SNST Newsletter Special Edition: Awards, NISA, and MLS Charlotte
It’s like putting a bow on the 2019 Carolina soccer season.
Three years. We’ve been doing this Soccer ’n’ Sweet Tea thing for three full seasons now.
And this has to have been the wildest ride of the three.
I won’t steal too much of Chris and Corey’s thunder from the 2019 SNST Awards found below, but there were just so many good storylines in the world of Carolina soccer this year. Our region’s ever-present flirtation with MLS. The surprisingly extreme ups and downs of the two USL Championship teams in North Carolina. The shock sale of the most historic soccer stadium in the region. The rise of the Triumph. The continued dominance of the Courage (in a year the USWNT won the World Cup). The turmoil with NPSL Pro and NISA. And of course we still have all of USL League Two, now representing over half of our teams and looking forward to a really exciting 2020.
It has been quite a season. But now, as we have always done, we’re taking our break for the winter offseason. Soccer news will break during the next few months, and we know that you have other sources to bring it to you. (We’re very excited for that.) But we’ll be back in the spring, probably in another “version” of SNST, “SNST 4.0.” We’ve found ways to reinvent this thing every year, sometimes even in the middle of the year, to keep it fresh and fun for those of us who put it together, and hopefully for y’all who read it too.
So don’t lose touch over the next three months: Get in the Slack, message us on social media, and enjoy the holidays with friends and family. Before we say goodbye for now, we’ve got three more articles for you: Awards. NISA. MLS Charlotte, and the real conclusion for 2019. Let’s go.
The SNST Awards for 2019
By Corey Inscoe & Chris Ashley
Before we pack things in for the long, cold, Carolina soccer-less winter, we have one more thing we need to do: Hand out some awards. The Sweeties, if you will.
It’s a tradition we started at the end of last season, a mix of actual soccer awards and SNST community awards. This is our chance to recognize the people who made this third year of covering Carolina soccer so much fun.
So without further ado, let’s hand out some (imaginary) trophies.
Team of the Year: North Carolina Courage
Yes, we gave this award to them last year. And yes, we did consider other teams (looking at you, Triumph). But there’s simply no team that can match what the Courage accomplished this year (and last). They won a second-straight NWSL championship — in front of 10,000-plus fans in Cary — with relative ease, and also snagged a third-straight NWSL Shield, while also sending seven players to the Women’s World Cup. The talent runs so deep on this team — just look at the NWSL Players Association Team of the Year. Paul Riley has built a dynasty in Cary, and we’re lucky to be witnesses to it. — Corey
Most Improved: North Carolina FC
No one — not even resident NCFC expert Chuck Givens — knew what to expect from the Dead Whales this year. They had a new coach — Dave Sarachan — some new faces on the field and several question marks. But North Carolina quickly became the best USL Championship team in the Carolinas, climbing up to as high as second place in the Eastern Conference standings. They fell a bit late, but still hosted a first-round playoff game as a №7 seed. The loss to Birmingham Legion in that first game was a tough way for the season to end, but it doesn’t take away from what NCFC accomplished this season. — Corey
Match of the Year: Asheville City SC vs. Greenville FC in the NPSL playoffs
Asheville City and Greenville FC have built one of our favorite Carolina soccer rivalries — the Carolina Clasico — in just two years. And that rivalry only intensified when the two teams met in the playoffs. Greenville and Asheville City played in the first round of the NPSL playoffs in Chattanooga and remained deadlocked in a 0–0 tie until the 106th minute, when Jamie Smith scored the game-winner for Asheville. ACSC would lose in the next round, 4–1 to Chattanooga FC. The future of that rivalry is a little uncertain, with Asheville City moving to USL League Two next season. But if this was the last edition of the rivalry game we got to see, at least it went out on a high note.
Honorable mention: The absolutely bonkers 3–3 draw between the Independence and Atlanta United 2, before we knew how bad Charlotte was under Jim McGuinness. — Corey
Fan of the Year: Kit Ashley
By my count, three SNST babies were born over the past year, but only one was named after a soccer uniform.
Kit came into the world in the same year and same place the Greenville Triumph did and, as you can see from the photo above, she’s a fan for life. (Check out that SNST crib sheet created by last year’s MVP, Brittany Hildreth!) I mean, what else can I say? Look at that adorable bundle of joy! — Corey
Team Initiative of the Year: Free academies!
If you are a part of the SNST world, chances are you want to see soccer grow in this country. While we all may have differing opinions on how to get to that point, one common belief among American soccer fans is that we need to make the game more accessible to everyone from an early age.
