Carolina Core Looks to Avoid a Sophomore Slump
An unexpected coaching change in the off season, as well as the return of many skilled players, could make Carolina Core FC contenders in MLS NEXT Pro - if they can build on a successful first year.
Editor’s Note: This year, we’re trying something different. Soccer Sheet will be running previews for each of the professional soccer teams in North and South Carolina (Divisions I, II, & III), as well as qualified Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup teams and a couple other select squads.
Two new professional soccer teams took the pitch in the Carolinas in 2024: High Point-based Carolina Core FC, an independent MLS NEXT Pro club, and Charlotte-based Carolina Ascent FC, one of the inaugural USL Super League clubs.
Both clubs posted strong attendance numbers in 2024, with the Core’s attendance second only to Charlotte FC when compared to other men’s teams in the Carolinas. In 2025, the first team will get to play the entire season at their home of Truist Point in downtown High Point, while the club expands its academy from U13 and U14 boys to U15 boys starting this fall.
Though Carolina Core - also known as the Foxes - had a strong first season, they narrowly missed the playoffs due to a 0-1 Decision Day loss at the hands of Inter Miami. Inaugural head coach Roy Lassiter, a former U.S. Men’s National Team player with deep North Carolina roots, was sacked just over a week later.
The mystery wouldn’t last long. Later that week, CCFC’s assistant/goalkeeper coach Donavan Ricketts was elevated to the head coaching job.
In exclusive interviews with Soccer Sheet Ricketts and Carolina Core general manager Eddie Pope, a U.S. Men’s National Team legend and High Point native, spoke about the coaching change.
“I was just as surprised as you are,” said Ricketts in a December interview. “When we got the news everybody was [surprised] because we had a good relationship with Roy … It's like everyone was blindsided. We didn't expect that.”
As the chief sporting officer for the club, Pope was involved in the choice of Lassiter’s successor.
“[The owners] looked at the coaching staff and who was on it, and they said, ‘You know, how can we best move forward, and how can we do it in the smoothest way possible?’” said Pope. “It was, you know, looking at someone already on the staff … fingers crossed that it’s going to help us move forward in 2025.”
While the coaching change may have come as a surprise, Carolina Core’s focus for 2025 shouldn’t be.
“The big theme will be, ‘Can we get into the playoffs this year?’” said Pope.
The Club Without a Home
As a new professional soccer club, Carolina Core FC had a successful first season: well-attended home matches, passionate supporters, successful branding, a groundbreaking for an eight-figure training facility, a strong inaugural run in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, and exciting players to root for.
For their first-ever MLS NEXT Pro match on March 17, Carolina Core travelled down to the Mecklenburg County Sportsplex at Matthews to face Crown Legacy, Charlotte FC’s second team. After falling behind in the first half, David “Pachi” Polanco’s goal at the death sent the match into penalty kicks, which the Core would win for a final result of 1-1 (2-3) to kick off their season.
The win was the high point of the season for Pope.
“We had all the fans come down, which was a ton of pressure, because everyone really wanted to make the fans happy, you know. Ownership came down. Families came down,” said Pope in a December interview with Soccer Sheet. “For the guys to come out with the shootout victory … even the way that it happened and unfolded was really special for the club and so for me, that was probably the best moment, and also the most rewarding moment, because you just don't know what you're going to get. It's like the first game, and it could be ten to nothing, or it could be the way that it was. You have no clue, and no one slept for days before that game, so for me, that was probably the best moment.”
Just days later, Crown Legacy’s first round Open Cup loss would give the Core even more bragging rights as they made a deeper run into their first tournament.
In the first two rounds of the Open Cup, Carolina Core defeated amateur-level USL League Two clubs Northern Virginia FC and Vermont Green FC. While waiting on the mid-season completion of Truist Point, the Foxes hosted NOVA at the UNC Greensboro’s Soccer Stadium on March 21, winning a back-and-forth 3-2 match thanks to goals from Polanco, Drake Hadeed, and Joshua Rodriguez.
On April 3, the Core would travel to Virtue Field in Burlington, Vermont and play in a snowstorm against the fan-favorite Green and 2,500 noisy home supporters. As the Green described it, the players faced “rain, snow, sleet, and every combination of cold precipitation” throughout the match. The Foxes bounced back from an early Green penalty thanks to goals from Papa Ndoye and Rodriguez. The snowy celebrations from the match are some of our favorite soccer images of 2024.
Two weeks later, the Foxes travelled down I-40 to Cary to face USL Championship side North Carolina FC in the Open Cup’s third round, keeping NCFC scoreless until the second half in a close 1-0 loss.
In just its first month of competitive play, the Core had a lot to be proud of.
Not Good Enough?
