The Charlotte Independence make their own declaration

STEVE GOLDBERG | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Nick Spielman denies One Knoxville in the Charlotte Independence's 3-1 win at the Sportsplex in Matthews. Charlotte is second in USL League One with 17 points and five straight wins.

The Charlotte Independence are the hottest of the Queen City’s four professional soccer teams. And that’s been a highly competitive space.

The Carolina Ascent captured the USL Super League regular season title on May 17 with a 1-1 draw against the Tampa Bay Sun. The Ascent had won their previous six games with five consecutive clean sheets and a 21-2 goal differential. Before their current five match losing streak, briefly interrupted by a U.S. Open Cup win over USL Championship side North Carolina FC, Charlotte FC had won five of six MLS games and were briefly on top of the MLS East.

Ride Captain ride

Downing previously unbeaten One Knoxville 3-1 on Friday, the Jacks have won six straight – five in USL League One – and second in the league at 5-1-2 (17 points).

After two matches where his team had to rally from two-goal deficits to win in Texas and New York, coach Mike Jeffries was happy to take the lead in this one, “It was nice. It relaxed us for a couple minutes, but they are a good side, they put us under. (I’m) disappointed a little bit with the way their goal played out, but I thought we kept our heads, and kept our composure, and still managed to do the things we wanted to do.

“I think it’s great that we’re finding ways to create chances and make plays and then finding ways just to win. We’ve dealt with adversity for a couple weeks in being behind. Today, we conceded the equalizing goal and hung in the game and still managed to push it well enough to win.”

The win came five days ahead of Meck Dec Day on May 20, the spiritual touchstone of the Independence name that celebrates the date 250 years ago that the debated first declaration of independence from Great Britain was signed on May 20, 1775, in Charlotte by a committee of citizens of Mecklenburg County after hearing of the battles of Concord and Lexington in Massachusetts.

A local tavern owner, Captain James Jack, was charged with riding to deliver the Mecklenburg Resolves to North Carolina's representatives at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Hence, the Jacks nickname. The Spirit of Mecklenburg statue of Captain Jack commemorating the event at the corner of North Kings Drive and East 4th Street is part of the team’s logo.

The modern Jacks are 1-0 in the USL’s inter-division Jägermeister Cup that pits them against USL Championship and USL1 teams, having avenged their U.S. Open Cup loss to North Carolina FC with a 2-1 win in Cary on April 25. It’s their best run since a pair of three-game win streaks in 2023 and the longest for the team since moving down to USL One from the Championship division in 2022.

Luis Álvarez opened the scoring against Knoxville in the 19th minute with his third goal of the season. After Jordan Skelton equalized in the 37th minute, Christian Chaney put the Jacks in front six minutes into the second half on a pass from Alfredo Midence, who leads the league with four assists.

With the Tennessee team chasing the game and their defenders pushed forward, Javen Romero’s long headed clearance in the sixth minute of stoppage time to Souaibou Marou, who took it from the Charlotte half on a breakaway for his team-leading fourth goal of the season – he had the game winning hat trick last week – to send Knoxville home in a bad mood.

The strong performance and win had Charlotte players in a good mood. 

“Getting our fourth win in a row, it’s perfect, builds confidence each game, but definitely we don’t think we’re the best or anything,” said first year player Javen Romero. “We’ve got to keep working hard training hard every day at training and just fight for what’s next.”

Just 18, Romero, a Los Angeles native, last played for Liga MX side Guadalajara on their U-23 academy team. Prior to that, he was with LAFC 2 in MLS Next Pro, appearing in 25 games across two seasons. A dual citizen of Mexico and the United States, Romero has made 24 appearances for the Mexican U-17 national team since 2022.

Also new to the Jacks but an accomplished USL veteran, the 30-year-old Chaney applauded the Jacks’ ability to find the net.

“Like I said after the first game that we had together, it’s a project, it’s not something that happens overnight. We had to get a rhythm,” he said. “We’ve got to get used to each other. And now, the locker room is tight. Things are nice. The level of play is quality. I think now, it’s just focusing on keeping the ball out of our net. And once we do that, you already know we can score, so let’s see where it goes from there.”

Jeffries credited his team’s resolve.

“It's a group that believes that we can play, and that we can are going to be in every game. We believe we have a way of trying to win, whether it's breaking teams down or just being solid defensively, we are developing a pretty good confidence.”

Success gets noticed

Jeffries was named USL One Coach of the Week with Chaney named to Team of the Week for the second time. Álvarez and Omar Ciss were named to the TOTW bench.

Chaney’s goal moved him into a tie for fourth place on the league's all-time scoring list, his 29th in league play since 2022. He’s second in the league with 19 shots this season.

Next up: May 24 – At AV Alta in Lancaster, Calif., 10:30 p.m. May 31 - Home vs Lexington SC in Jägermeister Cup at American Legion Memorial Stadium, 7 p.m.    

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