USLW | Chicago City vs Rochester FC

David meet Goliath, George Forman meet Ali, Soviets meet the 1980 US ice hockey team. Oh and Chicago City SC meet Rochester. On Sunday June 16th, Rochester FC, the last place team, winless so far, pulled off a 1-0 heist over Chicago City that could only be powered by a locker room speech delivered by Ted Lasso and his gang of misfit coaches.

Coach Eric Fiel, Rochester’s coach, is clearly caught up on his TV watching, as his

pregame speech might as well have been delivered with a southern twang through a bushy mustache. And it worked. “I don’t care what the score is. I don’t care what the end result is. I want you all to go out there and work hard,” he preached to his team as they hid from the blazing 3pm sun, moments before they entered the roughly 100 by 50-yard combat zone also known as Lions for

Hope Soccer field. His team stood by, anxiously shifting from foot to foot like an 18-year-old boy meeting his girlfriend’s 250lbs ex-linebacker father for the first time, not sure they were ready to step into the sunshine.

It sounded like Fiel had seen the future for his team in grey, and it wasn’t pretty. Like he was sending them on a suicide mission, just hoping to not be the sole passenger on the bus ride home. As the referee blew the inaugural whistle, it seemed like Coach Fiel’s predictions were coming true. A title wave of pressure came from the home side, the first five minutes almost entirely played in the Rochester defensive third, only moments until the visitors crumbled like a

nature valley granola bar. This was supposed to be an easy win for City, a leisurely watch for the dads in the stands. Coach’s Gumbs clearly thought so as well, with three of the 11 starting players making their debut on Sunday afternoon. So much so that #10, Sophia Jamie, the team’s leading scorer,

took a seat on the sideline to start the game. Even with City’s shots coming so frequently the Rochester goalie was getting theworkout of her life, they just couldn’t get the ball into the net. Rochester did not face similar issues.

Seven minutes into the game, on what had to be- at most- their third trip down into the City defensive third, Rochesters own #10, Ana Recarte-Pacheco, curled the ball past the outtreached hand of Molly Vapinsky. The rest of the game, a hard fought battle, was dominated by the home team, but ultimately won by the visitors. Even Sophia Jamie, the virtual golden child of city, couldn’t undo the damage that Recarte-Pacheco inflicted. Who knows what brought Rochester success on Sunday afternoon. It could have been the weaker City line up. It could have been the relentless defense that chased down every ball. It could have been the heroic efforts by the Rochester goalie, Emma Knack, who refused to quit. Maybe it was sheer refusal to lose even one more game. I like to think it was that pre-game speech.

USL2 | Chicago City vs FC Wichita

On Thursday night Chicago City SC added another name to their books after a 2-0 victory over FC Wichita. With a list of victims that is starting to look like Micheal B. Jordans chest in Black Panther, it seems like nothing is going to get in the way of the Chicago City playoff dreams. Certainly not Wichita. Coach Latshaw's men walked into the game on Thursday with a guaranteed playoff bid

sewn into the black and white crests on their jerseys.

From the moment the Wichitans stepped off the plane, their hopes of a playoff bid, or away win, were mere invisible shreds. At the starting whistle, Wichita lined up in a 3-5-2, starting with three defenders rather than the customary four. Because of the constant beratement coming from the City front three, there was no room to breathe for the Wichita wing-backs. Getting stuck in their own half like it was made of quicksand, Edward Santos and Cade Martin had their hands tied. With no help going forward from the wing, and no chance for the outnumbered Wichita attack against Fort Knox-level defense, Wichita were rendered offensively useless. While offensively unable to convert, let alone enter the City 18-yard box, Wichita held their own on defense. Holding City to a scoreless first half is like holding onto a fish out of water. None-the-less, Wichita were successful.

The clean sheet survived until a 53rd minute red card was shown to Wichita starting forward, Joao Neves, after a tussle with a City defender that walked the line between a mating ritual and an attack formation. As Neves dragged his feet to the locker room, he brought all of Wichita’s hope rattling along with him.

