Mon Valley United's Over-30 and Over-40 soccer teams will salute the past as they prepare to take another step into the future Saturday in the annual Heritage Cup game at 3 p.m. at Gallatin-Sunnyside Recreation Park.

The contest, according to John Pastor, player-coach of the Over-40 club, serves as a springboard to another new season and as a reminder of the rich heritage of adult soccer in the mid-Monongahela Valley in general and Gallatin in particular.

"This will be the third straight year for the Heritage Cup affair," Pastor said. "It's a fun thing for the guys on both teams, but everyone takes it very serious when it comes to reflecting on the history of soccer in this area."

History is one of the reasons Pastor and his brother, Greg Pastor, player-manager of the Mon Valley United Over-30 team, chose the Gallatin-Sunnyside field for their home games when the Over-30 squad was formed in 1997.

"It was an easy choice," Greg Pastor said. "For one thing, we're based in Forward Township and the Gallatin field is in Forward Township. There's such a rich heritage there. So many outstanding teams and players have performed on that field over the years and history is being perpetuated every time a game is played at Gallatin."

John Pastor agreed. "The ambiance of the field and the area is something special," he said. "You have a deep feeling of the heritage that exists there every time you take the field. You can almost sense the presence of those teams and players of the past in the air."

The spirit of the 1942 Gallatin Tigers may weigh the heaviest on the current crop of players. That talented crew won the U.S. Open Cup championship with 2-1 and 4-2 victories over defending champion Pawtucket, R.I., in the two-game title series.

"People still talk about that 1942 team in hallowed terms," John Pastor said. "They were an outstanding team in every sense of the word."

Significantly, the 1942 Tigers won the U.S. Open Cup just three years after bowing to Fall River (Massachusetts) St. Michaels Soccer Club 3-1 in the 1939 U.S. National Amateur Cup title game.

Lest anyone claim they are being parochial, the Pastor brothers are quick to point out that a similar soccer heritage exists throughout southwestern Pennsylvania.

"Just look up and down the Mon Valley," Greg Pastor said. "You have Dunlevy and Roscoe and Hazel Kirk and Monongahela. Elsewhere, there are Harmarville, Heidelberg and Beadling. The list goes on an on. We've heard so many stories about the great teams and great players who have come out of those areas."

The Pastors would like to see the Mon Valley United teams extend that heritage into the future.

Among those joining John Pastor in carrying the torch for the Over-40 Mad Dogs this year will be Bob Cotton, Billy Marsich, Rick Glover (who also plays for the Over-30 team), Dave King, Eric Montgomery, Bob Duritza, Don Fletcher, Paul Sasko, Eugene Marraccini, Rod Irwin, Ivko Dimitric, Josef Michnick and Peter Hess.

"These guys make up the nucleus of the club," Pastor said. "I like to have 16 to 18 players on the roster, so we'll probably add a few more before we start the regular season."

Meanwhile, the Over-30 Straub Mon Valley United team is expected to include player-coach Jeff Nartowicz, Greg Pastor, player-coach Joe Krempasky, Dann Appolonia, Tim Cressman, Eric Naylor, Brett Dolfi, Rick Glover, Eric Kessler, Dave Unico, Rick Boysen, Brian Lowe, Ron Lupori, Darrin Lupori, Luke Paglia, Tim Jaki, Eric Agostoni, Aran Madden and Brian Zura.

"We lost Ethan Mungai to a job transfer out of state and we have some question marks because of injuries and other commitments for the season opener," Nartowicz said. "We're talking to some additional players, and we think we should be OK."

The Over-30 Straub's team will compete in newly named Western Pennsylvania Adult Soccer Association (formerly the Greater Pittsburgh Soccer League) this year and will open the regular season April 4 against Peter Township. Meanwhile, the Over-40 club has been elevated to the Premier Division of the Pittsburgh Masters League and is scheduled to begin its season April 3.

None of the players, however, will be looking beyond the Heritage Cup game on Saturday.

"It's become a ritual of spring," John Pastor said. "Although some guys have played indoors during the winter, the game gives everyone a chance to work out the kinks and get their bodies ready for the outdoors. It's a springboard to the new season and it gives the Over-40 players an opportunity to play to a higher level; that is, against younger guys."

As they do, Pastor will be looking at the Over-30 players as a symbol of the older team's future.

"Years ago, before the evolution of adult leagues for older players, guys just continued playing no matter how old they were," he said. "You would be in your 30s and 40s and playing against 'kids' in their 20s. Now, with the advent of the Over-30, Over-40 and Over-50 programs, it levels the playing field; you're playing against guys your own age and still having fun. Our idea is to keep the Over-30 team together and move them into the next age group when the time comes. That was the original idea when the Over-30 team was formed and some of those players are now on the Over-40 team."

At the same time, Greg Pastor said, they'll continue to look for younger players to keep the Over-30 system working and growing.

"We'd like to get to the point where we could have two teams in the Over-30 league," he said. "There certainly are enough good players out there to do that. It's a distinct possibility and something we think the players would enjoy."