PEORIA, Ill. – The second season of Peoria City got off to a disappointing start at home.
The Carps fell 3-2 to St. Charles F.C. Saturday night at Shea Stadium, after leading 2-1 at the half. Peoria Notre Dame alum Noah Madrigal opened the scoring, while Abdel Talabi of Brewster, MA scored Peoria’s second goal.
The team’s next match is Friday night against Wichita F.C.
Peoria City Coach Tim Regan says the team didn’t play well in the 2nd half, and couldn’t break out of it.
“You’re okay if that lasts for five minutes, maybe 10. But when it hits 15, 20, it becomes really difficult and we got stuck on our end,” Regan said. “We had a couple late surges, but those are just throwing the kitchen sink at the end, which most teams do when they’re losing.”
Regan says the team will look to build off the positives from the game’s 1st half, and look to build some team chemistry.
He also spoke well of the fans who supported the team throughout the game.
Those fans were led by “The 309,” the supporters group for Peoria City that is also in its second year.
The group was founded by Drew Clark, who was inspired to take action after attending his first Peoria City match.
“I went to the first game, I was like ‘This is dead.’ This match, the environment’s dead. I said ‘I was going to make a supporters group.’ So I went on Facebook, made this thing call “The 309,” and I said ‘Well maybe a few people will join.’ Ended up getting 50 members in the first night, and now we’re up to 340 last time I checked. And that’s within a season,” Clark said.
In year two, Clark would like to gain non-profit status for “The 309” to help with charitable endeavors in the community. He’s also looking to make the Peoria-area more aware of the youth soccer talent the area produces.
Off the pitch, Peoria City is looking to increase its presence in the area.
Director of Communications Matt Sheehan says one way the club seeks to achieve that by getting more eyes on matches, whether that’s in-person at Shea Stadium or while people are out and about in Peoria.
“To not only be able to play games here live, in front of a live audience, which is so great. But also be able to show our games on TVs at bars and restaurants across the Peoria area,” Sheehan said.
Sheehan says the club has partnered with ten establishments to stream Peoria City matches, and is looking to add more.
For in-game experience, Sheehan says they’re looking to add more food trucks and music at tailgates before matches.
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