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Mooney’s Beck still has his feet in game
While some hang up the cleats after college, Poland native Tom Beck is still going strong in Cleveland.
Beck plays for AFC Cleveland, a semi-professional team that plays in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), the fourth tier of organized soccer in the United States.
The Royals were founded in 2011 and play at Independence High School’s football field, just south of Cleveland. But don’t let the semi-pro status or high school field fool you — there are still hooligans, smoke bombs and all.
“It’s a pretty good atmosphere,” Beck said of his club that generally draws about 1,000 fans per game. “We definitely get some loyal fans from our supporter’s group who have been there since the beginning. Some of those guys travel five hours for away games and cheer nonstop.”
Beck, a 2010 Cardinal Mooney graduate and 2014 Mount Union graduate, tried out for the team after finishing his final year of college soccer at Cleveland State. He was the head coach for the boys program at Mooney last year and this year will be in charge of both the boys and the girls. But he keeps his summers busy traveling throughout the Midwest. Last year Beck was busy until the very end when AFC Cleveland won the NPSL National Championship last season on its home field, defeating the Sonoma County Sol from California 4-2.
“That was the biggest game I ever played in,” Beck said. “It was a great atmosphere. Our place seats about 2,200 but it was wrapped around filled up with fans. They scored early but we didn’t quit.”
The match was tied 2-2 after Cleveland pulled even 64 minutes into the 90-minute match. But Beck’s squad scored in the 87th and 90th minutes to snatch the title.
“For me, nothing personal will ever overcome winning a national championship like that,” Beck said. “It was a unique experience and it was such a deserved feeling as things went our way.”
But this isn’t just a group of guys looking to relive past glory from their college days. Some teams are made mostly of ex-pros and some are current NCAA players, who use the league’s May-July season as a way to keep in shape and gear up for the fall college season.
But there’s also the U.S. Open Cup. A knockout-style tournament with all organized teams in the nation. In this tournament teams all the way from Major League Soccer to teams like Christos FC, a Sunday League team from Maryland whose headquarters is a discount liquor store in Baltimore, all compete for a title.
This year AFC Cleveland played at Futbol Club Cincinnati, a fully professional team that leads their league in attendance. All of a sudden, the Mount Union grad was playing in front of 12,790 rowdy fans in a game the favorites needed a goal in the 117th minute to prevent Cleveland’s upset.
“Cincy was definitely the best atmosphere I got to play in front of,” Beck said. “Nippert Stadium, a professional stadium and playing against those guys. We went toe-to-toe with them for 120 minutes and we had only been playing for like a week at that time where they had two months under their belt.”
This year the Royals are currently fourth in their conference standings and need to be in the top two to make the playoffs to defend their title. The silver lining with just four matches to go is they’ve played one fewer game than the second-place Rochester Lancers.
“We definitely didn’t start the season the way we wanted to,” Beck said. “But where we are right now we’re still in control of our own destiny. If we win all four we make the playoffs.”
Their first of those four matches is Saturday against Syracuse FC at 5 p.m. at home. Beck said the team definitely entertains with their style of play.
“We want to make it fun for the fans,” Beck said. “We like to spread the ball out wide and whip it in towards the goal. We want to entertain the people who come because that’s how you should play the game.”