Carolina Ascent are greater than sum of their parts

STEVE GOLDBERG | FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST

Carolina Ascent's Tyler Lussi celebrates after scoring against Sporting Jax on May 16, 2026, at American Legion Memorial Stadium. The Ascent play Lexington SC on May 31 for the Gainbridge Super League title.

As one who has always leaned more into team sports, the part I appreciate most is collective effort. Win or lose on Saturday in the Gainbridge Super League championship match, the Carolina Ascent should be defined by one word.

Gestalt. A unified whole that is greater than the sum of its individual parts.

By their own admission, and my observations of this team’s development over their first two seasons, nothing at this moment describes them better. It’s more than selflessness. It’s greater than sacrifice. It’s bolder than commitment. Yet, it’s the interaction of all those attributes made exponentially stronger through an inexact chemistry. It’s what distinguishes the Ascent as they head into Saturday’s final.

The concept, now widely understood as gestalt, dates to Aristotle and evolved over the centuries. That it can or should be applied to a successful soccer culture is quite appropriate, as the direct English translation of the German word means form or shape, two words which are commonly used in the sport. Form is how well you are playing, and shape being how organized a team is on both offense and defense.

The Austrian philosopher Christian von Ehrenfels gave the musical analogy that understanding a melody involves something more than the sum of individual notes. And that is where head coach Philip Poole is the composer, arranging the notes to create the optimum harmony for his side and the greatest discord for the opponent. 

At this moment, the symphony has been splendid with seven straight wins and 12 matches undefeated – just one draw – since late February. In this run, the Ascent have scored 20 goals, conceding just four. But his notes are people with feelings and attitudes that can make the chemistry of composition far more complicated.

A pure example of the team-first mentality has been Taylor Porter. The team captain who played every minute of last season moved to the bench for the second half of this season with the addition of Lily Nabet and Shea Groom. Though that move may have taken away the armband, it hasn’t changed her influence on the team. 

“Talk about her impact on the greater good,” said Poole. “You go from a captain leadership position, and you see there are some not-so-good examples of that throughout sport, right? But that’s what leadership is. Someone like Taylor Porter who can put a team first.

“It's not even necessarily what she didn't do; it’s what other players have come in and done. I think there's not many people who handle that situation as well as Taylor has. Even her minutes in this new role have been growing and growing and growing, because she sees how important she is from a finisher standpoint, from a work rate standpoint, understanding our system and what it’s like to be there. It’s just putting the team first and ultimate leadership. She’s done great.”

Poole refined the music as necessary.

“We made a big call on a big change in goal, Sydney (Martinez) for Megan (McClelland), and Sydney's proved to be, at the moment, on form, just undeniably one of the most impactful players in the league,” he said.

“So, I think the goalkeeper change has coincided with the run, but I also think a little bit of focus, a little bit more dialed in. I think that, combined with the goalkeeper change, has been important for us.”

Another asset has been consistency, not something a coach always has control of, especially when it comes to injuries. Centerback Sydney Studer, who was named to the GSL All-League Team this week, was knocked out for the season with a knee injury in March. Meaghan Nally stepped in to partner with Jenna Butler in central defense. Addisyn Merrick has come back from the injury that knocked her out last season to start at right back in the second half of this season.

“If you look at the last two years, I generally am a coach who has a fairly settled lineup, and we've had that again in this run,” Poole said. “We’ve been fairly settled, not many changes, but you feel it from the players on the bench.” 

He says the Musketeer mantra, “All for one, one for all,” extends beyond that to the players who aren’t even on the gameday roster.

“To be fair, I think the mark of a squad and a team is you feel it from the players who aren’t putting a jersey on if you're not in the gameday 18. I think we feel it right across the board.”

“This year we have had a lot of newcomers in,” said Audrey Coleman, whose minutes have changed this season. “I think it's about chemistry off the field as well as on the field. I really think we've hit that towards the end of the season, and everyone's just really coming together. We just really want to win as a team, and I feel like that togetherness is a big thing for us.”

Forward Riley Parker, who assisted Mackenzie George on the game-winning goal in the semifinal, says it’s about trust in the whole.

“I think all season we’ve seen people come off the bench and make an impact in the game, and I think that's what makes this team so special,” Parker said. “You could swap anybody from who’s starting on the bench, who’s starting on the field, and we would have just as good a team. We trust each other just as much as those people coming in.”

Popularized in the 1940s and 1950s, Gestalt therapy was about focusing on the present, not the past or future, to help patients understand what was happening in their lives at that moment. A similar focus explained by Ascent players throughout the season.

After the Ascent beat Sporting Jax in the regular season finale, knocking them out of first place, Shea Groom explained the team’s inertia.

“We’ve just kind of been building on the momentum that we've already had,” she said. Eleven games unbeaten now, right? I think it’s just been the evolution of the spring for us. Honestly, it doesn’t matter who we play, we’re coming out on the field and just trying to put a better version of ourselves than the last game, and I think we’ve just continued to build.”

Now there is just one game left to reach their peak. Gestalt, indeed.

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