Charlotte Independence win the USL One Players Shield 

CHARLOTTE INDEPENDENCE

Souaibou Marou is USL One's top scorer with 18 goals going into Saturday's regular season finale in Portland, Maine.

A win in Greenville coupled with a Union Omaha loss gave the Charlotte Independence its first trophy in club history.

The Jacks not only earned clinched the USL One Players Shield for best regular season record, they locked down top seeding for the playoffs that begin on Nov. 1. They will face the No. 8 seed, Fort Wayne FC, but it could also be Chattanooga Red Wolves (7) or FC Naples (9) depending on results this weekend.

Before that though, there’s one last regular season tilt in Portland, Maine, on Saturday (5 p.m. on ESPN+) to take care of. While coach Mike Jeffries might rest players with an injury, you can be sure that this team isn’t taking the night off.

That has been the hallmark and identity of a squad that has come back to draw and win games it probably wouldn’t have in previous seasons.

Mentality monsters

“The one thing that separates this year compared to years past, I would say, is just the overall mentality of the group,” said captain Clay Dimick. Now in his eighth consecutive season with the Jacks, Dimick is second to Joel Jones in all-time appearances for the club.

“When things aren't going right, whether it's in training or in games, people don't split off as individuals. We stick together as a group.”

That was never more evident than three weeks back when they were down 2-1 at Sarasota with four minutes left and facing a penalty kick that would seal the game. As he has so many times this season, goalkeeper Matt Levy rose to the moment, diving to his right to push the ball wide. 

With one minute left in regulation, Vigo Ortiz found Souaibou Marou on the break and the Cameroonian striker found the top right corner of the goal to level the game. There were eight minutes of added time and four minutes in, Joey Skinner crossed the ball for Stefano Pinho to slot home for the Charlotte win.

Levy, who has seven clean sheets on the season, says the competitive edge is there every day in training. 

“I think there’s been moments in the season where we're like, maybe we should tone down the practices a little bit. It doesn’t even come from the coaches, so it comes from the guys. Everything that (the coaches) make a competition, we see it as something that we want to win every single time in training, and nobody wants to lose.”

Added Jon Bakero: “I’ve been fortunate enough to be on some winning teams, and I feel like those teams always have something in common, and it’s just the relationships off the field and the camaraderie.”

Individual success = team success

As a group, the Jacks have been dominant, already setting league records for wins (20), points (66) and goals scored (73) in a season. Most of those goals (45) came in the 16 home matches (14-1-1). Fifteen different players have scored.

Their goal differential is plus-31, seven more than the closest team. They have the fewest losses (five) and have drawn six matches. Union Omaha has 19 wins, matching what they and North Carolina FC achieved in 2023. A win in Maine on Saturday keeps the Jacks on top. 

They have also made their mark as individuals.

Marou is the leading scorer in USL One with 18 goals, two ahead of Westchester’s Conor McGlynn. He is tied for second in league history. The season record is 23, set in 2023.

Bakero, in just his second season with the Jacks, has set a new season record with 17 assists and his 26 over two campaigns may have the USL One all-time record by Sunday. He is one ahead of Spokane Velocity FC’s Nil Vinyals.

Bakero, who won the MAC Hermann trophy as the nation’s best collegiate player at Wake Forest in 2017, has also scored eight times. (Jeffries received that honor in 1983.)

Levy, in his fourth season with the team, is second in saves a testament to his ability and a sign that the Jacks’ affinity for attacking also allows for a lot of opposition shots. He now ranks fifth all-time for single season saves with 101. Out of 33 game weeks, Levy has been honored with the Save of the Week eight times (27%). 

“That’s something he’s done all year,” Dimick said. “He’s kept us in games when maybe the momentum is going the other way. He makes a big play, and then the momentum starts to swing. So just like Sarasota, he did that in Boise. He had some big saves in Boise. He did it away from home in Richmond when the game was tight. I could think of countless games.”

The win in Greenville was Jeffries 65th in USL One, making him the all-time leader in that category.

Independence players have been honored with 55 Team of the Week selections and six Player of the Week selections. Both Alvarez and Bakero were named Player of the Month and Jeffries was twice selected Coach of the Month.

Stepping up

The success of the team has come despite the adversity of key players, particularly Luis Alvarez and Enzo Martinez, missing matches due to injury. 

Even though he’s been limited to 15 games by a thigh injury, Alvarez established himself as the creative force on the team and a leading candidate for league MVP honors. He still ranks ninth in scoring with nine goals and passed for four assists. Martinez, a mainstay in the club’s Championship division days, has played in 19 matches.

In their absence, Christopher Jaime and Vigo Ortiz have stepped up to deliver the creativity and danger in the offensive third. Twenty-three players have started at least one game. Fifteen have started at least 10 games and 22 have played in at least 12 matches.

“That’s definitely something that has been a next man up mentality,” explained Dimick, “and I think a big part of it is if you train that way, and the team who's playing against the starters in training is just as good and pushing us, it makes us feel like we can count on anybody in this group, and I think that's shown throughout the year.”

In 239 minutes across 13 games since joining the team at the end of July, Stefano Pinho has scored a goal (four) every 60 minutes. 

Dimick says the overall level of League One, which now has 17 teams, has gotten better. 

“You even see (it in) our team this year. Guys like (Stefano) Pinho, Enzo (Martinez), (Christy) Manzinga; these guys have incredible resumes and they're coming off our bench. It just shows that the level of the league, the level of our team is really high, and something we can be proud of.”

More to come

In the locker room after the win, the usually even-keeled Jeffries jumped and celebrated like a kid as the team doused him and each other with water.

“If you can’t be happy, then something’s wrong,” said Jeffries, who has coached the team for all but 15 games during the 2019 season. “It was a great celebration, and I'm happy for the guys. Whether it’s the young guys and it’s the first time they’ve had the chance to win, or the guys that have been doing it for a long time, including myself, and haven’t won yet, I think it’s a huge accomplishment and something they can continue to be proud of.”

The Jacks made the USL One final in 2023 where they lost to North Carolina FC on penalty kicks (5-4) after a 1-1 draw in regulation and overtime.

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