morris and team captain AR Smith.
Though not as decisive of a defeat, House’s 2022 Home Opener result went the way of 2021, a shutout loss. House endured a strong Steel City first half and were fortunate to go into halftime tied 0-0. The defense could not hold though, and in the 59th minute, Jake Lysik pushed the ball under House goalkeeper Vlad Velikin from a tough angle to put the men from Joliet up 1-0. Steel City hung on for the remainder of the match and kept House off the board for a shutout victory.
Final Result: Steel City FC 1 Chicago House AC 0
Coach Matt Poland said in his post-game comments, “We are trying to play a good style and that takes time. I started to see some very good quality today, and part of it is chemistry, and that will come with the more they get used to playing with each other.” That quality and chemistry clearly came together as this May 13 game was the final loss of 2022 for House AC’s men. We went on to finish our Midwest Premier League season undefeated and won three matches on our way to qualifying for the 2023 US Open Cup proper.
May 21, 2023, at Loyola University
House’s history in home opening matches is not great, but fortunately, as a newer organization, change comes fast. The men will be looking to draw on our 2022 success and turn around those Home Opener challenges to get on the winning track in this Sunday evening matchup versus Chicago City SC.
