Charlotte pro soccer teams share winning seasons

STEVE GOLDBERG | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Charlotte independence forward Souaibou Marou leads USL League One with 12 goals in 23 matches.

Nothing could be finer than soccer in Carolina, with all four Charlotte professional teams at or near the top of the tables in their respective leagues.

The Charlotte Independence top the table of USL League One while Crown Legacy lead MLS Next Pro’s Eastern Conference. Carolina Ascent are second in the USL Super League, and Charlotte FC are fifth in the MLS East. Since August, the four clubs have collectively won 16 of 25 matches, with three draws and six losses.

Both the Independence and Crown Legacy are at home Saturday at 7 p.m. The Jacks will face Westchester FC at American Legion Memorial Stadium while the Legacy have a derby match against the Carolina Core at Matthews Sportsplex Stadium.

Independence Day

Independence day has come early and often for the Jacks this season. Coach Mike Jeffries’ team has been disciplined on defense and lethal in the attack. 

Before a loss at Omaha Union on Sept. 5, the Independence were undefeated in seven USL League One matches, with six wins. The loss dropped them into a tie with Omaha (15-6-4) at 49 points but well ahead on goal differential (plus-22 to plus-16). Charlotte (15-5-4) also has a game in hand. It’s a three-team race at this point with Forward Madison (14-5-5) threatening at two points behind.

The Jacks’ 12 home wins are the most in a League One regular season, surpassing One Knoxville SC (2025), Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC (2023) and Union Omaha (2023), who won 11 in their respective campaigns. With three home games remaining, the record can get stronger. The previous high for the Independence was 10 wins in 2023, their first season at the League One level. They are 3-4-4 on the road.

Souaibou Marou has had a breakout season and leads the league in scoring with 12 goals in 23 appearances, but much of the success is due to both Jon Bakero and Luis Alvarez having MVP-level seasons, though Alvarez has been limited by injury, missing nine matches so far. 

Alvarez’s nine goals are the fifth highest in the league, and he has passed for four assists (first), taken 46 shots (sixth), and created 31 chances (21st).

Bakero leads the league with 11 assists, scored eight times (seventh) and is fourth with 45 chances created. He was named the USL League One Player of the Month for August after he logged the first five-goal-contribution game – two goals and three assists against AV Alta - in League One history on his way to totaling three goals and six assists for the month. Alvarez was the Player of the Month in June.

“I’m fortunate to be surrounded by great teammates and coaches who push me every day,” said Bakero. “When you’re part of a group like this, individual recognition comes from the work everyone puts in. Personally, it’s been a good month, but I’m most proud of the team’s success and the way we’ve continued to improve and get results together.”

Mike Jeffries has 149 victories on the sidelines for the club across the USL Championship, League One and USL Cup. He was honored as the Coach of the Month for the second time this season. The Jacks were undefeated (4-0-1) for the month, outscoring the opposition 13-3.

With a win on Saturday, he would become the second coach to record 150 wins in the USL’s modern era after Bob Lilley (183 wins) and the first to do so with one club. 

While they’ve had 10 multi-goal victories this season, the last win, on Sept. 2 against Portland Hearts of Pine, embodies the resilience of what makes this squad championship contenders this season. After Bakero scored the first goal, two mistakes let Portland jump ahead 2-1 heading into a minimum of six minutes in added time. Those were the best minutes of the game, and arguably the most remarkable two minutes of the season. 

As the energized Hearts, camped in the lower half of the table, fought to get their best win of the season, Stefano Pinho, signed just over a month ago, scored twice in two minutes (90+6, 90+8) to claim a dramatic win.

Pinho scored his first goal for the Jacks after Javen Romero sprinted to keep a ball from rolling over the endline and crossed it into the middle of the penalty area, where the 35-year-old Brazilian striker was waiting to volley it inside the left post with his left foot. While the fans were still cheering the equalizer, Bakero played a cross in from the left about 30 yards out that fell to Pinho in pretty much the same spot. He met the ball as it hit the grass, sending it low inside the left post. 

It was a loss that became a draw that became a win. 

Building Legacy

As the second team of Charlotte FC, the purpose of Crown Legacy is to develop talent for the first team, and they’ve been good at that task. 

Will Cleary has started six of nine appearances for the first team after spending his first 10 matches with the Legacy. Rodolfo Aloko started the season with the second team, scoring eight goals in six games with two assists. The winger has started five of 14 appearances with CLTFC.  With Adilson Malanda leaving for England, Morrison Agyemang moved to the first team at the start after playing six times for Legacy last year. He started 17 of 19 matches so far this season. 

