VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Rising senior Sam Yarosh recently helped guide his West Chester United team to the national championship in the open division of the USASA Werner Fricker Cup. Playing as the Region 1 Champions, Yarosh's team captured the national championship with a 4-1 victory during last Friday's semifinals and a 2-1 victory in the national championship at Virginia Beach on Saturday.

Yarosh reflected on his recent national championship by explaining that, "It's been an invaluable experience for me to get a taste of what it's like to put all of the pieces together on a run to a national title, all coming before my senior year. We have the chance to do something special this season at Haverford with the talent that we have on our roster, so I hope that this can help me provide the experience we need when it comes time to make a run of our own."

Helping his team to the first national championship for West Chester United in team history, his squad defeated Region 4 Champion Chula Vista FC from San Diego in the semifinal round before a hard-fought win against Region 2 Champion RWB Adria from Chicago in the national championship.

With the national championship over the past weekend on the heels of a state championship in February and Region 1 Championship in June, West Chester United is now eligible to apply for a berth in next year's Lamar Hunt Open Cup. The Lamar Hunt Open Cup is a professional competition that Major League Soccer teams compete in.

Stepping back on to the collegiate pitch this fall, Yarosh will enter his second season as team captain along with fellow senior Colin Seitz. Yarosh has already earned third-team All-Mid-Atlantic Region honors and is a two-time All-Centennial Conference honoree heading into his senior campaign, earning first-team All-CC honors during the 2013 season.

The Haverford College men's soccer team has made the conference tournament in each of the past four seasons, competing in the conference title game during three of those four years. This stretch includes the 2012 Centennial Conference Championship team that Yarosh was a freshman member of. The Fords open their season on Tuesday, September 1 at home against Scranton at 4:30 p.m. on newly renovated Walton Field.