Photo Gallery Sol rally ends Chattanooga FC season with 2-1 loss View 12 Photos

Determined to be the first Chattanooga Football Club fan to enter Finley Stadium on Saturday evening, Christin Cadwell arrived at 3:30 p.m. for the 7:38 (or thereabouts) start against the Sonoma County Sol.

Asked what attending this National Premier Soccer League national semifinal meant to her, the 31-year-old Tennessee Aquarium employee gushed, "The world."

Pressed for details, she added, "The atmosphere. The fans are amazing. I've been coming since the first year (2009). I just hope we can get 18,000 fans here tonight, like we did last year (for the national championship game)."

On a scale of 1 to 10 (last year's title game crowd), Saturday was a solid 8. The 12,251 who made it to Finley didn't set any CFC records, but it was more folks than attended all but one of the nationally ranked University of Tennessee at Chattanooga home games last season.

Mark Wiedmer

More than that, such fervor almost certainly impressed the few sturdy souls who apparently weathered a torrential rain in Clarkstown, N.Y., to watch the hometown team fall to Cleveland FC in the other semifinal.

"I saw a little of it on the web," CFC board member Bill Nuttall said of Cleveland's 3-2 win. "I'm not sure they had 300 people there."

The CFC could get 300 people for an autograph signing.

Unfortunately, that's the only way the fans will witness their heroes the rest of the summer. Leading 1-0 at halftime, the home team couldn't hold together over the final 15 minutes, surrendering two late goals to the experienced California visitors in a shocking, season-ending, 2-1 loss.

Yet that shouldn't dampen the season, or the phenomenon of the crowd that appeared to cheer both teams at game's end — something certain to to be talked about around the league in the weeks to come.

Or as Nuttall said before the game, "Chattanooga's the benchmark of the league."

How passionate are our town's soccer fans regarding this team? Let's start with the legendary Chattahooligans, who remained in their seats for at least 15 minutes after the game, shaking the hands of the winning Sonoma team, standing and cheering the CFC, showing a side of sportsmanship rarely seen in this or any corner of American sport.

Another glimpse of what the CFC is coming to mean to our really young people, those who probably know more Sesame Street characters than CFC players: A woman in a Finley elevator was overheard asking whether leading scorer Luke Winter would be in uniform against the Sol. When she was told no one was sure (Winter missed this one due to travel issues), she said, while pointing to her daughter's No. 17 CFC jersey (Winter's number), "Luke's her favorite player. She almost started crying when someone told her he might not play."

And those under 35 certainly seem to be driving this phenomenon. There are an awful lot of young professionals in the Finley stands these hot, humid summer nights. The Millennials grew up with soccer, both playing and cheering it. Many rise early every weekend to watch European League. They make up the vast majority of the Chattahooligans.

But Riley Davis is 59 rather than 29. The Rossville native had never been to a CFC game before Saturday night. And when he arrived, his white beard flowing, he wore a red Santa cap atop his similarly white hair.

"I was going to wear the whole suit, but it's just too hot," he said.

But he wanted to see what all this excitement was about, much as the woman seated next to him, Carrie Provencher, had done a week earlier in watching the CFC's quarterfinal win over Miami, a game that was far less civil on the field than this one.

When Davis was told about law enforcement having to enter the pitch to break up an altercation between CFC and Miami players, he rubbed his beard and wryly said, "If that happens tonight, I'll have to put them on my naughty list."

That wasn't necessary. In one of those moments you can't predict or direct or plan, the losing fans cheered the winning team, which we can all hope becomes a benchmark for the whole league in the future.

Until then, another summer of fun at Finley comes to an abrupt end.

Not that Cadwell seemed undone by that possibility before the game began.

"Clearly, I'll be disappointed," she said. "But there will always be next year."

In that sense, if few others, CFC supporters are pretty much like fans of every other sport the world over.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.