Ohio Heart Cup Competition Announced

Today, the Ohio Heart Cup was announced. The yearly competition of amateur clubs from Ohio will bring together some of the best known teams in the state, while allowing some brand new clubs the opportunity to compete. The Director of the competition, Samuel Seibert, highlighted the competition as a chance “for Ohio soccer fans to get competitive soccer closer to home.” Seibert, aside from his role with the Ohio Heart Cup, is also the president of participating club Cleveland SC.

The full list of clubs in the competition includes Cleveland SC, FC Columbus, Toledo Villa FC, Cincinnati Dutch Lions, Dayton Dutch Lions, Amish Country United, Forest City FC, Club Toledo, and Youngstown Nighthawks. Those clubs are drawn from three amateur leagues currently operating in the state: USL League Two, NPSL, and NOSL. But that list of clubs and leagues may grow in the future. According to Seibert, the tournament is open to expansion if more clubs show interest; and with the rapid expansion of the UPSL and the brand new OVPL, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more amatuer sides pop up in Ohio, ready to participate.

The structure of the tournament is in two parts, with a round robin style first round. The second round will take the top six clubs and seed them into a knockout style tournament. The final two clubs standing will play for the Cup in a championship match. The excitement for the competition is already building. “We are extremely excited for the cup to kick off,” said Braden Mast, Director of Operations for Amish Country United. “After a long time talking about the prospect of an amateur Ohio cup, it’s cool that these teams just went ahead with it and are starting it. We’re pumped to play the best teams in the area and it should be a real competitive tournament with great exposure for all teams included.” Club Toledo owner, Jake Mercer, spoke in equally glowing terms, saying the tournament had the potential to be “essentially the Ohio equivalent of the Michigan Milk Cup.”

It’s exciting to see clubs from multiple leagues, often competing for the same fans across the state, working together to grow the game in their home state. The Ohio Heart Cup will be a great opportunity for these amatuer sides to face competition and sharpen their talent. And while the announcement caught many by surprise, the ball has been rolling for some time. The competition has been in the works since spring of last year, according to Seibert, and after the 2019 season, they decided to finalize plans for this year. Once the schedule is announced, we’ll make sure to share that with our readers. 

Asheville City's Departure for USL

Asheville City Soccer Club’s men’s team will jump from the independent NPSL’s Southeast Conference to USL League Two for the upcoming 2020 season.

ACSC had competed in the NPSL since 2017, the same year its men’s team started competing. The Club made the leap to USL2 due to the high turnover the Southeast Conference has been experiencing over the last three years, according to team president Ryan Kelley. Now, the team will form a part of the USL2’s large group of North Carolina-based clubs, which already includes two U-23 squads and independent teams Wake FC and Tobacco Road FC. It figures to begin play in the same division as those sides: the South Atlantic. ACSC joins AFC Ann Arbor as the second team to bounce from the NPSL to USL2 this summer.

“We were really pleased with the transition to USL. League leadership made themselves readily available and never shied away from answering our questions, which were extensive,” Kelley told Protagonist. “We were deliberate with the process to ensure that that league would provide the best fit for us moving forward.”

ACSC was founded in 2016 when Kelley and five of his childhood friends, Allen Bradley, Andrew Hunter, Jordan Vance, Jimmy Wheeler and Josh Yoakum, noticed that Asheville was missing a local soccer club that citizens would be sure to rally around. Starting with a men’s team in 2017 playing in the city’s famous Memorial Stadium, the club has since expanded to field a women’s team, led by Meghann Burke, Stacey Enos, and Lydia Vandenbergh, in the WPSL. The teams enjoy strong support from the South Side Blues, the local supporter’s group, and from the city on a whole.

“Asheville City has been a beacon for how the game can grow in cities with tremendous civic pride,” said Joel Nash, Vice President of USL League Two, in a press release announcing the arrival of ACSC. “We look forward to supporting and celebrating this club as it continues to reach new heights.”

Asheville City also already has a number of former players plying their trade in the USL, including USL League One finalists Greenville Triumph SC’s Dominic Boland and Cameron Saul and former Lansing Ignite forward Elma N’for.

Kelley was largely grateful for the support of the NPSL over the last three years. ACSC leadership specifically noted that the league offered a platform of relationship-building and learning. Many of the concepts that ACSC runs on to this day were formed by examining best practices at other NPSL clubs.

However, it was not all smooth sailing. In the NPSL, member clubs are tasked with making relevant decisions for the league as a whole. According to Kelley, this system was too slow-moving and challenging to move forward on league-wide policy. Furthermore, the league faces a lot of turnover year-to-year, especially in the Southeast. For ACSC, such turnover on the men’s side threatened the club’s stability on a whole, including its women’s team, academy and Just Play initiative.

