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King University graduate Riley Moore celebrates his goal that gave the Bristol Rhythm a 2-1 lead late in last Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Hickory FC at Gene Malcolm Stadium. Hickory FC scored two goals in less than two minutes to rally for the win.
Members of the Bristol Rhythm celebrate a goal during a match this summer at Gene Malcolm Stadium.
Rising Milligan senior and Botswana native Biokaego “Stooge” Mbaakanyi greets fans after a game for the Bristol Rhythm at Gene Malcolm Stadium.
Bristol Rhythm mascot Banjo the Racoon is surrounded by area children who have been drawn to the team in its inaugural season.
An aerial view of Gene Malcolm Stadium during the Bristol Rhythm’s season opener against Appalachian FC that drew an excited 1,200 spectators.
Biokaego “Stooge” Mbaakanyi celebrate his goal that helped the Bristol Rhythm tie the Hickory FC 1-1 prior to halftime last week at Gene Malcolm Stadium.
The Bristol Rhythm is all smiles after a goal by Biokaego “Stooge” Mbaakanyi (11) pulled the Rhythm into a 1-1 tie last Saturday against Hickory FC. Hickory scored two late goals to earn a hard-fought 3-2 win over the Rhythm.
Year one of the Bristol Rhythm is nearly in the books, with one final game being played on Saturday night in South Carolina.
Louis Sharp, an assistant coach at King University, who served as head coach of the Bristol Rhythm in their first season in the National Premier Soccer League, was already looking ahead to next season after last Saturday’s heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Hickory FC at Gene Malcolm Stadium.
“Hopefully we return a lot next year and and pick up a few more for the boys that may be going home after they have graduated and moving across the country,” said Sharp, whose Rhythm were a competitive 1-9 heading into the final match. “We will definitely be a force to reckon with next year if we recruit well.
“These boys this year, I love them all, let’s be for real. Great, great camaraderie between the boys. It has just taken seven or eight game to find our identity to see how we want to play, but you can see we are a good team.”
Many of those players have come to Bristol from across the globe — while also playing in American colleges — and several spoke highly of their experience after that disappointing loss last weekend.
“Nice, very professional and a lot of good experiences like this to play here,” said Joseph McMahon, a native of Liverpool, England, who trails only Biokaego “Stooge” Mbaakanyi from Botswana in scoring for the Rhythm. “It has been great overall.”
A rising junior at the University of Mobile in Alabama, McMahon had reason to keep in shape for the upcoming college season that begins on Aug. 13 against — as Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney calls it — “Little Old Clemson”
“Definitely, it has kept me fit,” he said. “Our first game of the season is Clemson next year so I need all the fitness I can get going into that one.”
A soccer team has lots of positions, some of whom score, others who serve as goalkeepers, while the rest run around the field either trying to set up scoring opportunities or preventing the other team from doing the same.
Archie Day, a native of Rotherham, England, who plays at Merrimack University in Boston, is one of those. He was told by his agent to give Bristol and the NPSL a try.
“It is a nice place and I thought it might be a fun experience so I came,” said Day, who left Boston when it was snowing in May, and displayed terrific defensive efforts in the last two weeks with temperatures soaring toward the century mark. “It has been good. It is very nice, a lot of mountains, some nice fans. We have played well the last few games, we just didn’t quite get it today. It has been a great experience, I have liked it.”
Ditto for Adam “Captain” Cooil — a native of Isle of Man in the United Kingdom, who played at Mobile with McMahon, but is transferring to Belmont Abbey in North Carolina. His parents made the long flight to see him play last Saturday, having missed seeing him the previous Wednesday due to a red card drawn in a loss to 865 Alliance from Knoxville.
“I have loved it, I really have, my whole experience and my whole time I have been here,” Cooil said. “I have been with a host family playing futbol with a new group of guys and a new coaching staff and a completely different part of America.
“I have been in Alabama. It has just phenomenal. Obviously, some other results would have been amazing, but the experience has been fantastic, I have loved every minute of it.”
Much like players, Sharp has also seen plenty of improvement from the Rhythm on the pitch. They have struggled to score this season, but part of that is simply finding the right chemistry, which can be difficult in such a short window of action that is necessary since the NPSL also has playoffs before the players begin their college seasons in August.
“If you saw our first game here against Appalachian FC, we are 10 times the team we were,” Sharp said. “It has taken us eight, seven, possibly nine games to figure out our identity and how we are looking to play, but that is expected when you got a bunch of new boys together. None of these boys have played together before so we are trying to bring them all in.”
He is already thinking ahead to 2025 in Bristol, where the support in the bleachers for matches has been better than expected.
“Having this many people at every game is great. We traveled away, from what I have seen the only place that really rivals us with fans in seats is Knoxville,” said Sharp, whose Rhythm traveled to games in Atlanta, Charlotte, Knoxville and Boone, with Greenville, S.C. waiting on Saturday.
“We are the only ones really getting substantial crowds every game. We have played a few away games this year and we have outnumbered them. That is no disrespect to them, but maybe they are competing in Charlotte and Atlanta with pro teams and MLS teams as well so it is difficult to get the fans involved.”
Sharp feels like that will play a key role in recruiting prior to next summer.
“We can tell the new boys coming in that we are going to be playing in front 500 people every week game in and game out,” Sharp said. “It is a great selling point. I hope the boys have really enjoyed themselves this year, I hope the fans have enjoyed us as well, watching us grow and play as a team and let’s hope it carries on next year as well.”
Cooil, who served as captain and picked up the nickname “Captain Cooil” with the Rhythm, could definitely envision himself being back.
“It is definitely a possibility. I don’t see why not,” Cooil said. “I have enjoyed my time here, I am really close with the owners, they have brought me up here.”
Now to turn all those close losses into smiles at the end of matches, which came, oh so close, in the loss to Hickory FC last week.
“I am a winning man, I like to win,” Sharp said. “I am always disappointed when we don’t get the win, but performance wise again, we have got to be pleased with the performance and how we played. We want to win, I want to win.”
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King University graduate Riley Moore celebrates his goal that gave the Bristol Rhythm a 2-1 lead late in last Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Hickory FC at Gene Malcolm Stadium. Hickory FC scored two goals in less than two minutes to rally for the win.
Members of the Bristol Rhythm celebrate a goal during a match this summer at Gene Malcolm Stadium.
Rising Milligan senior and Botswana native Biokaego “Stooge” Mbaakanyi greets fans after a game for the Bristol Rhythm at Gene Malcolm Stadium.
Bristol Rhythm mascot Banjo the Racoon is surrounded by area children who have been drawn to the team in its inaugural season.
An aerial view of Gene Malcolm Stadium during the Bristol Rhythm’s season opener against Appalachian FC that drew an excited 1,200 spectators.
Biokaego “Stooge” Mbaakanyi celebrate his goal that helped the Bristol Rhythm tie the Hickory FC 1-1 prior to halftime last week at Gene Malcolm Stadium.
The Bristol Rhythm is all smiles after a goal by Biokaego “Stooge” Mbaakanyi (11) pulled the Rhythm into a 1-1 tie last Saturday against Hickory FC. Hickory scored two late goals to earn a hard-fought 3-2 win over the Rhythm.
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