The San Diego Football Club (SDFC) has made it far for their inaugural season, with a record of 19-9. In their first year as a team, they not only made it to the play-offs, but to the Western Conference semifinals and then the Western Conference finals. Regardless, the team has had great success since they started.

Local news station CBS 8 mentions in an article that they have made first place in the MLS Western Conference. During the game, 2 goals were scored by Anders Dreyer, who recently came off from an injury, and Amahl Pellegrino, who also scored 2 goals. SDFC managed to beat the 8th-seeded Portland Timbers 4-0 in one of their first games in the playoffs. On the other side of the field, 5 saves were made by Portland’s James Pantemis, who is also the goalkeeper for Canada’s national soccer team.

According to the schedule on the SDFC website, after their 3-match series against Portland with a record of 2-1, they advanced and played a close match against Minnesota, where they won with the score being 1-0. After they made it to the finals, they lost their momentum by losing to Vancouver, which also had its first appearance in the Western Conference Finals.

Fans have speculated that the reason why SDFC has done so well is because of their youth club and the popularity within the San Diego community. Soccer coach Aaron Martinez explains that “The soccer culture in Southern California is second to none in the entire country and I think San Diego specifically being a border town and having such a heavy Hispanic influence and having, in my opinion, some of, if not the best players in the country”.

Locals from San Diego who liked soccer were excited when they heard about the idea of a local team, “It kind of made me go back to watching soccer because I realized now I actually had a tie to a team,” comments soccer player Owen Olearcyzk. When Mr. Martinez was asked about what he likes about the team from a coach’s perspective, he commented on the strategy they use, “I like playing with the ball on the ground and in possession and breaking lines, maneuvering defensemen, and taking advantage of overloads when we have those opportunities. 
So I think being able to see it, I enjoy the proximity of it.” As SDFC enters the offseason, fans hope that the momentum from this season will carry on into the next season. SDFC fans have already shown how popular soccer is in San Diego.