March 19, 2024
BRAVE SC Faces Off Against Savannah Clovers FC in U.S. Open Cup Showdown Tonight
By Kyle Coppola
BRAVE SC Faces Off Against Savannah Clovers FC in U.S. Open Cup Showdown Tonight
Brave SC will compete in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup for the sixth time in club history on Tuesday night. The Buffalo will host Savannah Clovers FC of the National Independent Soccer Association in the first round. The game will take place at The Range at H.G. Morse Stadium, 2210 Dr. Randy McDaniel Way, Middleton, FL 34762. Gates open at 6:00pm with the game starting at 7:00pm.
(BRAVE SC will look to reclaim the magic of the 2023 season. The Buffalo nearly made it to the USL 2 Championship game last season.)
The U.S. Open Cup is U.S. Soccer’s club championship and has crowned a national champion annually since 1914 (with the exception of the 2020 and 2021 seasons). It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the United States and the world’s third-longest continuously run national cup tournament.
Coach Anderson DaSilva says, ‘This new format surprised us a little bit, but we are excited. We are thrilled that we are bringing a professional team home for the first time. That’s history. We will be playing in a new venue for the first time, and it is exciting. I cannot wait to see what kind of quality we can bring to the U.S. Open Cup,’ said head coach Anderson DaSilva.
BRAVE SC come in with plenty of firepower this season. Michael Florian was a standout striker for The Villages Charter High School earlier this season. Gneh-Kewon Dahn from Liberia will be fun to watch as will Alvaro Carrera from Ecuador. Tharik Silva is an exciting Brazilian player while Reynaldo Miranda from El Salvador will also be interesting to keep an eye on. Other local talent on the team includes Aidan Balthazar and Aiden Kaczmarski from Belleview High, Dylan Leonor, Jaceson Globig and Joel Hernandez, Victor Garcia from The Villages Charter High, Erick Rubio from Mount Dora High and others will look to take down the Savannah Clovers FC.
(BRAVE SC Rebranded from The Villages SC last year.)
Brave SC is one of 47 teams from the United Soccer League competing in the tournament and one of 11 teams from the pre-professional USL League Two to qualify based on the 2023 season. For the first time ever, The Buffalo will play at The Villages High School’s Middleton Campus and are excited to bring a national competition to the site. The first-round match between Brave SC and Savannah Clovers FC will kick off at 7 p.m
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
