— The North Carolina Courage are the toast of the Triangle soccer scene. After winning domestic and international club trophies and setting league records last year, the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup further spotlighted seven Courage players, four of them on the Cup-winning U.S. women’s national team. And despite the roster upheaval wrought by the World Cup, the Courage sit near the top of the NWSL table again this year as the regular season enters its second half.

There’s another professional soccer team in Cary that’s been around longer, and if you haven’t been paying attention, they’re having a really good season, too. Last Saturday, North Carolina FC won its tenth game this year, a mark the team didn’t reach until Sept. 16 in 2018. The team is tied for third place in the USL Eastern Conference, nearly two-thirds into its 34-match regular season, and host Indy Eleven, their fellow third-place foe, this Saturday at WakeMed Soccer Park.

If the United Soccer League’s regular season ended today, North Carolina FC would not only make the playoffs for only the second time in seven years, but they’d host a playoff game for the first time since 2012. Yet NCFC doesn’t play in the domestic first division or feature international stars. Heck, the team hasn’t won a league championship in its 12-year existence. But it has persevered, and in the tumultuous waters of American lower division pro soccer, that’s a high measure of success.

While North Carolina FC’s roster doesn’t list household names, it boasts a very local bent. Five players grew up in the Triangle and six played college soccer in North Carolina. Roughly half of this year’s players are returnees from 2018, a surprising fact for a team, in an already transient league, that finished ninth in the conference table last year.

Indeed, their biggest offseason acquisition remains the manager. Dave Sarachan came to Carolina following his year-long stint as interim head coach of the U.S. national team. It was a surprising gamble for the longtime gaffer, who has spent the previous 22 years coaching the national team and Major League Soccer.

“Looking on the journey from preseason to now, there's a good amount of what I’m doing that I’m enjoying,” Sarachan says. “On the professional level, I’m enjoying getting back to the day-to-day contact with players, whereas with the national team it was very different … There are groups in my career where you come to work and you just anticipate a lot of headaches. But the group here has been enjoyable to work with, which makes my job enjoyable.”

Under Sarachan’s guidance, the third-place North Carolina FC are averaging 1.76 points per match, up from 1.38 last year. They’re scoring nearly the same number of goals per game as 2018, despite not having a player ranked among the top 25 goal scorers in the league. North Carolina’s current plus-17 goal differential is fourth best among the entire 36-team USL. Moreover, they’re conceding less than a goal per game, way down from the 1.47 goals allowed per match last season.

Austin da Luz, who debuted with Carolina in 2012 and has matured into the face of the team, says defense was a priority for this year’s NCFC and their new coaching staff.

“That’s something we’ve taken a lot of pride in since the first day of preseason,” da Luz says. “We wanted to be harder to play against, harder to score against. The coaching staff came in and recognized that as a weakness from the last two years and made some big adjustments to improve that. That’s what has held us back in the past.”

“The main thing was the collective mentality of the group in defending,” Sarachan says. “For people on the outside, they look at the goalkeeper and the back four and they call them the defenders. But as a group, the only way a back four has less decision-making and work to do is if the front six help them.”

For many players and staff, the team’s on-field improvement began with Sarachan’s approach to player management, particularly a calm demeanor that Sarachan links with being the second-born after a Type A older brother. He’s also studied various coaching philosophies and styles, going back to his early days in soccer.

“When I was an assistant coach at [the University of Virginia], our soccer office had air vents that connected next door to the visiting basketball team’s locker room. So I’d listen to every coach in the ACC back in 1984—Dean Smith, Jim Valvano, Mike Krzyzewski, Bobby Cremins, Lefty Driesell—and how they dealt with their halftimes. Some swearing and screaming, and some being calm. I look at certain coaches and say, you know, I hope that’s how I project myself.”

Which coach does he emulate?

