Zach Zemanski (Stow, OH/Palm Beach Atlantic) and Diego Pinto (Akron, OH/Lakeland CC) scored second half goals nine minutes apart to lead Ambassadors FC Ohio to the NPLS Great Lakes Conference Championship over Flower City Union 2-1 in Canton, Ohio.
This was a rematch of the 2025 conference championship match that Flower City dominated last year. But, this night belonged to energy, organization, tenacity, and ethos of the Ambassadors side as they celebrated a conference title in only their second season in the league.
“Without a doubt, the best performance in the history of the club,” said Head Coach & Technical Director Ryan Dean, who is also a finalist for National Coach of the Year honors in his 5th year with the club. “I can’t find a guy who stepped on the field tonight and did not do what was absolutely necessary and absolutely their best to bring home this trophy tonight. What a blessing.”
The first half started out with both teams playing quite direct and trying to find an opportunity to get behind early. Although Flower City has the majority of the possession in the early parts of the half as Ambassadors held firm in their block, it was AFC Ohio that consistently got behind, created half chances and quality chances but were unable to put one away to open up the match.
Amir Spratt (Kent, OH/Univ. of Mount Union) provided top-shelf hold up play and was able to spin in behind on multiple occasions in the first half, but was unable to pull the trigger early enough to test the Flower City keeper Carter Kladstrup. Pinto was a consistent threat along with Brenden French (Wooster, OH/Univ. of Indianapolis) and Alex Depperschmidt (Mansfield, OH/Univ. of Mount Union) who all generated chances from great service and consistent and persistent ball winning.
“Our second ball winning and repressing of them was so vital tonight,” said Dean. “Flower City are so deep, strong, and talented but it must of been exhausting and difficult to stay positive when they were consistently chasing our ability to repress, regain possession, and get right back after them.”
The second half was barely five minutes old when a sublime pass from French found Zemanski just outside of the box. Zemanski was in and ripped one into the side netting putting Ambassadors up 1-0 and sending the AFC loyalists into a frenzy both on the touchline and in the stands.
Barely ten minutes later, Matt Skladany (Cleveland, OH/Baldwin Wallace) provided a silky outside-of-the-foot bass to Pinto who cut it back onto his right foot and rocketed a low shot well out of the reach of Kladstrup putting the match into a place in which, inevitably, a grand stand finish was on.
As fatigue on the tremendously humid evening began to set in late in the match, both sides were forced to make changes. It was Archie Murphy who truly lit a fire underneath the entire evening with his 90 + 3 min. goal to put Flower City within reach of Ambassadors with only two minutes left in the minimum extra five that was provided in stoppage time by the officials.
Following the goal, Ambassadors was able to endure three different set piece opportunities for service awarded to the Rochester side before the final whistle was blown and Ambassadors captured their first hardware as members of the National Premier Soccer League in only their second league season.
“We owe so much to our mission and ministry partners, our business partnerships, and especially and most importantly our Lord for the opportunities that have been given to us,” concluded Dean. “None of this would be possible without them. And, it deserves more than a casual mention to say that we are also blessed by the best people on the field that you can imagine. These guys sacrifice so much for the program, the mission, and each other. It is not at all about have the best players. It is about have the right players and people.”
Long-time club captain center back Omar Najjar was called on to raise the trophy and initiate the celebrations when it was handed to him by Director of Men’s Football Operations Bob Dean. “There is no where and no club environment in the world that I would rather be in regardless of winning or losing. We are provided with so much on and off the field,” said Najjar. “I simply can’t say enough about what this club does and what this means.”
Ambassadors will now host Central States Conference champions on Saturday, July 18 at 7:00 p.m. EDT in a national NPSL Quarterfinal at Dr. David & Winnie King Field on the campus of Malone University in Canton, Ohio.
