Tell us about Edgewater Castle - when was the club founded and what is its mission?
Edgewater Castle FC was founded in the fall of 2017 by James Kitia and Andrew Swanson. The founding mission of the club was and still is to provide the low-income, immigrant, and Refugee communities of North Chicago with a high-quality, highly organized, and uniquely accessible soccer experience

Tell us about your badge and colors – what is the inspiration, and does it connect to your community in any way?
Our badge was designed by an old friend of one of our co-founders named Jen Dorman. The light blue Fields within the crest represent the two blue stripes from the Chicago flag, as well as the lake and the sky. The central castle tower in the badge is maroon, which matches the overall color of Chicago bricks commonly used in architecture around Chicago's neighborhoods. This Tower also represents the nickname for our team and players, The Rooks.

What league or leagues do you play in? Why did you choose that league?
Our men's side has squads competing in both the Midwest Premier League (MWPL) and the National Metro Soccer League (NSL). Our men's side also participates in the State Cup and National Amateur Cup each year. Our Women's side participates in United Women's Soccer (UWS) as well as the Illinois State Cup.

Do you sell merchandise or have plans to? If so, where can we find it and what are you most excited about? If not yet, what are you working on?
We sell merchandise online through our website Club shop. We also sell our game kits for the 2023 season through our kit provider Clubhouse athletic. We're very thrilled with our three 2023 kits, all of which were designed by our Director of Marketing, Miles Whitworth.

How has this season gone for you? What were the goals and aspirations heading into it? What is something to work on for the future?
After concluding a very rough 2022 season where we finished last in the MWPL West, we knew that we would need to revamp and put a lot of effort in during the offseason to improve and become more competitive. In the offseason we hired a new head coach, and now our men's team currently sit in fourth place in the Midwest Premier League Heartland Conference, with enough games in hand to potentially finish top of the table.

*Over the weekend, the team lost the state championship 2-1, despite having put the ball in the back of the net at the death - the referee called a player to be in an offside position, thus negating the equalizer.

For the women, 2022 saw a successful campaign in the Illinois Women's Soccer League, and after preparing for a second campaign in IWSL in 2023, we made the decision in preseason to move them into a more established national league (UWS). So far this year, our women are competing admirably and getting great results in our first UWS campaign, sitting firmly in third place in the Midwest Division. Additionally, our women's side advanced to the semifinals of the Illinois State Cup, eventually falling 2-1 to last year's winners in DeKalb County United.

In the future we want to be lifting trophies, and we still have opportunities to do that this season.

If there were one or two teams, within a 100 miles of you, to play a friendly against – who would you play and why?
We have a lot of respect for dozens of clubs of various levels in the region, but we always look to challenge ourselves. For the men, we would love to get an opportunity to face the Chicago Fire first team. And for the women, we look forward to the launch of the Women's Open Cup, so we can get our shot at a match with the Red Stars.

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