Now we know what happened when we gave the mouse a cookie- I just wonder what happens when you give Chicago City a numerical advantage. Just like that poor little boy, Wichita ended up losing a whole lot more than just one

player. A mere three minutes after Neves’ departure, as he was still looking both ways to cross the street to the locker room, City’s Matthew Senanou floated a ball into the Wichita 18-yard box, colliding with Ryan Quintos’ head that he had confused for a launching pad. Quintos drove the ball into the back of the net, washing City fans over with relief like water after a drought. A 45 minute drought. When it rains it pours, and when Quintos is involved in one goal, it's a monsoon. Just four minutes after Quintos’ near concussion of a header goal, he reversed the roles with a lofted ball into the six-yard box that found the head of AJ Franklin patiently waiting right there.Even with their ever-present captain, Juan Gutierrez, getting a red card in the 85th minute for a poorly-timed slide tackle, Chicago City were gone. Uncatchable. Let’s just hope it rains in the playoffs.

USLW | Chicago City vs Minnesota Aurora FC

A magic moment.

The thing that happens when that one person, or that one idea, or that one thing, comes in contact with the right instant. When it clicks. For Edison it was a literal lightbulb moment, for Archimedes it was the bathtub, for Minnesota Aurora FC it was 120 seconds between when the clock departed the 19 minute mark and when it struck 21 that led to a 3-1 victory over the previously undefeated-at-home, Chicago City SC.

In a game that was highly anticipated, with a team that had yet to be bested on their home turf, in a universe where this USLW soccer match had our nails bitten to blood, 22 women (and their respective substitutes) put on a show that left a worried butt print on all edges of all seats in all of Lions for Hope Sports Complex on Sunday afternoon.

Aurora FC has an air of importance to them. It is in the way they walk, in the design of their uniforms, and in the extra sideline chairs required for their expansive coaching staff. Chicago City, while still a formidable opponent, does not have that same aura, yet. However, Aurora was on City territory, trekking six hours to play in this coveted match-up. It was truly anybody's game. Until the magic moment. With 19 minutes gone, in a goal line scramble for dominance on the City side, that resembled a scrum more than the classy 4-3-3 that City was employing, Aurora was able to force the ball over the goal line. Unfortunately for City, their goalie, Molly Vapinsky, was lost in the sea of jerseys, after a brave initial punch, like a kid on Black Friday lost in a Dicks Sporting Goods.

Aurora had begun their descent on the goal for the second time Sunday night before their coaches had time to sit back down after the routine post-goal bench high-fives. It was that quick. In the time that it took me to look down and write the scorer of the first goal in my phone, I had missed the second. In the time that some poor fans' eyes were closed due to those pesky Sunday afternoon yawns, Mariah Nguyen had slotted the ball past Vapinsky, all the City defenders just peering over their shoulders watching Nguyen crush their spirits just a little more.

Spirits be damned; City is a soccer team. A team that has players like #23 Fernanda Soto and #10 Sophia Jamie, who are on a mission to wear out the announcer's microphones. A team that knows how to manufacture some magic moments. Their moment came in the 34th minute, the second the ball left Sotos right foot deep in their offensive corner. With not an inch of space to spare before a girl in navy blue came barreling down, Soto swung the ball across the box, curling it perfectly away from the goalie, right to the head of the USLW infamous, Sophia Jamie. As Jamie and her team ran back to their starting positions on their respective half, it was almost as if the crowd took a collective breath, like the gray and ominous clouds parted for a second. That was a moment. A moment of fight, grit, and absolute class. That was City's moment.

Despite their best efforts, a moment was all City had. After Hannah Adler politely passed the ball into the back of the open net in the 45th minute, due to Vapensky getting caught in a full body tussle with Nguyen and Soto, City’s moment appeared to be all too brief. Unfortunately for City, they needed 89 other moments of class to beat the powerhouse that is Aurora FC. The one was just not enough. Aurora may not have done it better, or prettier, but they did it more. And that's all it takes. No matter how magical that one moment may have been.