“I used to watch Terry Holland at UVA, and I liked Terry a lot. He had a good balance. Valvano was a character; I love guys with a sense of humor, but the needle was a little tilted in one direction. Bobby Cremins was this brash, New Yorker, mother-f’in everybody. Then Dean Smith was almost too laid back. He’d smoke a cigarette in the hallway, then he’d go in and talk to the guys calmly after the assistant had ripped them. It was really interesting.”

Da Luz credits a newfound sense of “balance” within the team for its improved record, particularly on the road, where North Carolina FC has already defeated the Tampa Bay Rowdies and New York Red Bulls II, the top two teams in the eastern conference.

“We’ve been very even-keeled in that sense, both on the field and in the locker room, from the coaching staff on down,” da Luz says. “There’s just a little more balance, and that carries over to results. We’re tying games we may have lost in the past, and we’re winning games we may have tied in the past.”

North Carolina FC’s player payroll remains low in comparison with many of their USL competitors, a limitation that perennially handcuffs efforts to sign the league’s top talent. While Sarachan recognizes that ongoing obstacle, he isn’t letting it define his team.

“When you look at the stats and where [the team] fell, and those of the teams above them, why were they above them?” Sarachan asks. “Were they above them because [the other teams] got paid that much more and those teams had better players? In some cases, sure. There are some teams out there, whether it’s Tampa, Indy, whatever, if you look at their payroll and our payroll, they’re probably higher. But we’ve already shown we can beat Tampa, we can beat Nashville, we can beat Indy. Maybe their payrolls are a little higher, but that’s irrelevant.”

Still, the team did snag one significant player acquisition. Nazmi Albadawi, a Raleigh native and NC State graduate, played four seasons for North Carolina FC before signing with FC Cincinnati prior to their 2018 USL season. He followed FC Cincinnati as it joined Major League Soccer this year, but an unhappy Albadawi asked out of Cincinnati for a return to North Carolina in late May. He’s on loan to NCFC this year and has already signed to stay with the club next year.

With Albadawi and his wife expecting their first child, they wanted both security, stability, and a place where Albadawi could rediscover his joy playing soccer.

“The club has always treated me very well, and I’ve always tried to do the same for the club,” Albadawi says. “I don’t think it’s any secret how much the club means to me and how badly I want to win a championship for the club, and how badly I want the club to go to MLS or even grow in USL. This club has so much potential, and I think there’s still so much room to grow … Both of our parents love the club. Even when I was playing for FC Cincinncati and we played North Carolina, they rooted for North Carolina over my team.”

While North Carolina FC have enjoyed rejuvenated success on the field, that turnaround hasn’t fully translated to the grandstands. In 2016, the first full season after local tech entrepreneur Steve Malik purchased the club, they averaged over 5,000 fans per game, the highest total since the club’s debut season. Last year, NCFC’s average league attendance was 4,730, and through 10 home matches this year, the team is averaging 4,271.

At the same time, the NC Courage have seen their average attendance rise from 4,389 per match in 2017 to 5,129 in 2018. The Courage are averaging a nearly identical 5,029 this year through seven home matches, despite playing six of them without four of their most marketable World Cup players: Sam Mewis, Crystal Dunn, Jessica McDonald, and Abby Dahlkemper.

Da Luz takes the position that that a rising tide lifts all boats in the soccer landscape. Given the Courage’s success, their attendance figures don’t surprise Albadawi.

“They’re the best women’s team in the world, so if they get more fans than us, they honestly deserve it right now,” Albadawi says. “They have four players coming off winning a World Cup, seven players who competed in the World Cup, not to mention there are 10 who could have been called up. It’s literally the highest level of women’s soccer you can watch in the world, and it’s right here in our backyard. So if there’s not getting good attendances, that’s something we need to ask of our fan base.”

