Hickory FC caps historic 2nd season with national title

The Hickory FC semi-professional men’s soccer team burst onto the scene in 2024, winning the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) Southeast Conference title in its inaugural season before falling in the semifinals of the South Region playoffs.

The 2025 season was even better for Hickory, as the squad posted an overall record of 15-1-1 (including friendlies) and a 14-0-1 mark against NPSL opponents en route to capturing the national championship courtesy of a 3-2 victory over top-seeded El Farolito on Aug. 2 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

El Farolito won the 2024 NPSL championship and was favored by many to defeat visiting Hickory in this year’s title match, but just as it did all season long, Hickory found a way to win.

“When we started the season, it was something that was a hope, a dream, and then day by day, game by game, these guys made it a reality,” Hickory head coach Carlos Rubio said of winning the national title. “We went to the West Coast and we already felt like champions because we had done everything right. We had the right people in the locker room, we had the community support behind us, so we knew if we were able to show up the way we have throughout the whole summer, there was no team going to be able to stop us.”

Hickory’s Antonio Pineda, who was recently named the NPSL’s top individual player for the 2025 season, started the scoring with a goal in the 30th minute. However, El Farolito’s Dembor Benson converted a penalty kick in the 39th to tie things at 1-all at the half.

Hickory retook the lead on a goal from Geoffroy Letienne in the 53rd minute, and despite having to play 10 vs. 11 in the closing minutes of the match after a red card forced Pineda to the sideline, was able to add to its advantage when eventual Man of the Match Tomas Pollacchi scored in stoppage time.

Although El Farolito later received a goal from Jhonatan Perez, Hickory ultimately earned its second consecutive 3-2 win as it improved to 6-0 in one-goal contests in 2025. In fact, each of the team’s final four playoff matches was decided by a single goal.

“El Farolito is a great team with a lot of history, actually they were celebrating their 40th year as a club this year,” said Rubio. “… They had a fantastic year and were really well-coached, but honestly we didn’t put much emphasis on them in preparation for the match because we knew we had the players and the leadership with our captains to just focus completely on us and on what we needed to do to win the match, and the guys showed that during the 90-plus minutes.

“Even with going a player down and some things that didn’t go our way during the match, we didn’t let that get in our heads. We kept on working, we knew that we were gonna have our chances, and then when they came we capitalized, so I’m really proud of the guys on our roster.”

Notably, one of the players on Hickory FC’s roster this season was Patton High School alumnus Isai Jimenez, a goalkeeper who posted 11 shutouts as a senior for the Panthers in 2024 on his way to earning spots on the North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association’s all-region and all-state teams. Jimenez was also named to HighSchoolOT.com’s all-state team and was chosen as the Mountain Foothills 7 1A/2A Conference defensive player of the year after helping Patton reach the fourth round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) 2A state playoffs for just the second time in program history.

Additionally, Morganton resident Dillon Smith is one of the co-owners for Hickory FC, which in addition to defending its NPSL title next year will also compete in the 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, a national competition that dates back to 1914. Hickory earned a spot in the U.S. Open Cup by virtue of capturing the NPSL championship.

Vasquez helps UPSL club win conference title

Patton rising junior Gabino Vasquez played for Asheville FC of the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) during its 2025 spring season, which started in March and ended in July, and the squad ultimately won the UPSL Premier Division I Mid-Atlantic Conference title and reached the second round of the national playoffs.

Asheville knocked off visiting AC Raleigh by a 1-0 score in the conference championship match on July 6 at Buncombe County Sports Park before earning a 2-1 victory over Potros FC in the opening round of the national playoffs on July 12 at Marietta High School in Georgia. Then Asheville fell to Tennessee Tempo FC by a 1-0 final in the round-of-16 on July 19 at Oakland High School in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Vasquez is a defender for Patton, which has won at least 18 matches and has made it to at least the third round of the NCHSAA 2A state playoffs in each of the past three seasons.

“Hard work pays off,” said Pedro Vasquez, who is Gabino Vasquez’s father. “I would like to thank God first, as well as my family and friends for all the support. I also want to thank Asheville FC coach Manuel Rodriguez from Venezuela for letting Gabino grow as a soccer player.”

The UPSL also holds a fall season each year that begins in September and ends in December.

Mother Nature wreaks havoc on Crawdads’ schedule

Rainy weather only allowed the Hickory Crawdads to play three games over the first six days of August, with the Crawdads dropping two of those contests to fall five games behind the Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Pelicans for the top spot in the second-half standings in the Single-A Carolina League’s South Division entering Thursday’s home doubleheader against the Columbia (S.C.) Fireflies at L.P. Frans Stadium.

Hickory (54-47, 21-15 in second half) split a road doubleheader with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers on Aug. 2, losing by a 3-2 score in Game 1 before taking Game 2’s seven-inning affair by a 5-1 final. The Crawdads also suffered a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Woodpeckers the following day.

In the opener on Aug. 2, which was a contest that originally began on Aug. 1 before being suspended due to rain, the Crawdads were up 2-0 before Fayetteville scored once in the bottom of the fifth and twice in the sixth to earn the one-run win. Hickory’s only two hits came on singles from Yeremy Cabrera (run) and Maxton Martin (run), while Braylin Morel had the Crawdads’ lone RBI.

The Crawdads bounced back in the nightcap despite being limited to four hits, one of which was a three-run triple from Antonis Macias in the top of the fourth, which is when Hickory scored all of its runs. Macias also had a single and scored a run, while Hector Osorio (single, RBI) and Juan Sulbaran (single, run) had the remaining hits for the Crawdads to go with runs scored from Cabrera, Luis Marquez, and Pablo Guerrero.

Hickory’s Grant Cherry (4-2) was the winning pitcher in the aforementioned game following two innings of one-run, three-hit relief during which he struck out one and didn’t issue a walk.

And in last Sunday’s contest, the Crawdads were again held to four hits. Cabrera hit a solo home run to account for their biggest blow, while Marquez had a single and an RBI, Morel and Osorio both singled, and Ben Hartl scored a run.

Following Thursday’s doubleheader, Hickory was scheduled to host a single game against Columbia on Friday before the teams play twice again today (Saturday, Aug. 9) beginning at 5 p.m. and once on Sunday at 2 p.m. After that, the Crawdads head to Charleston, S.C., for a six-game series with the RiverDogs that starts with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch on Tuesday.