After a great start and the exciting Cup run, the Core struggled during the NEXT Pro regular season. Early struggles aren’t a surprise for new clubs, but the Core faced an added challenge: their home field wouldn’t be ready until July, forcing the squad to play the first half of the season away from home.
“Starting the first 8 or 9 games on the road was really challenging,” said Pope. “You have to try to gel, and then you kind of have Open Cup thrown in there as well. It was a tough, tough start, but I'd say that was probably the biggest challenge we had.”
After winning their opening match against Charlotte in a shootout, the Foxes lost their next four MLS NEXT Pro matches. They picked up two more wins in May, then dropped another four matches.
On June 1, Truist Park was ready, and the club finally got to play at home for the first time. Though the team lost 1-4 to Huntsville City, with Angel Aguas picking up the first-ever home goal for the Core, it was the best moment of the season for Ricketts.
“You can't bring that feeling back. That's your first home game in front of your fans in your first year,” said Ricketts in a December interview with Soccer Sheet. “So the excitement that surrounded the game, and to see a sellout crowd, I think that was really good, because, you know in this League you don't normally see a sellout crowd, and to see and to play in front one at home first game. I think that was the crowning moment last year.”
Across all competitions, the Core would play 14 matches away, two at home, and one match at UNC Greensboro before winning their first match at Truist Point. Going into their first home win, they held a record of 3 wins, 7 losses, 1 shootout loss, and 3 shootout wins, for only 16 points.
A source with knowledge of the club’s operations told Soccer Sheet that the opening half of the season was “a stretch of games that was really hard to bounce back from,” and played a factor in the team’s decision to sack Lassiter.
Home Sweet Home
When the Foxes played their third home match at Truist Point on July 13, they had the opportunity to win their first home match against I-85 derby rivals Crown Legacy FC. In front of a sellout crowd of 4,083 - the team’s third straight sellout - the Core posted a 2-1 result against the Legacy, a score they would repeat in the third derby match of the season in September.
After the win, Lassiter talked to reporters about the challenges the team had faced to get to their first win.
“The staff knew that it was going to take time to mesh together,” said Lassiter. “We’re a brand new team; it’s a fresh slate to work on here, and any coach and any organization that’s just starting out with this experience would tell you the same thing: It just takes a little time. We’ve had our bumps at the beginning of the season, and we’ve taken them big time.”
With the first home win the Core had a strong run of form to end the season, ending with 9 wins and 5 losses in their final 14 matches. The Core won seven of the last nine games, finishing out the season with a total of 35 points from the last 17 games.
Of the final five losses, the ones that stung the most were at the hands of Inter Miami CF’s second team. While the Foxes didn’t have to worry about playing Leo Messi, they lost the first match 1-5 at home, their worst home loss of the season. According to our sources, that huge loss was an additional factor in the coaching change, but a win in the final match could have improved Lassiter’s chances of staying in the head job as win on Decision Day would have clinched 6th place and a playoff berth.
The Foxes outshot Miami and had their chances in that final match, with four shots on target. In the end, however, Miami won 0-1, and the Foxes finished 10th in the East, 3 points out of the playoffs.
“We had our opportunities to win, but we didn’t put them away. They ultimately took their chance that they had, and we weren’t composed enough to make it happen this afternoon,” Lassiter told members of the media after the final loss to Miami. “No one really counted on us making it this far or even being in this situation, and we had it in our hands to deal with it, but we didn’t finish. We should’ve taken care of it considering the amount of chances we had. It wasn’t because it was a lack of trying, but our chances just weren’t falling at the end of the day.”
Offseason Changes Set Up Critical Sophomore Campaign
On Tuesday, October 15, Soccer Sheet received an email with one of the shortest press releases we’ve ever received:
Carolina Core FC today announced the club has relieved Roy Lassiter of his duties as head coach, effective immediately.
During Carolina Core FC’s inaugural season in MLS NEXT Pro, Lassiter helped lead the club to 12 wins, 12 losses, and four draws with three penalty shootout wins. During his tenure at CCFC in competitive matches, including the U.S. Open Cup, Lassiter led the team to an overall record of 14W-13L-4D.
More information about CCFC’s second season will be announced in the coming weeks.
A source with knowledge of the reasoning behind the change told Soccer Sheet the coaching change was a “results-oriented decision,” and it was a good first season but “time to move on based on the results” for a “fresh start in year two.”
That Friday, October 18, the Foxes announced Ricketts as the new coach.
“[The news that Lassiter was sacked] was a little bit hard to accept and hard to take. And then a few days passed, and I guess the club wanted some form of continuity, because I think we did really good things, and they wanted to keep it in house, and I was offered [the job],” said Ricketts. “I mulled over for a few days, and if you play this game long enough you can't let opportunities pass you by. So I made a decision and I took the job.”
