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The Charlotte Independence finally have a place to call home.

As the headline for the Sportsplex at Matthews grand opening, the Jacks unveil their new home tomorrow against the Harrisburg City Islanders at 7 p.m. with a tribute to the Carolina Lightnin’, Charlotte’s historic ASL championship team as well as a combination of food trucks, fireworks and the match itself. Sportsplex is the Jacks’ fourth home in three seasons, following UNC Charlotte’s Transamerica Field, Winthrop’s Eagle Field and Ramblewood.

“It’s the most professional feeling environment that we’ve been a part of, and that’s nothing against Ramblewood, UNCC or Winthrop, but it’s a really, really facility,” defender Bilal Duckett said. “It’s clean. It’s brand new. The field is coming in really well. We’re very excited for it. We got out there and trained yesterday. The guys were all really excited, and really happy. It feels good to have your logo on the stadium again.”

According to the Mecklenburg County website, the recently completed Sportsplex includes nine synthetic turf fields and two grass fields, as well as a stadium with a capacity of 2,500 (above the average attendance for an Independence match).

“The stadium itself is gorgeous,” coach Mike Jeffries said. “I think it’ll be a great venue to play in.”

Saturday is business as usual for the Jacks, despite the festivities. Charlotte is 12th in the USL’s Eastern Conference at 3-3-4, while Harrisburg sits 14th at 2-5-4. Charlotte is 0-1-2 over their last three matches, returning from a two-game road trip with one point between a 1-0 loss to Louisville, and 1-1 draw in Cincinnati.

“A very tough road trip obviously,” Jeffries said. “In the end, we probably feel a little bit disappointed on both nights, but also have a lot of positives to take from both games. Certainly Cincinnati, felt like we controlled the first 30 minutes really quite well, and getting the first goal was a plus for us. Louisville, even though it felt like we were under pressure, on the day the game was going decently for us up until the red card. We did a pretty good job of managing the game after that.

“We’re back home now, and we’ve got a big stretch of games coming up. We have to start pushing our home venue, and try to get results when we are at home.”

Said midfielder Alex Martinez, who scored Charlotte’s sole road goal: “We weren’t happy with getting just one point; especially where we are right now whether it’s on the road or not. We needed more than just one point, and hopefully tomorrow we can get that. The thing with Matthews is now we actually have a home.”

Charlotte has struggled to maintain a consistent back four—an area of strength in previous seasons. Rookie defender Luke Waechter, who has played in every match, is the latest injury casualty with an interior bruise to his left knee. He won’t start for the first time this season, leaving goalkeeper Cody Mizell the only player to see every minute of every match thus far.

“They said I’m lucky,” Waecther said. “My foot kind of got caught under me—if it would have stayed under me for another second I could have torn it. I was just lucky that my foot moved in time. It was like the 92nd minute. I blocked a shot, and as I did, I was already going forward so I was sliding. As I was sliding with my right, my left got caught in the turf. If it was grass, I’d be perfectly fine right now, but because it was turf, my foot got caught. My knee just buckled inside, and then my body got caught over it. It finally released from the turf, and made me not tear my ACL, so that was positive. Now it’s just recovery—a couple weeks. Not too bad.”

While Waechter heads to the bench, Duckett returned to training after undergoing surgery to repair a bone spur in his foot.

“I’ve been blessed to have a smooth surgery,” Duckett said. “I’ve been training this week, which has been good. I’m happy to just be back, and be involved with the guys. Whatever they need me to do, I’m willing to do, but it’s not my decision.”

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