October 31, 2024 – United Soccer League One (USL1)
Spokane Velocity FC News Release
Windsor, Colorado, is an all-too familiar environment for the members of Spokane Velocity FC, who traveled there to play Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC just 14 days before the squads face off in the first round of the USL League One Playoffs this Saturday.
The previous result? A 1-0 victory for Hailstorm FC that came in a slow-paced affair, seeing just three collective shots on target from both sides.
Despite the recent loss, optimism still runs high in the organization.
“We had a great performance against them last week,” said head coach Leigh Veidman after learning Hailstorm would be his postseason opponent. “I think each time we’ve played them, we’ve progressively improved, we’ve learned how to handle them a little better each time.”
Across their four meetings over all formats, Hailstorm has outscored Velocity 7-3, and have been on the winning end thrice. Two of these came in the Jägermeister Cup, which boasted a tweaked ruleset to encourage scoring. The cup was won by Northern Colorado in a dramatic finish, coming down to Hailstorm’s fifth penalty shot in the championship match against Forward Madison FC. Both clubs split their regular season contests, with Velocity winning their first-ever matchup on March 23 in 1-0 fashion thanks to a Luis Gil penalty shot.
All too much has changed since March however, and Velocity has made several changes to their starting 11. Gil, Andre Lewis, Marcelo Lage and Derek Waldeck are the only members from their 1-0 win in March to have started in their most recent competition.
Thanks to this roster turnover, Spokane’s season has been able to course-correct when they find themselves struggling. Veidman has remarked numerous times during the season about the ups and downs of a professional soccer club, but even in troubling times, this course-correcting has been a key reason why Velocity finds itself fighting for a chance to stand atop USL League One.
The other two clubs in League One history to make the playoffs in their inaugural season have found varying levels of success. Union Omaha made it all the way to the championship contest before Greenville Triumph SC was named champions. This came about due to multiple Omaha players testing positive for COVID-19, canceling the finale. The only other expansion team to make the playoffs, Charlotte Independence, came down from the USL Championship League for the 2022 season. The Independence fell in…