So far, the Club has enjoyed the resources that the USL has made available to them. As a growing team with limited resources they have utilized the marketing and communications resources that have been made available through the league. In addition, ACSC is looking forward to opportunities to network with other clubs in higher divisions within the same structure that the USL offers to its member sides.

The Blues are fully aware of the challenge that the new league will pose on the field, however.

“As far as challenges, I think it is fair to say that the level of play will be generally higher in League Two and that we will need to elevate our game to compete for a championship, but I’m confident that we have the right people in the right positions to accomplish that goal,” said Kelley with regards to the new opposition.

Overall, the move to USL2 has been met with excitement and positive feedback from community stakeholders, even local media covered the move between competitions. According to Kelley, fans are hyped to higher quality regional rivalries and the players and coaches are relishing the opportunities that come with playing under brighter lights with connections to larger clubs.

- Jose Davila IV

AFC Ann Arbor's Surprising Move to USL League Two

The news took everyone a little off-guard, but, in retrospect, considering the way this year has been, maybe we should have seen it coming. AFC Ann Arbor, formerly of the NPSL, is headed to USL League 2 in 2020. The club, originally founded in 2015, began its existence in the Great Lakes Premier League. In 2016, AFCAA jumped the NPSL and has been a fixture in the Great Lakes Division, finishing either first or second in the division every season. We reached out to club chairperson, Bilal Saeed, to discuss the move and his responses were surprising and insightful.

For Bilal, the move shouldn’t be seen as surprising because grassroots soccer in a constant state of flux. “One thing I always tell people who aren’t familiar with lower league soccer, whatever you’re thinking about one season can change next season. It’s so fluid. It’s ever-evolving at a rapid rate. You’ve got to stay on top of it and we were looking for whatever the best option is for our club and it’s something we’ve always looked at, because of what the USL has to offer in terms of opportunity for pushing players on. We’ve become a player centric club who likes to create opportunities for our guys. We started exploring it a couple years ago, but the timing was right now. And it just all came together... In general, we’re always trying to make sure our club is in the best position to be around as long as possible, to have a sustainable platform.”

But why the USL over the other options for the club. The decision was all about the players. “It comes down to opportunity for the players. The USL has quite a reputation as being a path for players to push on and open some doors. It’s going to open even more doors for our players and we’ve been attracting the kind of players who have the ability to step up and actually have an opportunity to step into their next gig which is hopefully a professional contract.” While that contract and being a pro is what every player wants, Saeed doesn’t feel his club is ready for that move as an organization. “We’re not in a position yet where we could explore being a professional club, we’re still trying to operate in the same time frame, and in that regard there’s not a lot of change, timing of the season, resources to run a club.”

But Ann Arbor’s exit, synced with so many other exits by other big name clubs in the division sparks the idea that there must be a root problem for the NPSL or the Great Lakes Division specifically. That view isn’t correct, at least from Saeed’s perspective. “I don’t think it all happened completely in one off-season. I mean, Grand Rapids is still around. Lansing made a move previously, two years ago. There was a time we had even more teams. Like I said, it changes every year, I think the only thing that’s becoming very apparent this year, with this new division three, with NISA, that’s obviously a platform that Detroit had been looking for for a long time and it seems to fit their model. I think Stars are the surprising one, for sure. But I think Michigan is an interesting state, we’ve got so many clubs that are not only active, but have different DNA and different goals, but still do a lot on a bigger scale. So it’s pretty impressive to see what our state has going on as a whole. All the clubs are just trying to find the best platform for their identity. I think with the way things are going it was more like coincidence, just because of timing. What’s not a coincidence, every year, call it a off-season, things are changing rapidly, things are so fluid. To me, having been in the lower league landscape for quite a while now, it’s not surprising.”

And while some might point to last season’s strange exit from the playoffs (the coin flip match) as sparking this move, DCFC’s exit from the league, or the general changes in the NPSL, Bilal is quick to point out that that isn’t the case. Joining a big entity like the USL takes time and effort, so maybe just chalk the timing up to serendipity? “I think the NPSL has been looking for a change in their identity, and it’s been interesting to see how that’s all unfolded. Quite honestly, we weren’t really reacting to that, we had begun working on these changes way before that. But I do think, regardless, whatever they are offering with their extended season, it’s not something that would fit our club. So I think we’ve actually ended up in the right scenario here.”

