Westchester Soccer Club will have a decidedly young and local look as the 2026 season comes closer, as new Head Coach and General Manager George Gjokaj will have at least 14 athletes with local roots on the potential opening day roster. They include:
Goalkeeper: Mattias Molina (Rosario, Argentina/Seton Hall), Defenders: Aleksei Armas (Floral Park, NY/Hofstra and Adelphi), Maximus Jennings (Montclair, NJ/Georgetown), Tim Timchenko (Kyiv, Ukraine/Iona), Mo Williams (West Orange, NJ/Notre Dame/Seton Hall), Midfielders: Aiden Borra (Syosset, NY/Sacred Heart and St. John’s), Kyle Evans (Rock Hill, NY/Marist), Forwards: Daniel Burko (Løvenstad, Norway/Hofstra), Miguel Diaz (Brooklyn, NY/St. John’s), Charlie Dickerson (Norwich, England/Providence)
The 10 newcomers join 14 returnees on the WSC preseason roster. Amongst the returning players, Goalkeeper Andrew Hammersley (Garden City, NY/Sacred Heart), Defender Noah Powder (Edison, NJ), Midfielder Conor McGlynn (Middle Village, NY/Siena College), and Forwards Ermin Mackic (Yonkers NY/SUNY Purchase), and Samory Powder (Edison, NJ) also have ties to the New York area.
Home stretch to open: WSC will play the first of three straight matches (2 USL League One, 1 US Open Cup) at The Stadium at Memorial Field in Mt. Vernon starting against One Knoxville Saturday. WSC ended their inaugural home campaign at 3-8-4 (including their 3-0 forfeit win over Spokane) winning two of their last three home matches on the schedule, 2-1 over Texoma on September 21 and 2-0 over Naples on Oct. 12. Five of their last seven matches in Mount Vernon were decided by one goal. Last season the club opened with five straight league matches on the road, going 1-1-3 in the first five. Their first home match in USL League one play last season was a 3-2 loss to Charlotte on May 11.
Pair of Draws in ’25: Last season the two clubs met twice, each ending in a 1-1 draw. On July 19 in Knoxville, J.C. Obregon scored on a nifty strike just 16 minutes into the match to give the visiting squad a 1-1 draw after Knoxville struck early, with Babacar Diene taking advantage of a Dane Jacomen miscue just three minutes into the match to take a 1-0 lead, before Obregon countered. In their first meeting, on June 7 in Mt. Vernon Joel Johnson lofted a perfect pass to Prince Saydee, who took a great touch in the box and finished beautifully to give WSC a 1-0 lead in the 51st minute. That advantage was short-lived, as Johnson was later sent off with a second yellow card, leveling the playing field at 10 men apiece. Moments later, WSC goalkeeper Andrew Hammersley fouled a Knoxville player in the box, resulting in a penalty. Despite diving correctly, Hammersley couldn’t stop Kemepes Tekiela’s well-placed shot, tying the match at 1-1.
New Leadership on The Pitch For ‘26: Westchester Soccer Club named George Gjokaj Sporting Director and Head Coach and Ray Selvadurai Technical Advisor for the club. These two veteran coaches and talent evaluators have over 60 years of combined experience in every area of the game.
Gjokaj comes to WSC after serving as the head men’s soccer coach at Purchase College, and as the head of FC Westchester, one of the most prestigious programs in the nation. He has coached and mentored a constant stream of pro Pathway and collegiate level players since 1997. Gjokaj is a lifetime New Yorker having played youth soccer for BW Gottschee and collegiately at both Adelphi and St John’s Universities, captaining the Red Storm as a senior in 1995 and leading them to their fourth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. George was also a key member of the scouting team that was responsible for building the player base for NYCFC in their launch season in MLS, a club that eventually won the MLS Cup. As a player Gjokaj spent time at FC Kaiserslautern before returning to the US to feature for NY Fever, North Jersey Imperials as well as Albany Alley Cats, all of the former USISL.
Selvadurai brings over 25 years of experience of coaching as the youth, college, pre-professional and professional levels to WSC. Most recently he has been the Director of Coaching for Manhattan Soccer Club, the largest youth and pre-professional soccer club in the New York City Area, where he oversees the youth soccer player, coach and team development of over 1,500 club registrants for both genders. Ray has developed a nationally recognized program that has produced four (4) youth soccer national championships, numerous NCAA and NJCAA college student-athletes, as well as several professional players overseas, in the USL (United Soccer Leagues) and MLS (Major League Soccer). With a keen understanding of the soccer landscape in the tri-state area and nationally, Ray will bring his expertise to advise the Westchester SC leadership in club operations, player relations and acquisition. He was a four-year starter and team captain as a senior and Brandeis University, earning All-UAA and NSCAA Regional All-American honors as well.
Road Work: WSC finished the season 2-8-5 on the road, and 3-13-3 against clubs holding a playoff spot. That includes wins at Madison and Texoma and a 4-4 tie at Richmond, which is the club’s high mark for goals scored.
Close Shaves Still Cut Deep: WSC was 2-14-7 when they entered the second 45 either tied or behind with Saturday’s draw. They were 2-11 in one goal w/l decisions, and were blanked five times, three times time at home. WSC’s longest winless streak (excluding their 3-0 forfeit win over Spokane on July 16) was a 12 match streak which started after a 2-1 win at Forward Madison on June 18 and ended with a 2-1 win over Texoma on Sept. 21. That stretch included six one goal losses and three ties.
First Season Superlatives: In addition to Obregón’s superlative season, there are a number of other key notes.
-WSC used 27 players in the lineup, with 11 appearing in at least 20 matches in league play thus far.
-While Obregón was the team leader in most offensive categories including minutes played, there were six other players with at least 1,500 MP.
– The Powder brothers, Samory and Noah (Edison, NJ), were the fifth pair of brothers to suit up as teammates in a League One match, and the first pair of brothers to be named to the USL League One Team of the Week as teammates in the same week (April 19 vs. Richmond). Noah appeared in 22 matches with 17 starts and led the club with 4 assists. Samory started in 10 of his 24 appearances.
-Since being acquired from Charleston on May 16, defender Josh Drack started all 21 games he appeared in, and led or was in the top three for the club in virtually all defensive categories.
–Daniel Bouman appeared in the second-most matches (28), with Jonathan Bolanos (27) and Stephen Payne (26) right behind him. Joel Johnson started 22 of his 25 matches and tied for second on the team with three assists.
-On the team side, WSC’s best scoring stretch was the 7 matches from May 10-June 18, when they scored 2 goals or more in 5 of 7 matches. The streak started with a 3-2 loss to Charlotte and ended with a 2-1 win @Madison.
Other League Leaders: Noah Powder’s 4 assists tied for 15th, while Dean Guezen’s and Jonathan Bolanos’ 35 chances each created ranked 14th in the league.
On The Team Side: WSC finished 10th in scoring in USL League One with 40 goals, 10th in shots taken with 340, and tied for 5th in passing accuracy (81%) and 6th in passes. WSC allowed the most goals in league play (59).
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