Chattanooga Post-Season Bulletin - November
News and updates from the Scenic City
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Winter has well and truly come to the Scenic City. As the long dark evenings settle in, we slowly say goodbye to a 2025 that was a good year for teams in the Chattanooga metropolitan area. But the story isn’t finished yet, a trio of local UPSL sides still have much to play for and plans for 2026 are already underway.
In this new series of monthly bulletins, I’ll be capturing all the major news across all teams in the area, giving you a one-stop-shop for what’s happened in November in Chattanooga soccer.
Chattanooga FC
With CFC’s MLS Next Pro season ending on October 19 in the 2-0 home loss to Huntsville, November has seen the club busily preparing for its 2026 campaign.
They have been active early in the transfer window, announcing two new signings already in November. Firstly, they signed left-back Anton Sorenson to a one-year contract. The Haitian-born US youth international spent the majority of his elite development years in the Philadelphia Union Academy system before playing professionally with Philadelphia Union II and Charlotte Independence. Last week, goalkeeper Griffin Huff was signed on a one-year contract with a club option for a further year. He joins CFC after spending time at Lexington SC for whom he represented their USL League 2 (eight appearances in 2025) and UPSL sides.
Just as importantly as these new recruits was the news in November that both captain Alex McGrath and goalkeeper Eldin Jakupović had re-signed with the club. McGrath, injured for most of 2025 but a key talisman in this side’s pro era, has been nailed down to a two-year contract with a club option for a further year. Swiss-international Jakupović, selected for the MLS NEXT Pro Best XI and named the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year for 2025, has signed a one-year contract. (As a reminder, right-back Tate Robertson was also named to the league’s Best XI and finished as a finalist for Defender of the Year).
On 25 November, CFC announced on its X that forward Ameziane Sid Mohand had been re-signed to a new one-year deal with a club option for a further year. Added to the contract renewals announced in October; Sorensen, Huff, Sid Mohand, McGrath, and Jakupović bring CFC’s current roster for 2026 to 14 players.
Earlier in the month, primary owner Davis Grizzard joined the Morning Kickaround team to discuss CFC’s time so far in MLS Next Pro as well as possible future plans for the club. You can watch the interview below.
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC
Over in East Ridge, after its season wrapped up with November 1’s 1-0 home loss to Portland Hearts of Pine, the Red Wolves have exercised options or finalized agreements on 11 roster returns. Goalkeepers Jason Smith and Ricardo Jerez, defenders Josh Ramos, Yanis Lelin, and Eric Kinzner, midfielders Matt Acosta, Wynand Wessels, Omar Gomez, and Ualefi, and forwards Matt Bentley and Greyson Mercer are all back for 2026. As of November 30, the club is still in talks to retain defenders Aaron Lombardi and Declan Watters as well as attackers Omar and Pedro Hernández. Defenders Tobi Jnohope and Owen Green, midfielders Gharett Morris, Michael Knapp and Jonny Filipe, and attackers Zahir Vazquez and Alhassan Alhassan have not been retained and are now free agents. Meanwhile Jordan Ayimbila (Miami FC) and Kimball Jackson (Lexington SC) have returned to their parent clubs after their loan deals expired. Jackson was subsequently released by Lexington. You can keep up to date with the Red Wolves’ roster moves at Alex Ashton’s excellent USL League One 2026 Transaction Tracker.
The side picked up a number of individual awards for their strong regular season campaign. Head Coach Scott Mackenzie was named USL League One Coach of the Year, Jason Smith won the league’s Golden Glove Award, and Declan Watters was named to the league’s team of the year. Smith and Eric Kinzner were also finalists for Goalkeeper of the Year and Young Player of the Year respectively.
Finally, on November 5 the Red Wolves announced that Patrick Mashburn, appointed General Manager only last September, would be leaving the organization. He had replaced Sean McDaniel in the role who had left in February. The organization did state that Mashburn would stay on in some capacity until a replacement was identified.