- Dan Vaughn

GSMU Announces Week 8 Top 25 and End of Year Awards

Week 8 of the Grassroots Soccer Media Union Top 25 poll is out this morning and the top 3 stay exactly the same. Detroit City FC continues to rise, now sitting at 4, bolstered by their strong play in the NPSL. FC Arizona rounds out the top 5 of the poll. Orange County FC had the biggest drop of the week, moving down to 13. Boca Raton FC had an impressive rise to 18, with their big win in the South Florida UPSL Championship.

In other GSMU related news, the Union announced a broad slate of end of the year awards planned. The candidates will be nominated and voted on by the members of the Union. Awards will be in many categories, including Player of the Year, a Top XI, and Journalist of the Year. For a complete list of awards and the other details, here’s the press release.

For the full voting tally for week 8, check out the press release from GSMU.

1. NY Cosmos

2. FC Golden State

3. Miami FC

4. Detroit City FC

5. FC Arizona

6. Des Moines Menace

7. FC Golden State Force

8. Cal FC

9. South Georgia Tormenta 2

10. Minneapolis City SC

11. Brooklyn Italians

12. Chattanooga FC

13. Orange County FC

14. FC Waco

15. AFC Ann Arbor

16. Tropics SC

17. Greenville FC

18. Boca Raton FC

19. Med City FC

20. Miami United

21. Florida Soccer Soldiers

22. Duluth FC

23. Reading United AC

24. Tulsa Athletic

25. San Antonio Runners

Player Profile: Christo Michaelson

I ran into Christopher Michaelson the other night on my way out of a Portland Timbers match, the former Jesuit High School and Gonzaga University soccer standout was there as a fan – because he loves soccer as much as the rest of us do. However, there are many of us who recognize his mane of blond fury from his time on the pitch while playing for… well, you name it. The first time I saw Christo play, it was for the USL League-2 two side, Timbers Under 23s, who play in Salem, Oregon. However, you might have seen him playing for the EPLWA’s Vancouver Victory, or UPSL’s Des Moines Menace. Most recently, I caught him on ESPN+ playing for FCM Portland of the NPSL in their round one USOC match then a week later, back in the Timbers U23s 18 for their friendly match hosting PDX FC. I asked if he could take a few minutes to answer some questions and he obliged.

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Back-to-back OSAA State Player of the Year, lettered at Jesuit High School in Portland, All WCC Second Team, All Far West Region Third Team, Honorable Mention, All-WCC in 2016... the list goes on—you play like a man on fire, what drives you? When did you start playing soccer and have you always given 200%?

I honestly think my “drive” in soccer comes from an absolute pure hatred of losing. Growing up the only think I ever wanted to do was play soccer. It was my favorite thing in the world. I also have to give my dad a ton of credit for shaping me into the hardworking soccer player that I am today. My dad is incredibly supportive and cares about me and wants me to succeed, but from a very young age I was expected to compete and be the hardest worker. I have a specific memory of when I was playing youth soccer, I was probably around 10 years old. It was a random league game where my team won 3-0. I scored 2 goals and really felt like I played well. After the game my dad took me to a random field by our house and told me we were going to run. He told me that “just because you can score 2 goals against a bad team doesn’t mean that you can have a bad attitude and not be hardest worker.” He ran my ass off. I did sprints over and over again at that field. I think that moment changed who I was as a person. It made me recognize in order to succeed you can never take a game or play off. From that moment on I pride myself on being the hardest working player on whatever field I step on. I take each individual battle super personal and I always make sure nobody out works me. Overall my drive comes from an intense hatred of losing and a pure love for the sport.

Christo brought his fire from Portland’s Jesuit High School to Gonzaga University.

You've played in High School as well as in ODP and West Side Timbers, how do you balance regular life, academic responsibilities and a budding athletic career? Was it any different when you got to Gonzaga?

To be completely honest I don’t really view my life any different than what a regular everyday life is. I guess that’s probably because my whole life has been soccer and it’s my favorite hobby. Regular to me is getting up every day in the morning to train and play and do it again the next day. However, when I got to college, I did struggle a bit academically at the beginning of my career. I have really bad ADHD and have always struggled paying attention in school, but was able to get by in high school. In college I was dealing with an injury and I carried it over into my everyday life which made school very difficult. By my sophomore year I had it all figured out and school got easier but I really did have to adjust to be a collegiate student athlete.

Des Moines Menace, Vancouver Victory, Reno 1868, Timbers U23s, and FC Mulhouse... where else have you played? Are there noticeable differences in the level of play from NPSL to EPLWA and USL League 2 and up to USL Championship?

