St. Louis CITY SC Home Opener

Midday last Saturday (4 March), I drove to Julie's house. After lunch and some wonderful conversation, we made our way to Downtown West in St. Louis. This was the long-awaited day of St. Louis CITY SC's home opener at CITYPARK.

Before arriving at the pre-match party at Schlafly Tap Room, I had to park my car on Locust two blocks from the party site. Julie and I then walked to the street in front of the Tap Room where the party took place. Our mates from the St. Louligans were there, along with The Thieves, Fleur de Noise, St. Louis City Punks, and the Riot Grrrls. Julie and I contributed to the St. Louligans' Charity du Jour, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in St. Louis. I also bought a St. Louligans' scarf and a button from Fleur de Noise, the latter of which I added to my cap.

Julie and I enjoyed beer from Schlafly, and later ate an early dinner from Locoz Tacoz's food truck set up by the Tap Room. We also chatted with others in the crowd and took in the scene. Hundreds of CITY SC supporters thronged the party area, plus a few supporters of the match's opponent, Charlotte FC, were there.

Nearly two hours before kickoff, Julie and I marched with the hundreds of supporters around the block north of CITYPARK, led by the drums of Fleur de Noise. Many of the bystanders along the streets and looking out from the buildings along our route cheered us. After about 20 minutes, our group arrived at CITYPARK and made our way to the Supporter Section in the stadium's north end.

Both of us found our places to stand in the Supporter Section as the teams warmed up on the pitch. The stadium was packed, a sellout of 22,423 spectators. The excitement reached a fever pitch as the starting elevens of both teams walked out the tunnel onto the pitch. Julie and I were ready, along with everyone else.

The St. Louligans unveiled a huge tifo while the rest of the seating areas displayed colored cards to welcome everyone to this first home match. St. Louis CITY SC kicked off the match and the cheering never stopped. Fleur de Noise's drummers set the beat and the capos led the chants throughout the match.

Charlotte FC scored the opening goal 25 minutes in, but CITY SC kept up the pressure. An errant back pass by a Charlotte player became an own goal in the 41st minute. Just into stoppage time, a hand ball in the Charlotte penalty area led to a penalty goal for CITY SC. The home side was up 2-1 at halftime.

CITY SC made a few scoring attempts in the second half, finally connecting in the 71st minute in front of the Supporter Section. We all went into maximum pandemonium at that point.

The final whistle left CITY SC 3-1 winners, and nobody left their seats. The players came over towards the Supporter Section to applaud us before moving around the stadium to give the other spectators their thanks. All of us (except for Charlotte FC and their supporters) left CITYPARK very happy. Julie and I walked to my car and we returned to her home.

The next morning, we had breakfast before watching some Serie A matches on TV. I then had to leave to get ready for refereeing youth soccer later that day, but Julie and I will have some special time next weekend.

Later.

Websites of Entiries Mentioned in This Post:

St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

CITYPARK: CITYPARK | St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

Schlafly Tap Room: Tap Room Brewpub - Schlafly Beer

St. Louligans: Saint Louligans – Supporting Soccer in the St. Louis Area – St. Louligans – Supporting St. Louis Soccer (stlouligans.com)

The Thieves: Home | Up the Thieves! (stlouligans.com)

Fleur de Noise: Fleur De Noise

St. Louis City Punks: SLCP Home (slcitypunks.com)

Riot Grrls: SLCP Home - About Riot Grrrls (slcitypunks.com)

Locoz Tacoz: Authentic Mexican Food Truck in St. Louis | Locoz Tacoz

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: Lower Plains | Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (lls.org)

 

Weekend in Downtown West with Julie

Last Saturday morning (8 October), I picked up Julie at her house and drove us to the Schlafly Tap Room in St. Louis' Downtown West neighborhood. We attended a watch party for the MLS Next Pro Cup being played in Columbus, Ohio between Columbus Crew 2 and St. Louis CITY 2. The St. Louligans were there to hold the event, joined by the St. Louis City Punks, the Thieves, and Fleur de Noise. Schlafly provided a free buffet lunch, and we could buy Schlafly beer in the Tap Room.

Julie and I set up our chairs in front of the big screen set up on the lot and we watched the livestream of the match. We had fun socializing with the other supporters. Unfortunately, CITY 2 lost the match 4-1. We were sad about the loss, but happy about the season they had.

After the game, I drove Julie back to her home, before I returned to my home.

The next day, after refereeing some youth soccer matches at the Lou Fusz Complex, I washed up and returned to Julie's house. This time, we went to Centene Stadium, immediately south of the Schlafly Tap Room. We were attending a special event for Enterprise Holdings employees, and Julie was my guest. Entering the stadium, we were each presented with a commemorative scarf.

Wandering around the concourse, we were most impressed with the beautiful, clean lines of the stadium. This is the home ground for St. Louis City SC when it begins play in Major League Soccer in 2023. Julie and I sampled food and drink from the complimentary buffet bars around the concourse and shopped in the City Market souvenir shop.