USLW | Chicago City vs Chicago Dutch Lions

Soccer is not like baseball. You can’t pick the best players based on the number of tallies on a sheet of paper, their physical attributes, their percentages of something over something else. It is not a game of stats, it is a game of people. Nobody proved that more than Chicago City’s Brealyn Viamille and Abigail Roy in the City 2-1 victory over Dutch Lions.

Standing at five foot four inches, Viamille is not your classic boot-quake-inducing

forward. She is not on the winningest team in the country, doesn’t have an All-American Award attached to her name. Yet. She is also the player that should make the opposition feel a shiver down their spine. She should be the girl they fight over in practice- who is burdened with the responsibility of walking in her shadow for the night. Unfortunately for the Dutch Lions, one victim was not enough, and they took turns dealing with the ticking time bomb that is Brealyn Viamille, even switching their formation to add another number in the back. Three defenders were no match for the Usain Bolt impersonator. And those poor, unsuspecting, naive center backs tasked with Viamille, didn’t break a sweat until it was too late. Hovering by the half line, playing the pseudo role of a lazy forward, Viamille will lull you into complacency. Next thing you know you are spitting out the turf that Brealyn is kicking up behind her. Brealyn is the kind of player where announcers don’t say her name until they are screaming it into the microphone followed by a glorious GOALASSSO. Brealyn changes games,

she doesn’t bother playing in them.

And just like that, City was up 2-0. Abigail Roy, also wearing the light blue, was responsible for the rest. While players like Viamille change games, players like Roy control them. An overwhelming presence in the back line, if the ball were a moth, she would be a light. Every ball that came her way was surrounded by chaos and sent rolling perfectly back to her teammates. It truly seemed like nothing could get past her. Unfortunately for Roy, a part of the job description in center-back is getting scored on, it is inevitable, even if City has avoided it throughout the first games of the season. Said goal, a shot that could only be watched by Roy through a pair of binoculars, was ripped from close to

the 35-yard line, nowhere near the territory of the brave center back. If it was, I am sure there would have been a foot in the way. And just like that it was 2-1.

In a game that is played by people, watched by people, won by people, there are only a select few that I would pick to be on my team. There is not a doubt in my mind that on that list you would find Viamille and Roy.

USL2 | Chicago City vs Des Moines Menace

Des Moines Menaces, the team that doesn’t know how to lose.

Chicago City SC, the team that just really doesn’t want to.

In a battle that will without question be the talk of every USL 2 practice post this holiday weekend, Chicago City SC was able to defend their home turf from the visiting Des Moine Menaces on Sunday night. The game, a memorable one, was punctuated with verbal battles between players, where the visiting side truly proved deserving of their name.

City, the ultimate victors, were able to heroically defeat the two-season undefeated Menaces in a 3-1 shock of a game. While their record is highly impressive, the Menaces found themselves particularly dumbfounded on Sunday night, unsure of what to do once City slammed home their third goal.

The night started like any other for the players in black and red as the Menaces center forward Lagos Kunga chipped the City goalie and sent his team cheering and screaming at the poor unsuspecting corner flag. However, success for the Menaces and Kunga ended there. Even with pressure climbing up the backs of City legs, Des Moines was unable to turn a profit and add another glowing

number up on the scoreboard. Despite the constant pressure, despite the fewer games played, maybe because of the David (of David and Goliath) sentiment the City team held, they tacked their own goal up on the scoreboard just 23 minutes later. And just like that folks- we had a ball game. A game that started in the City half, and felt like it would never leave, slowly progressed into a back-and-forth running race, the field as open as the local 24-hour diner down the street.

