Edgewater Castle Falls 4-0 to Minneapolis City SC in Season Finale

CHICAGO — Edgewater Castle FC’s 2026 USL League Two season came to a close Sunday, July 12, dropping its final match of the season to the undefeated Minneapolis City SC, with an attendance of 175 fans at Winnemac Stadium. The Rooks finished the year sitting eighth of nine teams in USL 2’s Heartland Division, with a record of 2-10.  

Even with the lopsided scoreline, interim head coach Chris Cheney said the turnout of Sunday’s match was a bright spot as Edgewater Castle’s season  came to a close. 

“It was great. I think you could hear it — the support there,” Cheney said. “[Goalkeeper Joseph Galante] had a couple great saves, and you could hear the crowd on our half chances. I think it just shows that’s something to build on — that we can have affordable, community-accessible soccer.”

Minneapolis City wasted little time getting on the board, with midfielder Rayme Nyembew breaking through with a forward pass in the sixth minute to find forward Nathan Donovan for the opening goal. From there, Minneapolis City controlled much of the possession in the half, but Edgewater’s backline and Galante refused to let the game get away early. 

Galante came up with a pair of highlight-reel saves late in the first half, first denying a redirected shot in the 30th minute before coming up big again two minutes later with a diving save to keep Minneapolis City off the board. 

The defensive wall held up until right before the first half came to a close, with Minneapolis City’s midfielder Jeloni Murray-Powell curling in a shot from the top of the box which found the far post. Galante got a hand on it, but the shot snuck in to make it a 2-0 lead for Minneapolis City heading into the break.

The second half of the match opened much like the first, with Donovan finding his second goal of the day off a misdirected header and fired the ball into the top right corner of the goal out of Galante’s reach, making it 3-0. Donovan completed the hat trick in the 71st minute, when forward Shea Bechtel broke through the defense before giving an easy pass to Donovan to cap off the scoring for the day. 

Edgewater Castle’s best looks of the day came in the latter part of the match, when forward Arafath Ouro-Gnao nearly snuck in a goal off of a corner kick, before a Minneapolis defender batted the ball away. Ouro-Gnao had another opportunity in the final minute of the game, breaking through the Minneapolis City defense for a shot before it ultimately sailed over the crossbar. 

Despite the lopsided scoring, Cheney said he was impressed with the group’s effort and resilience against some of the best competition in the USL, while also pointed toward the larger picture of the club following the close of it’s inaugural season. 

"I think this is what we do — you can either put a brick in the road and keep traveling, or you can put a brick in the wall,” Cheney said. “I think this was a brick in the road for us — something to build on for next year."