Palmetto State Report: June 26
USL Cup returns, UPSL playoffs, more honors and signings around the state.
No time to waste, straight to the Palmetto State headlines.
Soda City FC advance in UPSL playoffs
It was a tale of two halves in Irmo last Saturday as Soda City scored four first-half goals to seemingly be cruising into the next round of the UPSL Mid-Atlantic playoffs. The NC Lions flipped the game on its head after the break with three quick goals in early the second half to make the last half hour very tense for the back-to-back UPSL champs. Final score 4-3 Soda and their playoff march continues Saturday, June 28 at AC Raleigh visits for a 6 PM kickoff.
USL Cup returns this weekend
The Triumph will host FC Miami on Saturday, June 28 at 7 PM in their next USL Cup match. The Battery are on the road in Statesboro to face Tormenta at 7:30 PM in their next USL Cup match. The Battery sit bottom of the USL Cup Group F table having lost both Cup matches played this campaign. The Triumph are 1-1-0 in Group F play and have a win over the Battery and a loss versus Tormenta on their Cup resume.
Electric City FC crush Liberty Arsenal International to clinch regular-season title
Electric City FC made no mistake about their regular-season crown crushing the Liberty Arsenal International squad 11-0 last Saturday to claim the crown in dominating fashion. Seven players scored for Electric City with both Julian Caro Sepulveda and Eathan Campuzano each scoring a hat trick. The regular season finale will be Saturday, June 28 at 4 PM in Greenwood at Emerald City FC.
Bantams drop close contests in both USL Two and USL W League contests
The scoreboard wasn’t kind to the Bantams over the past week as both the USL Two and W League team dropped close contests to their North Carolina opponents. The USL Two Bantams slipped 1-2 versus NCFC U23’s on Saturday and then 0-2 on the road at the Charlotte Eagles on Tuesday. The USL W Bantams slipped 1-2 versus NC Courage U23’s on Saturday and then 0-1 on the road at the Charlotte Eagles also on Tuesday. Both teams are back at home this Saturday playing host to Wake FC at 7:30 PM.
Battery add midfielder Jeremy Kelly from Crawley Town FC
Jeremy Kelly just signed a multi-year deal with the Battery to strengthen an already stacked midfield patrolling Patriots Point. Kelly is reunited with his former Memphis boss Coach Ben Pirmann and teammates Aaron Malloy and Graham Smith. The midfielder brings USLC, MLS, and a successful EFL promotion campaign with Crawley Town to EFL League One. He is available immediately and could see his Battery debut versus Tormenta in Saturday’s USL Cup match.
Triumph get huge win over Red Wolves
The Greenville Triumph picked up a massive win in a 3-1 result over the Chattanooga Red Wolves last Saturday in the Upstate. The win featured the new “Classic Kit” third kit and snapped the Triumph’s eight-game USL League One winless streak. Leo Castro, Toby Sims, and Zeke Soto scored the goals for the Triumph. The goal for Soto was his first professional goal for the Charleston Battery teenage on-loan to the Triumph.
Palmetto Rewind articles in the works
There will be a series of articles remembering the defunct soccer clubs of South Carolina coming in the next few weeks. Lots of Palmetto State soccer fans will remember the Myrtle Beach Sea Dawgs and Greenville Lions but how about the Carolina Elite Cobras and the Performance FC Phoenix? It’s going to be a stroll down a Palmetto-lined memory lane over these next few articles.
Hey I’m the keeper from the nc lions is there anyway I can find any of the pictures from the game I’d like to have some if that’s possible!