As we were preparing for our Knights Who Say NISA Spring Preview Show, we built this document for the Spring NISA season. Once we finished recording (it will be released later today), we realized that we had all this material already done and on the page, why not turn it into an article as well? We previewed every team and this article is a great way to look forward into the coming months of NISA play. So this is the Knights Who Say NISA NISA Spring Preview (article), you should still listen to the podcast!

Detroit City FC

Won the Spring Legends Cup, Won the Fall season (qualified for 20-21 Championship match)

With all that success, DCFC has got the bullseye firmly on them now, not that it wasn’t already there. The clear favorites for the spring season, which (sort of shockingly) will be their first full season as a professional side. This is a veteran group that plays so well together, with patience and poise. Defensively they are the best in the league, and Stephen Carroll is the best centerback going and he’s healthy! You would think the offense would score more, but they don’t - and they don’t have to. Will anyone be able to punch them in the mouth?

One quirk of DCFC’s schedule is that after their home and season opener against to MD Bobcats, the team will be on the road for 4 consecutive away matches, including back to backs against Cal United (5/12) and LA Force (5/15) with only two days between matches. That gap is no doubt good for reducing traveling costs, but not good for player rest.

Chattanooga FC

Runner-up in Spring Legends Cup (qualified for Spring playoff)

In the Legends Cup, we saw two versions of CFC: the exciting, robust version that blitzed LA Force and the frustrating version that couldn’t find any answer to DCFC’s defense in the final. Which version will prevail during the season? This we do know: Juan Hernandez and Ian McGrath make the club go, and when they’re on CFC is a joy to watch. They brought in Markus Nagelstad to bolster the offense, and the results have been mixed so far. If he and Brian Bement can click up top, there’s more than enough offense here.

Tate Robertson also looked impressive in his first appearances for this club. He looked great for Stumptown two seasons ago, so it’s not a surprise. The attack looked very threatening against everyone except DCFC, so maybe that’s bad news for the rest of the league. It’s up to Coach Fuller to figure out what went wrong in the Legends Cup and get ready for the Spring final. We’ll see a great test of how much better they’ve gotten in their final regular season match, June 26th, against DCFC.

New Amsterdam

NAFC brought in a number of experienced players to this season’s squad and they showed themselves to be a more composed side. However, New Amsterdam still didn’t find any wins during the Legends Cup, but there was certainly enough improvement to think that they may not languish in the cellar. The offense got a Cosmos-sized injection with Bledi Bardic and Shavon John-Brown coming over from the idled side. And they brought Jesse Corke along with them to play in goal. Hopefully, the Cosmos players haven’t brought the scoring jinx with them. But, if they can break that, and the entire roster can gel, I think this club has a chance to be interesting. Don’t forget Aldo Munoz is still here, so expect him to also get some time in goal.

Michigan Stars

Didn’t see any new wrinkles with this club during the Legends Cup - igh press, looking for you to make a mistake and capitalize on it. They’re big and play physical. The back line is as solid as any club in the league, and Tatenda Mkuruva is fun to watch in goal. Kyle Nuel will be expected to be the offensive sparkplug. Three newcomers got a shot at the starting lineup during the Legends Cup: Bernardo Majano, Waleed Cherif, and Thomas Suchecki (who scored a wonder goal in the tournament). Will any of these players bring that added offense? Or will it be second-year player Alex Satrustegui who will be the one?

Aside from all that, as we think about this club, what’s always in the back of our minds is what the organization is and what their reason for being in the league. And, this league is rapidly evolving perhaps into an organization that doesn’t mesh with the Stars. What is the Stars’ long-term plans and will that ultimately be a NISA club?

Maryland Bobcats

We’re all very confident in the leadership of MDB, the question is the quality of the personel. Seemed overmatched at times in the tournament, to the point of losing their cool and getting dumb fouls/cards.

From what we saw in the Legends Cup, the spring season is a time for the Bobcats to develop as a professional club. There’s only so much you can do in the offseason to get ready for the professional game. It’s only through actual competition that goes from theory to execution. On the field, Bobcats need to figure out: match preparation (cannot have any more games looking unprepared at the whistle); their back line (who is going to step up and become the regulars back there they can rely on game in and game out); and if they can hold possession on a regular basis; force an opponent to play their game rather than chasing the game (especially in the first half).

Stumptown

A pleasant surprise in the tournament, the Trees showed good ball movement and a potentially great NISA player in midfielder Luis Garcia Sosa. He made the team go on the offensive side, and teams will be focusing on shutting him down. If that happens, who will step up? The defense has NISA vets Robert Hines (from the team from Oakland) and Travis Ward (from Michigan Stars) and good goalkeeping from Kevin Gonzalez.It’s easy to be impressed by the roster they were able to put together at such short notice. What the team might need is an enforcer to keep opposition off Sosa.

Stumptown was surprisingly good in the Legends Cup. No one would have expected them to be competitive, but they ended the tournament 1-1-1, better than most. Given the short ramp Rod was working on, don’t we have to expect them to be significantly better by the end of the season?

LA Force

Brought in during the offseason, Chandler Hoffman was supposed to be the primary scoring threat for LA. And he proved it in the Legends Cup, scoring three of the four goals. Unfortunately in the final match Hoffman suffered an injury, which we can now confirm was a torn acl and torn meniscus. Hoffman had surgery on Tuesday, but has a long road to recovery.

That leaves LA with some problems they must solve quickly. Gordillo Moreno is a great playmaker but who is he going to be setting up if Hoffman is not available. Former Golden State Force academy player, Erik Hernandez, looked promising, but it might not be a good idea to put all that weight on a young player just starting out. This club came out flat in the first part of the fall season then played really well in the fall tourney.

With a club that focuses on moving players along to bigger and better things, the squad is going to look different every season. But with Chandler Hoffman not able to go for the season, where will the goals come from?

Ought Four (1904)

While Stumptown may have been the surprise of the Legends Cup, Ought Four got the results to get into the semis. The team seemed to settle on a 4-5-1 set up with the much-travelled veteran Cesar Romero Jr up top as the lone striker. He and midfielder Ernesto Espinoza accounted for all of the offense and will likely be expected to carry the load for the season. It’s a group that may be able to grind out results, but we’re still just getting to know them.

This year the team is playing at Chula Vista’s home grounds. Hopefully yet another change in location, not to mention the layoff, will not discourage attendance (which will be limited due to COVID anyway). The Final three matches for ‘04 really could save them if they happen to be in a pickle. NAFC, Stumptown, MDBobcats could really push them up the standings in the final weeks of the season. ‘04 could be the surprise team of this spring.

Cal United Strikers

John HF - Cal United looked to be the same-old frustrating side that seems so very talented yet struggle to score goals. Thierjung has yet to score this spring and that needs to change. And then for 15 minutes against MD Bobcats they blew up the script and let it rip. The question becomes: can that team show up more often during the season? Darwin Lom was brought in to give even more punch up top. If Coach Ebert gets this group to click, there’s no offense in the league that could touch them.

While much of the focus is on Cal United’s attack, are we underrating their defense? Klute, de la fuente, Fuerte, Salguero provide a solid veteran presence (plus Treinen). This season, their schedule will really tell us where they’re at. First three matches are CFC, DCFC, Stars - All home. How they emerge from that series of matches could set the tone for the rest of their season.