Heat Crushes Electric City 5-1 to win UPSL Mid-Atlantic Crown

Forrest Wimberly
1 day ago
4 min read

NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com

The South Carolina United Heat used a Tom Marriott hat trick and a couple of additional insurance goals to win the UPSL Premier Mid-Atlantic Final played last Saturday night in Columbia. The Heat had already won the regular season title a few weeks ago and completed the double in convincing fashion over one of the hottest teams in the UPSL in Electric City who had won eight straight games on their run to the final.

The opening chance of the match went to Electric City on a free kick in the 9th minute. Although the shot was always going wide left, it served as a warning for the Heat that Electric was looking to knock off another top opponent on the road in the 2026 playoffs (Electric defeated North Conference No. 1 seed AC Raleigh just two weeks ago).

The Heat were lacking the final ball served into the forwards and didn’t get a good look at the Electric goal until the 27^th minute. The initial shot from the Heat was turned aside by the Electric keeper only to fall to the feet of the Heat’s leading scorer Tom Marriott. Marriott took the stray ball and after a quick dribble, picked his spot in the nets putting the first Heat goal past the Electric keeper for the 1-0 lead.

Just 3 minutes later in the 30^th minute, Evan Fidler doubled the Heat advantage collecting a ball in the midfield before hitting an absolute rocket of a shot into the top corner of the nets to make it 2-0 over the stunned Electric City defense.

Electric would steady themselves and start to work their way back into the match getting a lifeline deep into first-half stoppage time. While all the attention was at the Heat’s goalkeeper and the crowded goalmouth, a deep service off a corner kick bypassed the congested area to be headed in by Ryan Wittrock who lost his mark and powered Electric back into the match just before the halftime break. Heat 2-1 Electric is how the teams went to the locker room. A fiery halftime talk from Electric City’s coaching staff and a more subdued refocusing from the Heat’s staff brought both teams back out to the pitch for the second half.

“I told them that we messed up real bad (about conceding the late goal to Electric),” said Heat Head Coach Ivan Vlek. “First of all, I consider that corner kick and leaving a free guy inside of the box a problem. But I also told them we still had the advantage, and the first half could have been way more than a 2-1 score. We had a lot of chances, so I think it was just doing the same thing with same people. No panic, stay calm, just the same thing, just being composed…but knowing that you need the extra focus because in a final, the smallest detail, like conceding a corner or losing your mark can be can be paid expensively.”

The Heat halftime talk paid almost immediate dividends as Tom Marriott scored in the 54^th minute and 57^th minute to put the Electric comeback on ice. Marriott collected a poorly cleared corner kick in the 54^th minute before a quick turn and shot that saw the ball flash off Marriott’s foot and into the Electric nets. Then in the 57^th minute Marriott found the ball in space just inside the Electric penalty area where he again picked his spot and fired in a low, driven ball into the back post for the now commanding 4-1 lead and his second hat trick in as many playoff matches.

The Heat kept attacking and Midou Faye scored the fifth and final goal of the evening deep into second-half stoppage time to make the final score 5-1 in favor of the Heat.

“It feels great,” said Heat Captain Seth Hanson about the championship win. “I mean, back-to-back (champions), and yeah, we're just looking forward to the next Round of 32. We’re going to bring more of the same (in the national tournament). Lots of goals and we want to control every single game. We're ready to take on anyone. Last season we made it to the National Round of 16, so we're definitely gonna look to push past that round this season.”

The Heat now turn their attention to the UPSL National tournament that begins the weekend of July 4-5. The Heat will face the Virginia Conference champions Los Toros in the Round of 32 on July 5 at the WRAL Soccer Complex in Raleigh, NC. Kickoff is at 2 PM. The winner on July 5 between the Heat and Toros plays the winner of the Georgia versus Tennessee/Kentucky Conference match up in the Round of 16 on July 11-12.

And with the national tournament coming up, Coach Vlek had these final thoughts. “There is nothing that we're not ready for. We're just gonna keep doing what we're doing. We're not going to change anything…we just need everybody healthy and ready to go…but this group right now is phenomenal.”