Chattanooga claims WPSL Southeast Conference Championship
Defeats Nashville Rhythm 1-0
A 79th minute header from EG Dillard helped Chattanooga FC to a win over familiar foe Nashville Rhythm on Thursday evening, as CFC were crowned 2025 WPSL Southeast Conference champions.
A CFC women’s record crowd of 1,231 were there to see them claim glory and the club’s first title since 2018.
Chattanooga will advance to the WPSL South Region Playoffs. Here they’ll enter two rounds of single-elimination bracket play, hosted by McLean Soccer of Leesburg, Virginia. The other clubs taking part will be Louisiana Krewe Rush and West Florida Flames. The semi-finals will take place on Saturday, July 12th and finals on Sunday, July 13th.
The South Region Champion, along with the other three region champions, will then move on to the WPSL Championship, which will take place from July 18-20 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The full playoff bracket for the WPSL South Region Playoffs will be announced on Monday, July 7.
Chattanooga Lineup
Yep, you guessed it. The big gasp around the Scenic City when the team sheet was announced was the glaring omission of Reese McDermott. As can be so common in soccer at this level, she had commitments with her University Athletics program to meet and was thus unavailable. Her eight goals would be missed, but CFC had goalscorers elsewhere, such as Kennedy Ball, who’d netted four this summer.
In stepped Amy Smith, from Fort Collins, Co. The LSU athlete was a last-minute addition fresh from a Mountain Conference - Rockies Division winning season with Northern Colorado Rain. Another new Amy was on the bench, Amy Neal, a veteran Tennessee and Washington State soccer, who would have an enormous bearing on the game. Asked how he got these players into the game so last minute, Head Coach Juan Hernandez explained that these had been existing contacts they were able to draw from.
Outside of this, it was a fairly as expected CFC lineup from Hernandez.
Nashville Lineup
Kendall Curran retained her place in goal after an excellent performance against 865 Alliance to close out the regular season. A notable inclusion in the starting lineup was Izumi Wakatsuki, who has been unavailable for each of Rhythm’s last two games.
Naho Yamamura was unavailable for Rhythm, as she returned to Arizona Western University. Other than this, it was a mostly full-strength lineup for Nashville, with several strong options off the bench as well.
Between the Whistles
As the clock ticked on and we entered the final minutes of play at Finley Stadium, the feeling was that this might be headed for dreaded extra-time and PKs. The record-breaking 1,231 fans, led by the Chattahooligans, had noisily rallied for their team for close to 80 minutes as the sun was setting on a hot Tennessee summer’s evening. It would soon have to set on the season of one of these two teams.
CFC, who had the lions’ share of possession and chances all evening, were pressing. A delicious back-heel from Amy Smith, parachuted into the team due to late-season roster availability issues, found Amy Neal, another late addition, close to the halfway line. Neal took the ball well and beat her marker to glide down the right wing. In the box was EG Dillard, unmarked and alone. Neal floated a pin-perfect cross to Dillard, who’s head rocketed the ball passed Kendall Curran and into the net. It was a great goal from a player who admits to not enjoying heading the ball.
Finley Stadium went wild, and there was a sense that this was it. And it was no more really than the home side deserved. Chattanooga dominated the match and created more opportunities than Nashville throughout the sun soaked game.
Defender Kei Yoneda hit the crossbar with a long-range strike in the first half, while Annick Lolita Manga Zouma and Amy Smith both had big chances in the second half but saw their shots go over the bar. At the back, Maddie Smith in goal had little to do. Her counterpart, Curran was the busier of the two keepers.
While Hannah Tillet had a strong game in the middle of the park, the star of the show was newbie Amy Neal. As well as her excellent assist she menaced the Nashville defense all evening, demonstrating her skill and experience. She nearly got one herself a few minutes later but was thwarted in the box.
In the end, it was Dillard’s goal that settled it. A fine header, worthy of a Championship win.
Analysis
Philip Farrell: I think CFC deserved their win and will make very worthy representatives for the Southeast Region in the next phase of the season. To get a win, when missing their key striker and star player was impressive, as was Hernandez’s ability to bring in strong last minute replacements at short notice.
A good crowd also deserves note, its something that not every team in this league can boast.
Ronan Briscoe: This game perhaps wasn’t quite as close as the scoreboard shows. While yes, both teams had chances they absolutely should’ve put away that are completely indefensible to miss, Chattanooga seemed to have more of them. They used the crowd and the ball to dictate the pace of play, and I think, were deserving winners in the end.
It’s a second consecutive season without a conference title for Rhythm, who, in the future, pretty desperately need an attacker with the kind of ruthlessness in front of goal they’d gotten from the likes of Keito Ido and Yuki Watari in the past.
That seems to have been Rhythm’s biggest issue over the last two years, but, there’s college goalscorers aplenty around the country. It’s just a matter of convincing one to spend a summer in the mid-south.
Box Score
Chattanooga FC - Nashville Rhythm FC
WPSL Southeast Conference Championship
Venue: Finley Stadium | Chattanooga, TN
Final Score: Chattanooga 1-0 Nashville Rhythm
Attendance: 1,231
Scoring summary:
79': EG. Dillard (CFC)
Player of the Match:
Philip Farrell: Amelia Neal (CFC) - reason
Line-ups:
Chattanooga FC: Maddie Smith, Kei Yoneda, Abbey Marak, Kasie Vigil, Jordan Crockett, EG Dillard, Mae Hunt, Kaylie Smith, Hannah Tillett, Amy Smith, Kennedy Ball
Subs: Bella Valentine, Kloe Reeves, Amelia Neal, Annick Lolita Manga Zouma, Brady Livingston, Victoria Soutuyo
Not used: Billie Jean Davies, Ella Attaway, Kyleigh Hall
Head Coach: Juan Hernandez
Nashville: Kendall Curran, Hannah Smoot, Katelyn Toney, Madison Long, Georgia Shields, Grace Morris, Izumi Wakatsuki, Jayden Boelter, Maggie Brzica, Maggie Phillips, Phoebe Lott
Subs: Gracelyn Williams, Aoi Kawabuchi, Faith Adje, Madeleine Hill, Emma Shields,
Not used: Katherine Wood, Mallory Thomas
Head Coach: Scott Davison