UPSL
The UPSL season continues in Chattanooga as we move into December. In the Premier division Georgia Zone 2, Scenic City SC clinched fourth spot and a playoff run with an entertaining 6-3 win over North Georgia United on November 15. A sterling finish for a side who only gained promotion from Division 1 in Spring. They travel away this afternoon (Nov 30) to take on the mighty Kalonji Pro Profile (who recently qualified for the 2026 US Open Cup) with an 8pm (ET) kick-off at Shiloh Generals Stadium in Snellville, Georgia. The winner will face the Atlanta United Academy in the Georgia Semi-Final.
Staying in UPSL Premier but over in the KY-TN conference, the Chattanooga Kaistorms ended its season in a strong second place. They are expected to face Southern Indiana FC (who also qualified for the 2026 Open Cup) in the playoffs with a date and time TBD, but likely at home.
Down in Division 1 Georgia North, Scenic City II just failed to make the playoffs (finishing fifth) but Chattanooga FC U20s, ahead of them in fourth, are into the post-season. They play away to Angelus on December 6, with a 7.30pm (ET) kick-off at Macon Soccer Club.
And in case you missed it, over in nearby Cleveland, Tennessee the Southeast Soccer Report recently chatted with Albert Murza, founder of Cleveland United FC. CUFC kicks off its debut season in Spring 2026, and Albert was kind enough to talk with us about why he started the team, their plans for the future, and what they want their role in the community to be. Be sure to give it a read.
Mocs
Over at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the Mocs women’s soccer team wrapped up its season on October 31. At the Southern Conference Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama they lost 2-1 to Furman in overtime. Thus ended a season in which they finished fourth in SoCon with a 4-2-3 record.
Forward Quinn Johnson (18 games, 5 goals, 2 assists) was named the SoCon Freshman of the Year, and earned a spot on both the All-Conference Second Team and the All-Freshman Team. Senior midfielder Clarissa Salinas (19 games, 3 goals, 3 assists) was also named to the All-Conference Second Team. Senior forward Caroline Richvalsky (19 games, 9 goals, 8 assists) was named to the All-Conference First Team. Red Wolves fans will know Salinas and Richvalsky well after both played in 2025 for their USL W side. Other Lady Red Wolves in the Mocs team this year were defender Brenna Swiger (18 games, 1 assist) and Sophia (19 games) and Zoey Mize (19 games, 1 goal, 6 assists).
A number of names familiar to fans of Chattanooga FC include goalkeeper Caroline Ekern (19 games, 22 goals against), defender Abbey Marak (17 games, 1 assist), midfielder EG Dillard (19 games, 2 goals, 2 assists), and forward Ella Attaway (8 games).
In November, the Mocs announced five signings for their 2025 class. This included Emily Betterton and Zoe Misenhimer from Baylor School in Chattanooga, along with Mackenzie Brown, Molly Johnson, and Lilly Filler from Hendersonville High School up near Nashville.
A huge story for the Mocs over the past month was the announcement of a new 2,000 seat soccer-specific stadium for the program. More on that below.
Other news
Recent, somewhat controversial, news in Chattanooga was that UTC will be tearing down Historic Engel Stadium to make way for a new women’s athletics and community health facility that will include a soccer-specific stadium. The announcement has split opinion in the Scenic City with many locals angry that such an historic and storied ballpark could be allowed to deteriorate so badly and then simply wiped from the map. For context, Engel was opened in 1930 and served as the home of the Chattanooga Lookouts baseball team until 1999, and briefly the Chattanooga Choo-Choos of the Negro Southern League. It played host to some of the giants of America’s pastime, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige, and Willie Mays. Michael Jordan also graced Engel during his brief time in baseball. In 1931, a local 17-year-old girl named Jackie Mitchell pitched for the Lookouts at Engel Stadium, striking out Gehrig and Ruth, or so the story goes. Suffice to say, the stadium has long been at the heart of social, public, and sporting life in the city, a place where many Chattanoogans have fond childhood memories.
Sitting in a state of shocking deterioration over the past decade, the loss of Engel is huge, but a silver lining is that it is being replaced by a stadium (and not another boutique hotel or car wash) and that UTC plans to memorialize it, including by using much of its brickwork to construct the soccer stadium, which will carry the same name as its predecessor.
From a purely soccer perspective, it is an exciting development in that it gives the Mocs a real home, one built for its sport and appropriately sized. But the loss of any stadium, especially one as storied as Engel, is a bitter pill to swallow.