Goliath, the Des Moines Menaces in our USL 2 version of the story, appeared to be an immobile fixture at the top of the Heartland division table. After two seasons undefeated, it seemed almost impossible to top the men hailing from Des Moines. They seemed invincible. I think they felt invincible too. After Chicago scored their first goal to even the score every Des Moines player stood a little taller, snapped to attention by the reality check that came in the form of #11 Charaf wearing a light blue jersey. It didn’t help that Charaf was a former Menace himself. Just over 10 minutes after action resumed post-halftime, the Menaces heard the grim reaper knocking on their door again, better known as center back Lucas Ender knocking the ball into the back of the Des Moines net.

In the time it took for Ender to run up the field from his defensive post, the Menaces deflated like a leftover balloon stuck in the rafters of the neighborhood community center. A team that doesn’t know how to lose is also a team that didn’t know how to win after City's Bawa finessed a third goal from the spot.

And just like that, the Menaces from Des Moines turned into the Innocuous from Iowa. A game that City should forever be proud of, hard-fought, well-earned, as far from elegant as possible, is a game that will sit forever present in the back of the Menances minds as they run drills, practice plays, and fall asleep at night.

USL2 | Chicago City vs Springfield ASC

If you were one of the lucky 200 fans at Lions for Hope Sports Complex on Friday night watching Chicago City SC defeat Springfield Athletic SC in a 4-2 mess of a City victory, you would know a couple of things.

First, you would know the game started with a Chicago City dissection of the Monarchs, leaving them speechless after City’s Torrellas began the scoring within two minutes of the opening whistle. A mistimed tackle and an involved referee led to #6 (Torrellas) staring down the keeper from the spot. A shot that hit Springfield fans almost as hard as it hit the back of the net was not enough to keep the men in orange from attempting a triumphant comeback.

Unfortunately for the weary travelers, it was only an attempt. As the light blue rampage continued one truth became undeniably clear. Along with a stellar performance by Springfield goalie, the sideline referee assisted by the left goal post were the Springfield Monarchs’ strongest defensive weapons of the match.

With the sideline referee stealing at least two goals back from Chicago City, his defensive presence was looming over the City front line. While the referee may have been responsible for waiving the orange flag in the air, credit is due to the high line of Springfield defense that was clearly giving City a run for their money.

Even with the sideline referee's flag waving like it inspired a certain World Cup song, the first half of the battle was handsomely led by the City squad.

City, led by their calm and level headed center backs, Banker and Ender, strung together passes that resembled a pinball game, leaving the Springfield players flat footed and covered in dust.

With Springfield players lunging after balls like they were the stars of a 90s workout tape, it seemed like all hope was lost for the Monarchs. Especially after a perfectly placed ball by #8 Gonda led to Nimako for Springfield sliding into the back of his own goal, accompanied by the ball in the middle of the first half.

But that is why soccer is called the beautiful game. It will lull you into complacency, make you feel like you can stop by the concessions stand really quick, and then it will get you. City goalie, Vasques, understood this more than anyone on Friday night after Hutchins for Springfield sent a looping, lofted corner right into the crowd of orange jerseys parked in front of the City goal. Less than 10 minutes after the nightmare situation for the Springfield backline, City was looking a whole lot less comfortable.

City’s discomfort continued well into the second half with Springfield putting another goal up on the scoreboard for the visitors off yet another corner kick. At the start of the second half, one could only assume that the left side of the field was the lucky side because Springfield came out with a vengeance. Controlling play and swarming blue jerseys the second they got the ball, Springfields spark of hope turned into something reminiscent of a fire.

Yet another thing you would have learned from Friday night's game is that it's not over until it's over. And it is never over if #3 Cisneros is on the pitch.

A shot backed by the power of whatever he ate for breakfast, must have been Wheaties, Cisneros fired the ball into the back of an unsuspecting Springfield net. And just like that, City was back in the driver's seat.

With another goal smashed in during the 98th minute, City cemented themselves as the victors.

If you were one of the 200 fans who got to watch the young 10 year old ball boys rush the field like it was a Champions League final at Wembley, you truly were lucky.