When was your club founded, by whom, and what is the mission?
Mahoning Trumbull United was founded in February of 2022. Founders Samuel Biro and Vitaly Di Tommaso were in a local pick-up league that had over a course of 5 years become quite organized. We took the best players and asked if we were to found a proper club would they would play. A majority said yes, all we had to do was find a league to play in.

Tell us about your badge and colors – what inspired the choice or did it just fall into place?
Three main colors make up the badge of MTUSC. Black, red, and white are the three colors. These made sense to us as they give the logo an attractive color contrast that draws attention. Also with us being located near Youngstown State University and having a few players who are current students it made sense as also the image that best represented our region.

What league do you play in? Why did you choose that league and how often does the club re-evaluate that?
MTUSC currently plays in the Akron Premier League (APL) in the Akron Ohio area. We chose this league as in our immediate area of Youngstown, OH. Currently there are no leagues playing at our level of play. The area is dominated by youth clubs, but no adult leagues. We had a choice of APL or North Coast Soccer League (NCSL). APL was chosen for locality and financial reasons.

Do you sell merch or have plans to?
Currently the club does not have merchandise available. We are working with our supplier Endeavor Sports Inc, on developing and launching a team store. That way, depending on its success, that may lead into a merchandise line eventually being made public.

How did you finish last season? How do you plan on improving for next year?
The 2022 season was our club’s inaugural season. We struggled to manage a good measure both in defense and offensive play. Being a new club with players who, some had played together, and others being new we were constantly undergoing team building. This led to many disconnections in the early season putting MTUSC at a negative goal differential. The club did come off with three regular season wins, the first being against rival Akron United FC. MTUSC also had wins against Lobos FC, and Manchester SC of Manchester, OH. While some clubs we were highly competitive with both in preseason and regular season, MTUSC finished 9th out of the 10 clubs.
Going into this coming season, we are already taking measures to improve player quality in tighter selection criteria in recruiting and scouting, as well as rebuilding our system of play on a multi scale tier. Using data analysis from previous performance as well as in our off-season indoor play, MTUSC is looking to identify weak points. We’ll use that data to direct improvements to where they’ll be most effective. We’re using a micro-macro scaled approach to implementing improvements.

If there was one or two teams, within a 100 miles of you, to play a friendly against – who would you play and why?
If we had to choose, the top contenders would be either Cleveland Force SC U23 or Pittsburgh City United FC in UPSL. Both of these clubs would offer a tough fight that would give a lot of insight to what we’re really capable of. As a club aiming to be eventual peers to these clubs, knowing what is coming gives a chance to be ready well beforehand. Having that to build on would be a prime point in our competitive game.

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