Asheville City SC stayed undefeated on Wednesday night by topping Tri-Cities FC (the Otters) of the PDL 2–1 in the “Blue Ridge Classic.” The 1,722 fans in attendance provided another great environment for the game. Tri-Cities FC, hailing from Johnson City, TN, look to make this an annual tradition, putting hardware on the line early in the season and building a rivalry between the two clubs.

(Photo Credit: Alex Hamilton)

For some of the fans, the day began at Burial Brewing Co. in support of the Schweigert family fundraiser. The amount of support there was humbling. It’s a beautiful thing when a small city comes together to support one of their own in a time of need.

Afterwards, the march up to Memorial was another fun one, although much shorter this time. And, despite being an early kickoff in the middle of the week, the atmosphere in the stadium was nothing short of rowdy.

On the field, Tri-Cities came out very strong and dominated much of the possession early on. The Otters found the net on a rebound maybe 12 or 13 minutes in, but fortunately for ACSC, an offsides was in order.

The Blues weren’t so lucky in the 17th minute when Mateo Yepes gave the Otters a 1–0 lead on a feed from Conner Haney.