I really haven’t played any place else notable besides many Mexican leagues and the OPSL here in Portland. I really haven’t played any matches at the NPSL level I was only with Mulhouse for the open cup so I can’t really touch on the NPSL too much. However, that Mulhouse team has some really talented players that have played at high levels which makes me think that the NPSL is probably pretty quality. The EPLWA is very hit or miss in my opinion. I think it really depends on the team and year. My two years spent with Vancouver Victory was a ton of fun and actually was very competitive. However, I do think that it’s a step below the USL League 2 but is a great level for young college players who are trying to develop. USL League 2 is a really fun league for many reasons. I love how diverse each team is and you have all these great players from top level D1 schools around the country. I think it really it is the highest level of soccer you can play before reaching the pro level. Games are always fun and you never get those weak teams that you can guarantee 3 points from.

The biggest jump in level I ever made was from the USL league 2 to the USL championship. I really wasn’t expecting it to be nearly as difficult as it was. I kind of had a big wakeup call in Reno and I probably wasn’t ready mentally. It’s a funny feeling playing the game like it’s an actual job. There are pressures and expectations that I was never aware of before. For a lot people it’s a dream to play pro, but in reality, it’s much more challenging than it may seem. Everybody is good and everybody is focused, you can’t afford to take any plays off.

A bit of a local hero, Michaelson has laced up his boots for several Portland area teams at all levels of play.

As a player, how important is atmosphere? Drums, chants, fans... does it make a difference? Even at the grassroots level? Maybe without saying who is "the best," which supporters stand out has being the loudest or showing up most consistently?

Atmosphere is incredibly important. I don’t think soccer is really soccer without a quality atmosphere, it adds so much to the game. Not only for fans, but for players as well. The amount of energy and passion a good atmosphere can bring to a game is beautiful. I would say the best atmosphere I have either played in front of was down in Salem with the U23’s or in front of the BBB (Battle Born Brigade in Reno).

What do you listen to pre-match? What fires you up? Lastly, it's been a contentious conversation around here, but Chewy Chips Ahoy or Classic?

I honestly don’t really listen to music before games. Whatever is playing in the locker room is what I listen to. Most of my motivation comes from proper mental preparation and reflection.

PS: CHEWY FOR SURE.

Christo has ventured out to Des Moines and Reno 1868 and always gets stuck in.

- Joshua Duder

Begging ESPN+

If you’re like me, and watched the opening round of the US Open Cup these last couple of days, you had to be struck may the excellence of the matches. In just two nights of matches, we had:

1. 5 matches out 19 ended in penalty kicks. That’s almost 25% of the matches played were even for 120 minutes!

2. A second-year UPSL side beat the reigning champion of the NPSL and who will be going pro in just a few months.

3. A club from a tiny regional league in the Denver area knocked off a strong NPSL club with a winning shot by a defender in the last 2 minutes of the match.

4. A club get cheated out of a match-tying goal on a bogus off sides call.

5. Forward Madison, one of the most talked about expansion sides in recent memory, make their Open Cup debut.

And all of this was seen through the lens of ESPN+, an online channel available for single digit monthly costs, with announcers, multiple camera angles, and a level of professionalism rarely seen in the home-made broadcasts most of the clubs in the first round are typically viewed. It was glorious, top to bottom, every match had a storyline, a great ending, or some other element that made it worth watching. So after this first round is finally complete, I only have one question. Why didn’t ESPN+ air the qualifiers?

GOAL! 🚨@FC_Denver have their second goal and it's come in the 89th minute! What a time to get it. Sockers fail to clear a long ball and it falls to Kyle Crouse who shoots from outside of the box and finds the far post bottom corner. 2-1! #USOC2019 pic.twitter.com/mMIwoHJfan

— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) May 9, 2019

If you missed seeing those matches, they were, in some instances broadcasted by the clubs themselves. But many were not, leaving interested fans scrambling to social media for updates on matches. The final round of qualifiers were actually banned from broadcasting, leaving the only option for updates to follow someone at the match online. I was one of the lucky ones to be at one of those matches and saw FC Denver come back from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3 over Southwest FC in extra time. So watching that same Denver club finish off the Laredo Heat had a tremendous amount of context. When that defender hit that swirling, curving game-winner, I recognized him from that 4th round qualifier. I knew his quality and the quality of his club so I watched their first round match against Laredo, knowing they were capable of coming back later in a match.

So please, ESPN+, make the investment and air the qualifying matches. Need a list of reasons? Allow me to offer mine.

1. The matches are entertaining and will bring viewers into the Cup proper because they will be rooting for the underdogs.

2. There’s an audience for those matches! People are fans of lower league soccer, they will watch the matches.

3. It’s good for the game. Maybe that’s not ESPN+ driving idea, but the more soccer matches there are, the better it is for the growth of the sport. It drives interest and sparks young fans to get involved in the game.

So that’s my plea, ESPN+, next year give us the qualifying rounds as well. We’ll be thankful forever.

- Dan Vaughn