Path to Pro: Why Open Cup qualification matters for fourth-division Park City
Path to Pro: Why Open Cup qualification matters for fourth-division Park City
Park City Red Wolves SC blew away the Mountain division of the USL League 2 a year ago in only its third year of sanctioning, earning the right to participate in the first round of the U.S. Open Cup.
We talk a lot about Real Salt Lake on this newsletter and its accompanying podcast. But there are other clubs in the state of Utah that are making waves in the world of North American soccer.
One of them will open the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night, when Park City Red Wolves SC takes on the Las Vegas Legends at Peter Johann Memorial Field in Sin City (8:30 p.m. MDT, ESPN+). But the Red Wolves hope to be more than a one-and-done Open Cup team, even though they’ve only been around for three years.
Park Wants to leave its mark on Utah soccer, from youth development to the pro ranks.
Red Wolves SC are the reigning USL League 2 Mountain Division champs. And as such, they’re going to try to make waves with a group of new players, college players, academy call-ups from the Salt Lake area and future — not current — pros when they kick off the Open Cup this week.
No longer a new club on the block, Park City are a hunted team in USL League 2, the fourth division of U.S. Soccer formerly known as the Premier Development League.
That hunt starts well before the rest of their conference mates in the Open Cup.
“We come into this year with a target on our back,” said Red Wolves head coach Scott Mackenzie, a USSF A-licensed coach who also runs the club’s academy program partially responsible for sending players on to USL League One side Chattanooga Red Wolves SC. “We had a great 2021 season in my first year, won the conference, and got to go play in a Wester Conference final. We’re no longer the underdog club; we’re the ones to be chased.
“With that comes great expectations, but we’re excited about it. We’re excited about growing the club, as well as the fan experience, both on the field and off the field.”
Founded in 2019, Park City Red Wolves SC is a direct affiliate of the Chattanooga Red Wolves, with both clubs playing in USL League 2 and USL League 1, respectively, under owner Bob Martino — a Park City resident whose two sons played soccer at Park City High School and who fell in love with the sport, and it’s potential #Path2Pro, at the time.
The chance to bring an elite amateur club to his hometown was important for Martino, and the Red Wolves Academy has since spread throughout Utah, primarily in the Salt Lake Valley under the direction of Mackenzie.
Now it’s the Red Wolves’ League 2 squad that gets a chance to shine.
“I’d be lying if I said right now there wasn’t butterflies,” Mackenzie said on the eve of the Open Cup debut. “There’s excitement. There’s anticipation. This is a game that will be broadcast on ESPN+.
“For a club our size and at our level of U.S. Soccer, it’s a massive opportunity. It’s a chance to dream big. Obviously, we’re not looking past the Las Vegas Legends, who are in-season right now. But the price at the end of it is a chance to go play New Mexico United — one of the most fun soccer organizations in the United States. It means a lot to us, to me, to the players, and to the organization.”
Taking the next step into the Open Cup also helps recruiting, it helps scouting, and it provides a bump to bring in players that Mackenzie probably wasn’t working with before, a wider group than “the little thing that we’ve got going here,” drawing newfound interest from big-time college players and former pros looking to catch on with a team ready to make noise in U.S. Soccer’s annual competition across all levels of play.
It’s a level of exposure previously unseen in three previous years, and one that is vital for a club like Park City that relies on its Salt Lake-area academy to find and develop talent for to maintain the “Path to Pro” pipeline that has become a staple of the USL system.
“My job is to identify and develop pros. That means that the players we bring in at the USL League 2 level have to be on the verge of making that jump,” Mackenzie said.
“The amount of interest for some very big-time players at some big-time schools, or even guys who were former pros who reached out to join us in the Open Cup … the exposure level there has gone dramatically up from just being a League 2 team to chase this dream.”
The Red Wolves will open their first foray into the Open Cup — the oldest inter-league soccer tournament in the United States that is back after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic — on the road Wednesday night against the Las Vegas Legends.
The NPSL led by U.S. soccer legend Eric Wynalda is another amateur club also competing in the first round of the tournament, well before professional clubs enter the field. But it also provides a chance for lower-division clubs to shine for themselves, whether it’s online at ESPN+ or on U.S. Soccer’s official YouTube channel.
The Red Wolves will open the USL League 2 season May 21 against in-state rival Salt City SC, the former Ogden City SC, at hometown Dozier Field. When they do, they won’t be the underdog anymore, but the defending champs in a five-team Mountain division featuring college standouts like Taimu Okiyoshi and Jose Arellano from Salt Lake Community College, Leo Fuchs and Gui Leme from Utah Valley, and other players beginning as young as high school.
But before that, they’ve got work to do — with U.S. Soccer.
“We had a really good 2021.0 It’s a really nice cherry on top to be able to go off on this adventure,” Mackenzie said.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into getting ready to play in the Open Cup. But there’s been a buzz about it; players are excited.”
U.S. Open Cup
First round
Park City Red Wolves SC (USL League 2) at Las Vegas Legends FC (NPSL)
Wednesday, March 22
Peter Johann Memorial Field (UNLV) in Las Vegas
Kickoff: 8:30 p.m. MDT
Streaming: ESPN+