Julie and I then joined other attendees and took our seats in the lower deck for the evening's program. This was the premier of a new documentary film, "Jack Taylor: The Enterprise." It is about Jack Taylor, born 100 years ago, who founded Enterprise 65 years ago. Prior to the film being screened on the videoboard, the film's director interviewed Jack Taylor's two children: Andy Taylor, Executive Chairman of Enterprise Holdings, Inc., and Jo Ann Kindle. The three discussed Jack Taylor, his life and legacy.

After the discussion came the film. The 57-minute-long film was narrated by Gary Sinise and looked at Taylor's childhood in St. Louis, his service as a Navy fighter pilot in the Pacific during World War II, and his founding of Executive Leasing (now Enterprise Rent-A-Car) in 1957. Interviews Taylor gave prior to his death in 2016 were included, along with archival footage and interviews with family members and historians. The film showed how Taylor's wartime service influenced his approach to business and life. (Taylor would eventually call his firm Enterprise after the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, where he served part of the time in the Pacific during World War II.)

After the movie ended, Julie and I walked out feeling happy and most impressed with what we saw. I drove us back to Julie's house. We stayed and talked for awhile before I left to go home. This was a great weekend for us.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in This Post:

Schlafly Tap Room: Tap Room Brewpub - Schlafly Beer

St. Louis CITY2: STL CITY 2 | St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

St. Louligans: Saint Louligans – Supporting Soccer in the St. Louis Area – St. Louligans – Supporting St. Louis Soccer (stlouligans.com)

Saintt Louis City Punks: SLCP Home (slcitypunks.com)

The Thieves: Home | Up the Thieves! (stlouligans.com)

Fleur de Noise: Fleur De Noise

Enterprise Holdings, Inc.: Enterprise Holdings

Centene Stadium: Home - Centene Stadium

St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis CITY SC | America's First Soccer Capital (stlcitysc.com)

Soccer Weekend: SLU, SLYSA, and CITY2

Last Saturday night (1 October), I went to Saint Louis University's Robert R. Hermann Stadium to cheer on the Billiken men against Atlantic 10 Conference rival Loyola Chicago. There was a good crowd on hand and I found my seat to await the game.

The visiting Ramblers took the lead on 14 minutes and it remained 1-0 until SLU leveled it on 47 minutes. The Billikens would win it on a fluke own goal, when a Loyola defender passing it to his goalkeeper overshot and the ball rolled into the net. SLU took advantage of this miscue to hold on to a 2-1 win. It was an odd way to win, but this Billikens fan will take it.

The next afternoon, I drove to Maryland Heights' Lou Fusz Athletic Complex to referee St. Louis Youth Soccer Association matches. I worked two under-14 matches and had the middle in the first one. The games generally went well, except for a situation in my first match where I had to send off two players for fighting. Fortunately, no other players got into it and the match ended calmly. I quickly wrote out an incident report that was turned in with the game card.

After my games, I drove to my girlfriend Julie's house in Florissant, picked her up, and drove us to SIU-Edwardville's Ralph Korte Stadium. St. Louis CITY 2 was playing Tacoma Defiance in the MLS NEXT Pro Western Conference Final. Before the match, Julie and I enjoyed the tailgate experience. The St. Louligans were set up in the parking lot, along with Saint Louis City Punks, the Thieves, and Fleur de Noise.

Before our match, we knew that Columbus Crew 2 had defeated Toronto FC 2 in the Eastern Conference final that day. Thus, Columbus would host the winner of our match. Julie and I joined with the other supporters in marching into the stadium for the match.

We were singing and chanting away from before the opening kick-off. Our constant chants paid off in the 31st minute, when CITY 2 scored to take a 1-0 lead. Tacoma nearly equalized a few minutes later, but the shot hit the post.

In the second half, two quick Tacoma shots early on were saved by CITY 2's goalkeeper. The home side doubled the lead with a 59th minute score. Tacoma pulled one back from the penalty spot 16 minutes later, but that was as close as they came. CITY 2 was Western Conference Champions. The St. Louligans--including Julie and I--went nuts.

CITY 2 plays at Columbus this Saturday late afternoon/early evening (Central Time) for the MLS NEXT Pro Championship. Julie and I plan to watch the live stream of that game.

I drove Julie and I to her home, where I stayed for a bit to chat before going home--tired, but happy. 

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in This Post:

Saint Louis University Athletics: Saint Louis University - Official Athletics Website (slubillikens.com)

St. Louis Youth Soccer Association: Home - St Louis Youth Soccer (slysa.org)

SIU-Edwardsville Athletics: SIUE - Official Athletics Website (siuecougars.com)

St. Louis CITY 2: STL CITY 2 | St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

MLS NEXT Pro: The Official Home of MLS NEXT Pro | MLSNEXTPro.com

St. Louligans: Saint Louligans – Supporting Soccer in the St. Louis Area – St. Louligans – Supporting St. Louis Soccer (stlouligans.com)

Saint Louis City Punks: SLCP Home (slcitypunks.com)

The Thieves: Home | Up the Thieves! (stlouligans.com)

Fleur de Noise: Fleur De Noise