The Eagles overcome powerhouse NY Pancyprian to reach the final

Everton FC Westchester Eagles before the semifinal against NY Pancyprian Freedoms Tuesday night at St. John's Beslon Stadium. Everton FC Westchester Eagles Images

You thought it was going to be NY Pancyprian Freedoms and Lansdowne Bhoys in the CSL final again, didn't you? Well...

Everton FC Westchester Eagles reached the CSL final for the first time after muscling their way past six-times champions NY Pancyprian 2-1 in the semifinal on Tuesday.

Paul Nittoli scored both goals for the Eagles in the 60th and 75th minute, meanwhile the Freedoms scored of an own goal.

President and head coach, Oliver Papraniku, shared how excited the club is to be in the final yesterday.

"We are thrilled with the win," Papraniku said, "and can't wait for all of our players to experience the prestige and pressure that comes along with making the finals."

Everton were by no doubts the underdogs going into this fixture. The Freedoms are one of the most prolific teams the league has ever seen. They topped the league 10 times, going on to win the championship six times.

And more recently, they made it to the finals the last two seasons, losing to Lansdowne Bhoys. NY Pancyprian finished the season six points higher than Papraniku's side in second place.

On the other hand, the semifinal winners finished in third place. They only ended the regular season over the Freedoms once in the past 10 years in 2012-13.

Everton also defeated the Freedoms earlier in the season 1-0 at home. A win that is incomparable to a 2-1 victory in the semi away at St. John's Stadium. It's not always by chance when an underdog beats a powerhouse, Panpraniku told a reporter the secret behind this famous win.

"We were very proud of the boys," the manager said, "and that our high pressure 3-5-2 formation worked for us against a very strong and experienced team like the Pancyprians.

"We have been working on bringing up young players all season and feel that our investment in the future has had immediate payback."

Besides buying a trip to the final, Everton is showing another quality of a top amateur club as they launched the career of MLS players, RJ Allen, Brandon Allen, Ignacio Maganto and NASL player Bljedi Bardic, according to their president.

The Eagles will face either Lansdowne or NY Athletic Club in the final.

"We look forward to the finals and our team giving it our all," Papraniku said.