“It’s unfortunate for Roy, but at the same time, if you play this game you aspire to be at the top. You accept opportunities when they come along,” Ricketts added.
“Although Donovan was part of our staff, he'll still have to continue to get his legs under him, but you know there's some pluses [with him being] on the staff and knowing the players and the team the way we want to play,” said Pope. “But you know there is a sense of starting over a little bit, and so hopefully, we'll hit the ground running, and that won't be too big of an issue in 2025.”
Pope doesn’t plan to start over with the squad, however.
“There's a number of players that we feel like had pretty good seasons, and we're looking for them to kind of stand up and take the bull by the horns,” said Pope. “And then, hopefully, we can add some pieces as well, and for those new pieces, we expect them to hit the ground running. There's no time for adjusting. We want it to happen right away.”
Looking Toward the Playoffs and Open Cup in 2025
Now as head coach, Donovan Ricketts is looking forward to what the club can accomplish in 2025.
“[I’m looking forward to] the beginning of the season,” said Ricketts. “I think we set a benchmark last year, so it's going to be exciting just to be fighting every day, just to make sure we surpass everything that we did last year, because anything less would be deemed as failure. So it's going to be exciting, just to work every day fighting just to make a playoff spot, and then from there we push on to see where we can go; and also make a run in the Open Cup. So it's going to be hard work and a lot of fighting. I’m looking forward to all the work that goes into it.”
The Core’s preseason starts at Truist Point on Wednesday, February 19 with a friendly against High Point University. Then, the regular season begins on Friday March 14 with a trip to Fort Lauderdale to face Inter Miami II in a grudge match at Chase Stadium.
Then, on March 18th, 19th, or 20th, the Core will face an amateur or semi-pro team in the first round of the Open Cup. For the first time, the Core is eligible to host Open Cup matches at Truist Point.
Less than a fortnight later, the Core could have its first crowded week of the year, as the second round of the Open Cup will take place on April 1st and 2nd, and the Core play their first home MLS NEXT Pro match of the year against New York City FC II, the only Division III team to make it to the Round of 16 in last year’s Open Cup.
When they make their home debut, most of the Core’s lineup will be familiar to fans. Soccer Sheet previously reported that defensive star Ibrahim Covi, who led the back line with 3 goals, and offensive standout David “Pachi” Polanco would return in 2025; also returning is Facundo Canete, who led the Foxes in both goals (11) and assists (7) in MLS NEXT Pro play.
“Some of our older guys like Facundo and Jacob [Evans] and Alex [Sutton] in the net, Covi in the back, you know, we'll look for those guys to continue to do well,” said Pope.
With Canete, Evans, Polanco, forward Josuha Rodriguez, and Covi all returning, the Foxes will retain all of their top five scorers. Between them, they combined for 33 goals and 13 assists. Midfielder Derek Cuevas, who had the most assists (5) without a goal, is also returning.
To be able to make strong runs across all competitions, Pope is focused on adding depth to the squad.
“The big goal is to make the playoffs. And let's say the second one is to just to make a little bit of a run in the Open Cup, and maybe, can we go one more step farther this time around?” said Pope. “Those are the two sort of immediate goals that we've set. Then, within the team, we want to continue - or at least we want to start to increase - the competition that we have in each position … and that's why we're trying to add a couple of pieces.”
One new piece the club has announced is 20-year-old defender Zion Scarlett from the Greenville Triumph. The club is excited about the skill the former U20 Jamaican youth international brings to the roster as the club seeks to add more international players.
“[Scarlett’s] skill and explosive pace will make him a force to be reckoned with,” said Ricketts. “His technical ability makes him a valuable addition to our roster.”
Scarlett is young enough to develop into a talent for Jamaica’s first team, and Pope hopes a coaching staff with significant international experience can be an asset to the Core’s current and future international signings.
“The hope is that we'll have one [national team player] at a minimum. But hopefully two players that go in with their national teams,” said Pope. “A lot of us have some experience with that, [so we want to be] helping those guys through that process.”
Our sources tell Soccer Sheet the club is still looking to make additional moves to solidify their playoff chances, but whether or not the Core make the playoffs this year, the team and the coaching staff remain committed to their fans and the Triad community.
The best thing I've heard from fans is the interaction after the game,” said Ricketts. “Because after games the players go around. They meet the fans and they sign autographs. So I think that makes it [feel real]. So the players that you see that you come to support, you get to meet, and you get to interact with those players. So if you have your favorites at that time, you can go up. You get your autograph so you can just ask questions what it feels like to be a pro. And all those things.
“I think it's the interaction after the game that removes the the barrier from fans to players, and it just makes us all feel connected and feel as one,” Ricketts concluded.
Interested in following the Foxes this year? 2025 season memberships for the Carolina Core start at $288, and all matches will be streamed live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.