Enter our two Carolina NPSL (at least for 2019) teams.
Back at the beginning of the year, both Asheville City SC and Greenville FC announced the launch of academies to help make the game more accessible to young, aspiring soccer players in their communities. Both teams made their academies free of charge and utilized their rostered players and coaches to train these young players. — Chris
SNST Slack Channel of the Year: #soccerwarz
Since the inception of the Soccer ’n’ Sweet Tea subscriber Slack, one struggle has been finding ways for people to express differing opinions on soccer topics without letting things spiral out of control and people saying things they may regret later. Basically, how do we keep this sacred space as little like Twitter as possible?
While a sort of “gentlemen’s agreement” seemed to serve this purpose for a while, as the community grew more folks were looking for a space to discuss their increasingly divisive ideas about the U.S. soccer landscape.
In pretty rapid succession, three channels were born: #fightclub, #wallsoftext and #soccerwarz. While each had their moment, #soccerwarz won out as the go-to place to discuss, disagree and change minds.
And, in a weird way, it has helped maintain the sanctity of the Slack. By creating this space, divisive thoughts and ideas seem to stay away from other channels (or are quickly diverted via a fish slap to #soccerwarz). For that reason, this has to be the Slack channel of the year. Long may the debates rage, always with handshakes and hugs after the final whistle. — Chris
SNST MVP: Tim Blekicki
Ah, Tim. Sweet, sweet Tim. What a ride it’s been for our resident Ashevillian. For much of the history of SNST Slack, Tim has been the most vocal anti-USL, pro-independent/NPSL Pro (RIP) crusader. It led to quite a few … heated discussions? passionate disagreements? screaming matches? Something like that. It led to the #soccerwarz channel (see above). And he was often the only one on his side of the argument.
Slowly, though, things started to change. Once the rabble-rouser, Tim became a mediator, connecting with people on both sides and keeping things from getting out of hand. He became, dare I say, our voice of reason.
Then, the unthinkable happened. His beloved Asheville City SC announced it would join USL League Two for the 2020 season. USL. His team joined the very thing he’d been against from the beginning. How did he handle it? Go on a profanity-laced tirade? Delete his account? Burn the whole damn thing down?
Nope. He wrote one of the most delightful and most-read pieces published at SNST this year.
For always being up for a fight; for always being there to talk people down; for writing and podcasting on the week of your wedding (!); and for handling the defection of your sacred club with grace — Tim, you’re our 2019 MVP.
Stumptown loses NISA Fall Showcase final: What does the spring hold?
By Tim Blekicki
Last Saturday, Stumptown Athletic, the Carolinas’ lone NISA Fall Showcase participant, battled Miami FC on a soggy South Florida pitch in the East Coast Championship
It was an appropriate culmination for the competition. In a game that held little suspense, Stumptown fell to Miami 3–0 thanks to three first half goals.
Miami was statistically the superior side throughout the night. They outshot Stumptown 12 to seven (only two of the seven were on-frame). Stumptown did not manage a single corner while committing nine fouls.
It was a single game encapsulation of the strange, whirlwind execution of the NISA “Showcase” — a competition that came together quickly and in a patchwork manner. Stumptown leaned into the chaos with a self-congratulatory graphic outlining three months from their tryouts Aug. 5 to the championship game Nov. 9:
On the opposing side, the victorious Miami FC won their second-straight NPSL championship just days before those same tryouts.
The NISA Fall Showcase appeared to be a functional compromise for the provisionally sanctioned Division 3 league. The league was initially supposed to play a split fall/spring season (a la NASL) with four clubs making the playoffs, but it was unable to get on its feet over the summer in time to play meaningful games.
Instead, they launched the Showcase, with teams organized in a pair of four-club mini-tables and playing friendlies with both Chattanooga FC and Detroit City FC (who were both competing in the NPSL Members Cup).
But, after one official game, the Philadelphia Fury suspended operations amidst rescheduled home games and reports of players not being paid. The remaining games the Fury were to play were all counted as 3–0 victories for their opponents, a decision that made the table and goal differentials artificially appear significant. So, at the end of four actual games played, Miami hosted Stumptown in the aforementioned “championship” game.
This was NISA in the fall of 2019.
The question that remains is what NISA will be in the spring. Surely it will not operate a spring season that unfolds in the same haphazard manner the Showcase did. Sanctioning remains in the balance, as well as potential U.S. Open Cup participation.
