The seventeen players of the Bethlehem Steel soccer team, accompanied by William Sheridan, secretary, who left a week ago for St. Louis for a series of three exhibition games, returned home this morning and will immediately start preparing to continue in the American Soccer League race.
There was no brass band or reception committee awaiting the arrival of the players, although their exploits warranted such a reception, for the team returned from the most successful western invasion ever experienced by an eastern soccer clan.
Last Thursday afternoon the team left for St. Louis and on Saturday were pitted against an all-star aggregation selected from that soccer district. With apparent ease the Steel Workers romped through for a 3 to 2 victory. The following day, Sunday, the Steel Workers again opposed an all-star selection, conceded a team fifty-percent stronger than the team met the previous day. Again the Steel Workers garnered a victory by the score of 2 goals to 1. The final game was played on Monday at Gillespie and victory was once more their lot.
Now with the return of the players the club will resume its campaign in the American Soccer League race and the American Cup competition, both important classics that must be completed before the season closes. Likewise, with many games to be disposed of, the Steel Workers will be called upon to go to work t his weekend, meeting Philadelphia in an American League game on the local field.
Before leaving for the west the team seemed to be in a slump, but according to the newspaper accounts of the games played in St. Louis, the players have again found themselves and are hitting at their normal stride. It is possible that just such a trip was necessary to bring them back into condition and if this is true, the Philadelphians can expect to meet stiff opposition on the Steel Workers' home field.