On Saturday night, Asheville City Soccer Club traveled to Memphis, Tennessee to play their first away game of the 2017 regular season. The team played well on the road, drawing 2–2 (more on that below), and back home, we still gathered to support, albeit with some hiccups.

First, we’re not dumb people. But…… for some reason, no one made the connection that Memphis is in the Central Time Zone. 7:00pm was the listed game time for our South Slope Blues page, as well as Hi-Wire Brewery, and the team’s page too. We organized an event on the proper social media channels, and we all showed up for a 7:30pm kickoff.

Whoops.

An extra hour of drinking: rookie mistake. We’ll have to remember this when we travel to Nashville. However, upon realizing it, we were at least somewhat productive in creating new chants for our upcoming matches this week, the first of which is Wednesday night against Tri-Cities FC out of Johnson City, TN. Being only an hour away, a rivalry has been born before we’ve even met one another. And in my interview with head coach Gary Hamel, he referred to this match as a “traveling trophy game”. Sounds fun.

Anyway, kickoff finally rolled around at 8:30pm ET, and at this point, Hi-Wire was all filled up. With around 100 people, we may have outnumbered the fans at Christian Brothers High School Stadium in Memphis that evening. (Probably not, but it sure seemed that way.) The entire first half consisted of a stream from Memphis City with a score line showing “Ashville City.” Another whoops.

Follies behind us, on to the play on the field…

In the 13th minute, Memphis opened up the scoring on a laser of a free kick from about 25 yards out from Mario Highmann. The free kick came after a questionable foul was called, which resulted in an even more questionable yellow card. Highmann’s ball could not have been more perfectly placed though, as it sailed over the wall and into the left corner of the net.

The Memphis lead wouldn’t last long, though, as Asheville’s Jack Miller found Tom Deeley in the 17th minute to tie things up. Scoring chances were aplenty in the first half for both sides but for the second straight match, ACSC found themselves at a halftime score of 1–1.

Not from this game, but seriously, no photos of Memphis City/CBU Stadium exist.

And the second half played out much like the first. Good physical play was a theme for the game, and Memphis took a 2–1 lead in the 51st minute on a penalty kick.

Once again, their lead would not hold. Second goal, same as the first! Again, Tom Deeley found the back of the net, and again, it was on another beautiful pass from Jack Miller. 2–2 in the 64th minute.

As expected, with time winding down physicality increased, leading to a few more opportunities from both squads. Nothing would prove productive though, and late stellar play from goalkeeper Parker Siegfried and the defense once again would preserve a hard-fought point in Asheville’s first away game.

Again, ACSC hosts the Tri-City Otters on Wednesday night, and then the Knoxville Force on Friday. Both matches have promise of developing into fierce rivalries based on proximity alone.

Kickoff for tomorrow has been bumped up to 6:30pm, and if possible you should try to arrive early, because the word is out. Another sellout is expected. And if you happen to be able to join the South Slope Blues for a pint before the game, please join us at Burial Brewing, as we support one of our own in a fundraising event for Twin Leaf brewer Brett Schweigert and his wife Beth. The event will get rolling around 4:00. I’ll see you guys there!

(Photo courtesy of ACSC)

In more news, the South Slope Blues are now officially recognized as a nonprofit. This is a great step as the supporters group will look to become actively involved in our community in the near future.

Also in good news, if all goes according to plan, I will be attending the remaining five away games so more visuals and a more personal theme to the recaps should be on the way. Hoorah!

As for the team, Asheville City remains in second in the Eastern division of the NPSL Southeast standings behind the Silverbacks heading into our two home matches this week.

The great start to the season continues, and here’s to hoping the momentum keeps building. Thanks for reading: let’s paint the city blue (again) tomorrow night.