Wisconsin Soccer Central

At halftime of Sunday morning's match, Croatian Eagles manager Alex Toth and assistant Pedro Alvarado discussed the changes they could make in the second half.

In the end, the moves they made – and didn't make – paid dividends for the Franklin team.

Ramon "Choko" Alvarado (Franklin), Andrew Wiedabach (Mequon Homestead/UW-Milwaukee) and Scott Widule (Kettle Moraine), three players who all factored into the coaches' conversations, scored second-half goals as the Croatians knocked off Boston's Battery Park Gunners 3-1 in the third-place match of the inaugural U.S. Adult Soccer Association National Amateur Championships in Greensboro, N.C.

The host Carolina Dynamo of the USL Premier Development League outlasted reigning National Premier Soccer League champion FC Lehigh Valley United Sonic 3-2 on penalty kicks following a 1-1 tie in the final. Sonic beat the Eagles 1-0 in Friday's semifinals.

After a scoreless first half, Toth and Pedro Alvarado decided to bring on midfielders Gustavo Mena and Scott Raymonds (Brookfield East/UW-Green Bay). It took less than a minute for Mena to make an impact.

"He comes in for his pace," Toth said of Mena. "He flies by a guy, the next defender comes out and he slots a nice ball to Choko, and Choko gets behind the defense – and unlike Friday – scores."

Alvarado, a cousin of the assistant coach, was denied a second-half equalizer in Friday's match on a great double-save by Sonic goalkeeper Charlie Sales, and nearly was subbed out at halftime Sunday.

"He was struggling a little bit in the first half," Toth said. "I was like, 'Let's give him a few more minutes and see what happens. ... So it turned out to be a good decision."

The Gunners, last year's USASA National Amateur Cup Champions, came right back and pulled level about 5 minutes later, but the Croatians' second-half subs came through for the defending USASA National Open Cup winners.

With about 20 minutes remaining, Ross Van Osdol (UW-Milwaukee) teamed up with Wiedabach, Raymonds and striker Aaron Lauber (Franklin/UW), who had come on in place of Alvarado, for what proved to be the winning goal.

Wiedabach finished off the sequence by getting a pass from Raymonds on the left side, juking a defender and finishing against Battery Park's fill-in keeper – the team brought only one goalkeeper to the tournament, and he was suspended after being red carded late in Friday's 3-1 loss to Carolina.

"Wiedy was 1v1 with the defender, just made this move with his hips and went right by the guy," Toth said. "It was a beautiful goal. The combination play leading up to it was great and the move, he just froze the defender. It was amazing."

Fittingly, another sub wrapped up the scoring in the 89th minute. Widule ran onto a long ball and despite being at a tight angle on the left side, ripped a left-footed shot on goal that the keeper couldn't stop.

To Toth, it was a quality victory against an opponent whose style of play is challenging for the Eagles.

"They are really physical – every time you get a ball, you get hit, just enough to knock you off your stride," he said of Battery Park. "And they're very organized: They have the four in the back and four in front of them. It's really hard to play through, especially for us because we like to play those combinations."

The Croatians still have a lot of soccer left to play this season: They're unbeaten in Wisconsin Soccer Leagues Major Division play (6-0-3) but have nine matches remaining in the regular season, plus the playoffs, and will play in the USASA Region II Amateur Cup from June 28 to 30 in Overland Park, Kan., with hopes of advancing to the national semifinals in July.

"I think we're starting to get a little bit of a flow, which is good," Toth said. "We're creating opportunities, which is what you want to see – and today we finished them, which is nice."

CROATIAN EAGLES: Bryce Boyd; Cheikh Drame, Mike Narciso, Aaron Schroeder, Billy Von Rueden; Joe Anderson (Scott Widule 80), Ross Van Osdol; Spencer Bursten (Andrew Wiedabach 55), Mohammed Sethi (Scott Raymonds 46), Ilya Ksenidi (Gustavo Mena 46); Ramon "Choko" Alvarado (Aaron Lauber 65)