With two regular season games left, coach Kevin Sawchak’s team is 14-5-7, leading the MLS Next Pro Eastern Conference with 54 points, and have already clinched a postseason playoff spot. Their plus-27 goal differential is 10 higher than any other team in the East and second only to Austin FC II (plus-30).  Austin has the best overall record (17-3-6, 59 points). No team has scored more goals than the Legacy with 63 on the season. 

After Aloko left, the scoring has come from Hugo Mbongue, whose 13 tallies are tied for third in the league. Nathan Richmond and Nimfasha Berchimas have eight apiece but Berchimas is out for the season with a foot injury incurred on U.S. U-20 National Team duty. Richmond’s 10 assists is third best in the league. 

Last time out was another dominant performance in a 4-0 win over Chicago Fire II.

With two games left in their regular season, Crown Legacy FC need just two points to clinch the number one seed in the Eastern Conference and begin their postseason journey as the team to beat.

Round 2 of the Queen City derby

Heading into Saturday’s match in Cincinnati, Charlotte FC has only 10 games left – four at home – in the regular season to move up and solidify a postseason playoff position that will, hopefully, lock in a home advantage with a top four finish. 

They are undefeated in the last six matches (four wins). Charlotte came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with FCC on May 9.

The Crown is fifth in the MLS East, level with Chicago on points (39) but two goals back on goal difference (plus-9). Since the seven-week World Cup break, the Blue and White have moved up the table by winning five matches, drawing in three, and losing once. 

They also won two of three Leagues Cup games against a mixed level of Liga MX clubs that also gave coach Dean Smith the opportunity to give his bench more minutes, but with not enough points to advance in the more limited post-World Cup schedule. 

Charlotte started slow in the MLS return, going up 2-0 on Atlanta in the first 45, only to concede two in the second half, but came up strong in the next match, taking down nemesis Red Bulls New York 2-0 on the road. The only loss in the last nine league games was at Chicago.

In those nine matches, the Crown have outscored the opposition 18-10, with 10 different players finding the net, led by Pep Biel and Liel Abada with four apiece. Idan Toklomati added three, with seven scoring once, including defender Will Cleary and winger Rodolfo Aloko scoring their first MLS goals.

Eight different players assisted on those strikes, led by Biel’s three. Transfer window addition Allan Saint Maximin was twice the provider, with his quickness and touch on the ball twisting defenders inside out. Abada and David Schnegg also have two each. 

Last time out, Charlotte came back to down Montreal 2-1 north of the border after a 0-0 stalemate with the second-best in the west, Houston Dynamo. That followed a fourth straight win in Atlanta.

Next up is FC Cincinnati on Saturday and another road match away to DC United on September 19 before returning home to face Chicago on Sept. 26. FCC is smarting from a 5-0 demolition suffered at Philadelphia on Wednesday. They are currently seventh in the East (31, 11-7-6).

How high can CLTFC finish? Nashville SC has proven to be the beast of the East, arguably the best overall with 53 points after 24 matches (16-3-5), including a surprising loss to Toronto on the road on Wednesday. They are nine points ahead of second place Inter Messi (44, 12-4-8), with New England (40, 12-8-4) just one point ahead of Chicago and Charlotte. 

While every game is crucial, there are only two left against teams higher in the standings: home against Chicago, as mentioned, and the Decision Day match at Inter Miami on November 7. While first place is unlikely, second is achievable if the Crown keeps getting results and others falter. They are very capable of a top four finish if form holds.

Ascent in a sprint for honors

Just four games into their 14-match sprint season – Gainbridge Super League is switching to a spring-to-fall format in 2027 - the Carolina Ascent (3-1-0, 9 points) sit second in the table behind Sporting Club Jacksonville (3-0-1, 10). They will have played a rematch of last season’s championship game against Lexington, the 2025-26 titleholders, Friday in Kentucky.

That Lexington is currently sixth in the GSL is misleading, as they’ve only played two matches (1-1-0, 3 points).

The Ascent have won a league-record eight consecutive regular-season away games dating back to last season, Now in the league’s third season, Carolina is 17-6-7 away from home in regular season play, by far the most wins in GSL history.

The Ascent came out of the gate hot in mid-August, beating DC Power (1-0) and Dallas Trinity (3-1) on the road. They stumbled in the home opener in a 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay but came back strong with a dominant 3-0 victory over Fort Lauderdale.

The next two matches will be at home against Brooklyn FC on September 19 and Sept. 26 versus Sporting JAX.

“I think it’d be naïve of me to say that we don’t care about the fact that we lost in the final, we get to play them again, and that there isn’t something extra going into this game,” said team captain Jill Aguilera. 

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