Soda City FC make UPSL history winning both Spring and Fall 2024 Premier national titles

Back-to-Back UPSL National Titles for Soda City FC

The UPSL never had a back-to-back Premier Division national champion until Soda City FC completed their double on Sunday night in California. The team from Columbia, South Carolina defeated California foes FC Folsom 4-2 for the historic result.

A brace from Hykeem Martin and a goal apiece from JC Mactutus and Jose Flores sends Soda City back home with the trophy.

Soda City FC join fellow UPSL royalty OC Crew SC as the only other two-time Premier Division national champion (’11-12 and ’13-14). Soda City FC are the only back-to-back UPSL champion.

The UPSL championship game began with each team looking to imprint their style of play on the match. FC Folsom looked to move the ball side-to-side as they slowly built the attack up the flanks. Soda City FC relied on a more vertical approach to quickly push the ball forward where quick combinations freed the players to pass and shoot.

Image Credit: UPSL X Post

In the 23^rd minute it was one of the FC Folsom build-ups that paid dividends as a streaking, overlapping run by the Folsom left back carried the ball deep into the left corner when it could be pulled back to the PK spot where team Captain Dalton Pando was running inside the area. Pando calmly slotted the ball into the low corner of the net with his first touch for the 1-0 advantage.

The physical play picked up from this opening goal and Soda City earned a free kick about 40 yards out in the 33^rd minute. Soda looked to be serving the ball deep into a crowded far post but caught Folsom flat-footed with a cleverly disguised set piece from the training ground. A streaking Soda City player collect a through ball up the left flank and he then ripped a driven ball behind the Folsom defensive line through the Folsom box where Hykeem Martin made no mistake in pounding in the driven service one-touch to level the match 1-1.

A save from Soda City keeper Jacob Cotton in first half stoppage time sent both teams to the locker rooms knotted 1-1 after the first 45 minutes.

The Soda City halftime talk paid immediate returns as Soda scored in the 46^th minute off an early cross from the left flank on their first trip up the field in the second half. Soda midfielder JC Mactutus found a pocket of space inside the Folsom box and neatly slotted in the low cross for the lead. Soda then put the hammer down and pounded shot after shot for about a 10-minute spell at the Folsom goal but unable to find another breakthrough. The game leveled back off around the 60^th minute as Folsom regained some possession and shape after defending the Soda pressure.

Hykeem Martin later adds another goal in the 69^th minute as Soda City dumps a ball into the box where it is headed down before being flicked on to a streaking Martin crashing the goal from the right flank. Martin rifles the shot just inside the near post catching the scrambling Folsom keeper out of position to increase the Soda City lead to 3-1.

Soda City add a fourth goal in the 79^th minute as Jose Flores is put on the end of a superb diagonal ball that unlocked the entire Folsom defense. Flores collects the ball, sets his feet, and then lofts the ball up and over the keeper into the back post top corner netting. 4-1 Soda City.

A thick fog began to roll into the stadium after the fourth goal and the final 15 minutes of the match were played almost behind closed doors as the spectators struggled to follow the action behind the thick curtains of fog on the pitch. What an odd weather event to play out the championship match.

Folsom pull a goal out of the fog in the 90+5 minute but Soda City FC hold on to win 4-2.

Soda City FC punched their ticket to the Final with a 4-2 win over FUT Ohio on Friday, January 31. The match was an instant class over 120 minutes with five lead changes, a red card to FUT Ohio, and six goals in this physical, end-to-end match. Playoff scoring sensation Rauf Salifu scored a lightning-quick brace for Soda during the 10-minute scoring frenzy in the first half that saw the score go from 0-0 to 2-2 between the 31^st and 39^th minutes. It was then up to a 107^th minute goal from Soda’s Gabriel Hugo-Guadagno to provide the separation between the two sides after an hour of stalemate soccer. The eventual game-winner was a recycled corner kick that was served deep into the box from the right flank that Soda headed down into a crowded goal mouth where Hugo-Guadagno was first to react as he nodded the bouncing ball into the net. Troy Paul sealed the deal in the 120^th minute to finalize the score at 4-2 Soda City.

What makes the difference for Soda City FC is the way the team is constructed and their aggressive style of play. Throughout the playoffs, the team has demonstrated their ability to both outwork and outlast the competition over 90 minutes or more to get the victory.

Soda City can play the long game and can weather all of the storms during the match to then at the end pull away for the victory. This method has worked several times with late goals, including the match over Kalonji Pro Profile (86^th minute), Current FC (98^th minute), and FUT Ohio (107^th minute). Soda City are the kings of the late, late show.

So whether it is a suffocating high press trapping the opponents in their half or a free-flowing, track meet of a match circulating all over the midfield, Soda City is built to run.

Soda City by winning both the spring and fall UPSL Premier championship has pulled off the only double in UPSL history where the defending spring champion also won the fall championship. Ironically, Soda City is not the defending Mid Atlantic champion in either the spring or fall 2024 campaigns. In both Mid Atlantic tournaments, Soda City didn’t lift the regional trophy, but was granted the national playoff berth when the playoff champions declined the invitation.

Soda City FC has clearly made good on those two invitations running away to two consecutive national titles. The future looks very bright as the core of this team is ready to enter the 2025 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in early March as well as jump back into the UPSL Mid Atlantic Premier race this spring.