Today, the UPSL announced that Tar Devils Sporting Club were joining the league’s Mid-Atlantic Division. The timing is perfect, as the Chapel Hill-based team who have dominated in the North Carolina State League and other local leagues since 2021 have also agreed to a coverage deal with the Southeast Soccer Report!
For our first article with the club, we interviewed founder and owner Alessandro Racioppi to profile his team before the fall season and give fans an idea of the culture and talented squad they’ve built.
How and why was the club formed?
The Tar Devils soccer team was founded in 2021 by Alessandro Racioppi, a lifelong soccer fan from Italy and medical student at Duke University School of Medicine. He brought together former UNC Tar Heels and Duke Blue Devils players, which inspired the team’s name, Tar Devils, blending the two rival schools. What started as a way to play competitive adult soccer with friends soon became a winning team. The Tar Devils won the OCASL league title four times and steadily moved up to higher competition, including the State Cup.
Recently, the Tar Devils competed in the North Carolina State League (NCSL), the state’s top amateur league, facing strong teams like Say Word FC, Gastonia FC, Mint Hill, and Central Raleigh. Key players have been vital to the team’s success. Michael Pasca, an original member, now serves as captain. Howard Huang has played for the team and also helps with administration and team management.
In their debut NCSL season, the Tar Devils defeated every opponent, highlighted by a 3-1 playoff win over Mint Hill’s first team. They reached the championship but narrowly lost 2-1 to Say Word FC after a deciding penalty. Known for their grit, the Tar Devils frequently mounted comebacks. Last season, they overcame three-goal deficits multiple times in the final minutes to secure thrilling wins. Their never-give-up attitude defines the team.
What do you look for when recruiting players for the squad?
What we look to recruit:
1) Commitment - We don’t recruit “mercenaries” or guys who play for 4-5 teams just out of convenience or to get paid or not show up. That has never been our brand. We vet guys for character to the best of our abilities before letting anyone in, no matter how good their CV is. Being committed to what Tar Devils means is essential: a brotherhood. That is what we call it amongst ourselves, Tar Devils brotherhood, as our core group is extremely close both in and out dire the pitch.
2) Growth mindset -We do our best to select players who want to get better. There certainly is a baseline level of talent needed, and we do recruit at baseline high level of talent, but that alone isn’t enough. We do not seek raw talent with half effort, we want people who are here to prove themselves whatever their story may be, from redemption to their first time on a big stage.
3) Ability to be coached - We have a great head coach, Jacob Woodburn, who along with myself (Alessandro Racioppi) are always providing players with areas of improvement in game or on tape. A group of players who is able to be coached will go further than raw talent that is not coachable.
4) Talent - We have a high level roster as stated, so to fight for a spot the bare minimum talent level has to be high. This one is self explanatory, I’d imagine.
Who are some big players you’ve recruited?
Sam Raben - Former Wake Forest captain with 91 starts consecutively. Former MLS player for Colorado Rapids.
Jonathan Miller - Active Bahamas international player, former William Peace soccer alumn. Great outside back.
Daniel Bambaga - Center forward, great physical athlete with an eye for goal. Soccer athlete who just competed at Concord University last season.
Jacob Smith - Former GK at William Peace. Played for Dark Horse this last TST.
-Johnny McNeill: A great striker/center back combo with collegiate experience at Sewanee and played for Dark Horse in TST recently.
-Hugo Kemppainen: Great former collegiate player for Methodist University and former professional footballer.
-Brian Potocnik: Hall of Fame midfielder and All American from John Carroll University.
Why make the jump to a higher level in the UPSL? Are you looking to compete for the title this year, or are you expecting a setback?
I would actually say we may have played some higher level teams (Say Word FC, TST team, Mint Hill FC’s first team, 1st team from UPSL premier) in the NCSL, so we don’t expect a jump in difficulty per say in UPSL, more of a growth platform for long term given increased exposure and more structured league organization. The NCSL will still have much room for growth in the future.
Why now for the switch? As hinted above, we feel that our platform was ready for continued growth (we went from local amateur to semi pro NCSL, placing 2nd right away, and now UPSL within the span of less than 12 months). So we were looking to have a first season to test our level, and we saw that we were matching or exceeding most of the competition, so we felt we were ready both talent wise and for organizational growth long term. Sustainably is key, so while we were invited to UPSL last year, we refused to build our infrastructure and make sure we run a sustainable team, which is the goal. This is key to us, truly, sustainability.
For full clarity, UPSL offered us 2 options this year: Premier and Division 1. We picked Division 1 even when they urged us to go Premier due to their expectation of our level. Same reasoning there, sustainable growth. One step at a time!
Our goal this year is to win the UPSL Division 1 right away. Very clear goal we have set up for ourselves, we have the talent to, now we need to make it happen!
With the club’s platform, how are you giving back to the community in Chapel Hill?
We partnered with UNC physical therapy to volunteer our team for research studies that may help athlete injury prevention. We donate our time during each practice to be able to contribute to this research. This also makes us feel like we are an integral part of the community and giving back through work that may help many athletes moving forward. On the other hand, we are also setting us some local youth soccer clinics to be able to help young players get exposure to semi-pro athletes who may be able to help them get to where they want to be in the future.
We are very community focused, our primary business partners who sponsored us historically were all local Franklin St businesses with local supportive owners (IP3, Goodfellows, Steel String, Might as Well).
Thank you to the club for a great overview of who they are, and we look forward to watching them challenge for the UPSL Division 1 Mid-Atlantic title!