UPSL Premier Mid-Atlantic Playoff Preview
- Forrest Wimberly
- 10 hours ago
- 3 min read
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
The playoff field is set as the UPSL Premier Mid-Atlantic postseason is set to begin June 6. The top teams from the regular season received a first-round bye, there were some clubs opt out of the playoffs, and the cross-over format from 2025 returns with North versus South matchups on the schedule.
UPSL Mid-Atlantic North:
The top two seeds AC Raleigh and Sporting Soccer Academy have the first-round byes. NCFC finished in fifth place but opted out of the postseason. Briar United in third, Rush in fourth, Emory in sixth, and Pro-Finish in seventh will be the entries from the North.
UPSL Mid-Atlantic South: The top two seeds SC United Heat and Soda City have the first-round byes. Combine Academy finished in sixth place and Charlotte SA finished in seventh place with both clubs opting out of the postseason. The SC Surf in third, Electric City in fourth, Mint Hill in fifth, and Gastonia in eighth will be the entries from the South. Last fall, all the South Conference teams won and advanced in the playoffs during the cross over post season. This year looks to have a heavily stacked South Conference being challenged by the top two teams in the North Conference.
First Round Schedule:
S3 SC Surf hosts N7 Pro-Finish: June 7, Shea Family Fields, Mt Pleasant, SC, 5 PM
The Surf are making their playoff debut and are a balanced attack led by a quartet of players with 3 goals on the season (Briggs Gwozdo, Steven Rocca, Vladyslav Horshchynskyi, Isaiah Cromedy). Pro-Finish are led by Musakayi Sumbu with 10 goals. The Surf scored 25 goals allowing just 10 goals this season while Pro-Finish scored 35 allowing 19 goals. Pro-Finish enter the post season with just one win in their last five games while the Surf have two wins and two draws in their last five games.
Prediction? SC Surf 3-1 Pro-Finish. Surf shut down the Pro-Finish attack with their stingy defense.
S4 Electric City hosts N6 Emory FC: June 6, Old McCants Stadium, Anderson, SC, 3 PM
One of the hottest teams in the UPSL, Electric City is led by Nico Ortiz with 5 goals as they enter the postseason. Emory FC is led by Shiloh Liberman with 6 goals. Electric won promotion last spring winning the USPL Division 1 title and despite being a Premier expansion team have a strong playoff resume in just their second season of play. Electric scored 29 goals allowing 17 goals this season. Emory scored 26 while allowing 21 goals this season. Electric are on a five-game winning streak entering the playoffs while Emory have won three out of their last five games.
Prediction? Electric City 2-0 Emory FC. Old McCants provides home-field advantage over Emory making the long drive from Virginia.
N3 Briar United hosts S8 Gastonia: June 6, Pleasant Park, Raleigh, NC, 3 PM
Gianlucca Pereira leads the Briar United squad with 8 goals this season as they host an up-and-down Gastonia Strikers lead by Daniel Santos with 3 goals. Briar scored 26 goals allowing 14 goals this season. Gastonia scored 18 goals allowing 23 goals this season. Briar was the Fall 2024 Mid-Atlantic champion earning promotion to the Premier Division. Briar is entering the playoffs on a four-game winning streak while Gastonia slipped into the playoffs on the final match day with a win over the last-place NC Ballers.
Prediction? Briar United 3-0 Gastonia Strikers. Briar United muscles past the up-and-down Strikers.
N4 Rush United hosts S5 Mint Hill: June 7, Radford University, Radford, VA, 5 PM
Rush United has a trio of players (Logan Lavinder, Denzel Marufu, Chris Neal) with 3 goals each to lead the team. Mint Hill has a duo with 3 goals each (Kimo Lemke, Victor Ortez) leading the team. Rush scored 23 goals and allowed 32 goals this season. Mint Hill scored 16 goals allowing 15 goals this season. Rush United are undefeated in their last five games posting four wins and one draw over this stretch. Mint Hill has dropped two out of their final three regular season games to slide into the playoffs on a down note.
Prediction? Mint Hill 2-1 Rush United. Battle-tested Mint from the South Conference find a way to get the result.
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