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Meet the USASA: AAC Eagles
Polish-based club from Chicago has vast history of success
 Adam Kapusta has been with AAC Eagles for just a little more than 2 years, but he’s well-versed on the Chicago club’s storied history in amateur soccer.
He can rattle off the superlatives: 1990 U.S. Open Cup champions. 2002 USASA National Open Cup champions. USASA National Amateur Cup champions in 1989, runner-up in 1994 and 2007. CONCACAF Champions Cup qualifier in 1991. Nine-time Illinois state champions. Eleven Metropolitan Soccer League Major Division titles.
So his response when asked if the team was excited about Tuesday night’s first-round U.S. Open Cup match against the USL Second Division’s Pittsburgh Riverhounds at Benedictine University in Lisle, Ill., wasn’t too big of a surprise.
"Yeah," Kapusta said, "but this isn’t the first time that we’ve been involved in something like this."
AAC Eagles, a USASA Region II finalist along with fellow Chicago side RWB Adria, is a club based in the area’s Polish community that was formed in 1940. The team’s roster has a mix of players raised in the club and from outside the community.
Midfielder and captain David Otachel, stopper Derek Szewczyk and goalkeeper Piotr Sliwa are among those who have played with the club since childhood - Otachel was a standout at Illinois-Chicago, Szewczyk played fellow NCAA Division I Loyola (Chicago) and Sliwa has had a solid career his first three seasons at nearby Division III Dominican.
Sweeper Tomas Gansauge, 38, played 81 matches in the Bundesliga with Hansa Rostock and Arminia Bielefeld and played at other levels in his native Germany. His former teammate with Rot-Weiss-Erfurt in the German Third Division, Jakub Lisek, moved to the U.S. from Poland in 1993 before going back to Poland and Germany to pursue a professional career. Defender Drew Shinabarger won two NCAA championships with Indiana, his home-state school.
Tuesday night’s game will be the fourth U.S. Open Cup appearance in the pro era for AAC Eagles, following first-round exits in 1995, 2002 and 2005.
Kapusta likes his team’s chances, and not just because the Riverhounds (0-6-3) are in last place in the USL Second Division.
"We like our matchup against anyone," he said. "I believe that we put our hearts into every game that we play. One of the problems we have being an amateur team is we do not practice on an every day basis, where some of these PDL teams and pro teams of different stature, they practice on an every day basis, so they have a little bit of a jump on us when it comes to conditioning and things like that. But when it comes to technical ability and coaching ... I think we’re on an even par."
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