Commissioner John Prutch gave a recent interview that mentioned an ambitious expansion effort that would result in 23–25 clubs playing within the next two years. More immediately, Chris Kivlehan has reported that there are four applications that will be considered at the upcoming Annual Owners Meeting. That could bring the total number of clubs in the spring to 14, following the recent addition of the Michigan Stars — and depending on if the Fury return or if either the Connecticut or Providence clubs that are promoted on the main page of the league’s website actually kick a ball.
For the moment, we can assume Stumptown Athletic will return in the spring, playing games at some combination of the OrthoCarolina Sportsplex and Matthews Sportsplex. But who their opponents will be is yet to be determined.
Until we hear more, it is also safe to assume the organized chaos that is NISA will continue. We’ll have to wait and see what that looks like in 2020.
So … about MLS in Charlotte …
By Johnny Wakefield
Did you live through the MLS expansion wars of 2017 with us here at Soccer ’n’ Sweet Tea? It wasn’t the greatest of times. MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced the “final twelve” bids for the “final four slots,” thereby pitting lower-division soccer city against lower-division soccer city in some weird Bachelor-esque reality show. The passion between Charlotte and Raleigh supporters got … heated at times, tense and mean-spirited at others. (Not my style.)
And no one really emerged from that contest as the “winner.” Bids came and went, and yes, Nashville, St. Louis, and Sacramento all secured MLS expansion teams. Austin and Miami are set to join the league as well and, if you can do elementary school math, you know that makes five instead of the “final four.”
Somehow, that now leaves us with “one” slot for “the final team.” From reading the tea leaves around the league, it seems Garber and company would like to keep the conferences even, expanding by two teams per year over the next three years. The league would then “stop at 30,” though that’s certainly in doubt.
And Charlotte has emerged as the front runner for that 30th team. The Panthers organization has moved their bid to “the front of the line.”
So how will we cover the biggest soccer story in the Carolinas should that team actually come to town? It’s a hard spot for us at Soccer ’n’ Sweet Tea. We’ve built this community, this website, and this newsletter over the past three years as a home for coverage and conversation around the soccer we actually already have: 15 teams across five leagues (and a Showcase!) in our two states. We love this spot and the people we’ve come to know through it.
This MLS team would certainly not appeal to all of those people. Some Raleigh fans have already expressed anger that “Tepper’s money” pushed Charlotte’s bid ahead of Steve Malik and NCFC’s. And some fans across the lower-division world see MLS as “The Great Satan,” stepping on the throat of teams and leagues they’ve come to love. A billionaire’s club, ML$.
But it’s the biggest soccer story in the Carolinas! The top division league in the country might come to our backyard. It makes for a “both/and” for us, as friends of mine often say.
So, in order to give that story the in-depth coverage it deserves, Corey and I (Johnny) and a few others have joined forces with the Mint City Collective, a currently-forming supporters’ group in Charlotte based around the MLS bid, to launch the Mint City Chronicle. There, we’ll have a chance to dive into MLS a bit deeper, focus on the news that fans of MLS and Charlotte soccer want to read, and promote their cause. If you’re interested in that, please follow the Chronicle on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and spread the word. If you’re not, that’s okay too.
An MLS team in Charlotte (or should that not happen, Raleigh) would have a dramatic impact on soccer in our two states. I argue that it would be a massive positive wherever it happens, at the very least sparking conversation and interest among people who’ve never really considered soccer, and even creating a new rival for some of our current teams to despise/align themselves with. (NCFC vs. MLS Charlotte in the Open Cup in downtown Raleigh? Yes, please.) Soccer jobs for some, soccer attention for the Carolinas from all over the world, soccer games for all of us to go to. The more soccer the better.
But all that said, here at Soccer ’n’ Sweet Tea, we’ll continue covering all the teams we have, from Greenville to Greensboro, from Charleston to Asheville, from Raleigh to Columbia, and yes, in Charlotte too. We hope to keep this Carolina soccer community focused on just that, Carolina and soccer and community, and keep the website and newsletter focused on whatever our entire community wants to read about.
Can’t imagine why we’d ever want to do anything else.
On that note, thank you all for following us over these first three years. Thank you for making SNST what has been in each iteration and what it will be moving forward. Thank you for being subscribers to our twice-weekly newsletter in “SNST 3.0.” And thank you for loving your teams and your communities so much that this whole thing is possible.
Looking forward to 2020 with all of y’all.
– Johnny Wakefield, Corey Inscoe, and the rest of Team SNST
