On a wet Tuesday night in the American Legion Memorial Stadium current ECNL U19 player, Colton Sessoms, receives a pinpoint through ball to calmly slot past the Charlotte Independence goalkeeper. This was the fourth goal in a historic 4-2 win in the Open Cup, over the professional outfit from Charlotte.

Cue manic goal celebrations in one corner of the iconic downtown stadium, in which head coach, Chris Williams, finally emerged from the bottom of pile of players. The collective sprit shown and genuine happiness by all, for yet another youth player contributing to the USL 2 men’s team on field success, was truly amazing to see.

In the previous round, a convincing win over South Carolina United Bantams, another U19 player, Steven Hernandez, scored 2 goals to swing the game in Fusion’s favor. In total, 6 youth players have been involved on the USL 2 Open Cup squad so far.

Adam Reekie- Head of Boys ECNL said “it’s great the see the young lads doing so well at that level. We have a very good crop of young players at the club, including the boys with the USL 2 team.  We are lucky to have a head coach who see’s the value of young players and trusts them on the field”.

USL 2 head coach, Chris Williams had this to say: “we are so pleased for the young players in the squad. It really shows a pathway for our young players! Our hope is that this inspires the next group of players to be involved in such a fantastic competition!” 

Next up is a tough draw against USL-1 side, Richmond Kickers on Wednesday 20^th  6:30 Kickoff at City Stadium; Richmond, Va.