WCFC beats St. Croix 2-0, moves to national round of 16

Jul. 7—WORTHINGTON — Tim Berger's final game in a Toros uniform this season was quite the memorable one as he scored a goal late in the second half to secure a 2-0 win over St. Croix SC in the UPSL National Tournament.

After the Worthington Community Football Club's shutout win over St. Croix in the national round of 32 match on Sunday, Berger moved on and will be attending Life University in Marietta, Georgia. He previously spent two years at Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska.

"I'm going to miss the group so much," Berger said. "We had such a great team. The coaching staff was amazing, the people in Worthington were amazing, and I just have to say thank you for everything and it was a pleasure."

The forward from Koenigsfeld, Germany has made a big impact for the Worthington Community Football Club in year one with the team. His goal against St. Croix was number 11 on the season to tie for the team lead and it came off a beautiful pass from midfielder Pablo Martin Domingo.

"I didn't even do that much," Berger said. "I think Pablo did the whole work, and I just (was) in the right spot and did what the striker has to do."

But prior to that, WCFC was in a scoreless first half battle against a St. Croix team that made the national quarterfinals a year ago.

Toros head coach Juan Mackrey knew how tough a battle it was going to be for his team, especially since there wasn't much of a way to prepare for the match beforehand.

"I tried searching everywhere. They took all the videos down, so I couldn't find anything," Mackrey said. "I knew the formation. I looked at every single play in the roster, so I knew the style they liked to play and we built from that. We knew the first 15 or 20 minutes would be a little bit of a doozy and just had to fight and figure out where the weak spots were. And after the hydration break, we adjusted and we managed to capitalize on that."

Regardless, Los Toros were still able to control possession for the majority of the first half despite not connecting on any scoring chances. But those chances would continue to come in the second half and they would eventually capitalize on them.

Columbian forward Jose Velasquez, who also has 11 goals on the season, had the ball inside the St. Croix box looking for an opening. He would quickly find one before striking the ball past St. Croix goalkeeper Jackson Baker for a 1-0 lead.

That would set up Berger's goal later in the half as Los Toros continued to shut out their opponent, something they did all regular season.

"As I tell the guys, if we play our style, there's few teams in the country that can beat us," Mackrey said. "And they proved me right (Sunday)."

The win moved Los Toros to the national round of 16 where they will play Central Kansas United on Saturday.

Central Kansas United is a squad from Salina, Kansas and the Midwest South conference. With a 6-3-1 record and 23 goals this season, CKU beat Arkansas Wolves 2 3-2 in the round of 32.

If Los Toros win that matchup and move to the quarterfinals, they will have to do it without some key players, including Benjamin Kane and captain Vitor Pereira.

"We'll have three or four players that will be leaving us, but as I said before, I trust every single one of my guys, and I know somebody will step up during training week and they will claim that spot," Mackrey said.

But the most notable exit is Berger, who is grateful for his experience with WCFC, the Worthington community that supported him and the team, and the Widboom family that he stayed with throughout the summer.

"I can only say positive things about the family," Berger said. "Everybody treated us so nice. I could say so many names, but I don't want to miss anyone."