The core support for North Carolina FC remains robust, starting with the diehard Oak City Supporters group seen in the south stands of every match. However, a host of factors dampen North Carolina FC’s attendance figures, from the team’s limited promotional budget to its lack of high profile U.S. Open Cup matches in recent seasons. In recent years, North Carolina FC has hosted friendlies against teams from the English Premier League and Liga MX. However, NCFC has hosted just one international friendly since Swansea City visited in July 2017, a match against Necaxa from Mexico earlier this year that was packaged as a doubleheader with a Courage scrimmage against an Orlando Pride team featuring Alex Morgan and Marta. Meanwhile, three top European clubs visit Cary this month to compete against the Courage in the second annual Women’s International Champions Cup, and the NWSL Championship will be played at WakeMed Soccer Park in October. Indeed, if NCFC qualify to host a USL playoff game, it might take place the same weekend as the NWSL final.

When Albadawi played for FC Cincinnati last year, the club averaged over 25,000 fans per game as a USL team. Albadawi says their success stems mainly from the size and scope of their marketing, funded by the club’s billionaire ownership group.

“The money they have there is completely different,” Albadawi says. “It’s really major league money, where it seems like every single billboard you pass is FCC, every single store you go into has FCC stuff, the airport has huge FCC banners, the Dick’s Sporting Goods is selling FCC stuff. It’s absolutely everywhere. It’s a different ball game with the backing they have. You can tell they spend millions of dollars on marketing, and they get the reward from that.”

And then there’s the MLS bid factor, the notion that once Malik declared his desire to have North Carolina FC join MLS as an expansion team in late 2016, the marketplace views any league or competition short of that as subsidiary. Indeed, Albadawi believes one of the institutional limits on improving NCFC’s attendance is its ingrained perception in the community.

“The thing that almost hurts us at times is the fact that the [Carolina] RailHawks, which we used to be, had been around for so long that people were used to it and viewed it as semi-pro. I saw that because I grew up here, and I know how people viewed it. I have friends from high school asking me if I want to go pro one day.”

Sarachan says his first priority is coaching the team. Still, the wider job duties of a soccer manager often entail aspects of marketing, and Sarachan recalls at previous MLS stops the head coach would occasionally meet with the ticket sales staff to update them on the team or sometimes even make sales calls, things he hasn’t yet been asked to do here.

“As a coach, I’d love to see more people in the stands, and I don’t know how that happens,” Sarachan says. “Does it happen through a lot more marketing? I don’t have the answers, but I’d like to see more people. There are a lot of challenges, probably, with selling tickets. You have the Courage and you have us, so there’s going to be more division in the entertainment dollar that’s spent. You have the summer, when people are away. There are a lot of reasons why attendance wouldn’t be a full stadium. But can we do more? Sure.”

There’s admittedly a point of diminishing returns when it comes to marketing a lower division soccer team, and throwing good money after bad, whether on player salaries or misguided promotions, has presaged the demise of many clubs. Malik asserts the most effective change to make is location, and that the construction of his proposed Downtown South stadium complex in Raleigh will result is increased draws for both of his teams. It’s an opinion that Albadawi and da Luz share. And if a downtown stadium is built, maybe someday MLS will come, too.

Still, the efficacy of Malik’s belief remains unproven until and unless a downtown stadium becomes a reality. In the meantime, North Carolina FC plays on, and those who show up to watch them this year will see an improved team, even a playoff team. And who knows, maybe one day they’ll also see a championship.

“From my experience in other markets, when I flip the news on at night after games, I think we should be featured,” Sarachan says. “Sometimes we are, sometimes we’re not. I don’t see billboards with some of our players on them in the area. I think we have a good product. You’d like to think that people who like soccer would come out and follow us. Obviously, people want a team that’s successful, and right now we’ve put ourselves in a position where those people would be interested.”

“There have been incremental gains each year, at least in the efforts to expose the team a little more in the area,” da Luz says. “It’s slowly but surely rising. Everybody probably wants it to go quicker than it is, but that’s the reality of the sport, the level we’re at, and the area we’re in. It’s always going to be a battle.”