West Seattle Junction FC unveils schedule ahead of inaugural season
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Ahead of their inaugural season, West Seattle Junction FC have unveiled their 2024 USL League Two schedule. The club will play their home matches at Nino Cantu SW Athletic Complex, introducing themselves alongside two other clubs in the Seattle-area this past offseason. Their 2024 USL League Two schedule features a few challenges, including everything that comes with an inaugural season, but it’s sure to be a fun one nonetheless as local rivalries begin, players etch their names into the history books as part of the clubs first ever roster, and fans in West Seattle get to call a club their own.
Earlier in the month, West Seattle Junction FC announced that Easy Street Records will be their jersey sponsor and a partner of the club. (Photos from West Seattle Junction FC)
Making their entrance
West Seattle, like the two other clubs that are joining the Northwest division of USL League Two, want to make their presence felt amongst the division and earn their own bragging rights. With the announcement of their league schedule for 2024, they’ve got some idea of when they’ll match up against the reigning league champs, Ballard FC, in addition to meeting the other newbies of the Northwest division in Midlakes and Tacoma. It’s going to be a bit fun to compare and contrast all of the new teams to the division when their respective inaugural seasons are set and done, by their schedules are very different when it comes to how they’re structured.
The first time that West Seattle will battle the defending USL League Two champions, Ballard FC, takes place on the first of June, with a kickoff time of 7PM PST. It’s a road match for West Seattle, heading to Memorial Stadium to take on Ballard, which will be the -. Compared to the three newbies of the division, Ballard sort of holds the “big brother” role in a sense, and West Seattle, Midlakes, and Tacoma all seeking to challenge them and earn their spot in the division. Even during their title winning campaign last season, Ballard was upset a few times, and West Seattle seeks to do so as they stake their own claim. The first matchup against Midlakes United, the club that will call Bellevue home in the Northwest division, doesn’t come until the middle of the schedule on Friday, June 14th with a kickoff time of 7PM PST. It’s in the middle of a tough month of June, which we’ll go over in the next segment, and by this time both West Seattle and Midlakes may be somewhat integrated into league play and settled as organizations, considering that they’re two of the newest clubs within the Northwest division. When this match comes around, it will be fun to compare and see where each club is and what they’ve accomplished at that point of their respective inaugural seasons. West Seattle’s first match against Tacoma comes right after their first contest against Ballard, on Wednesday, June 5th with a kickoff time of 7:30PM PST. It’s the second match in the long and tough month of June for the club, and the second match of a three-game stretch across eight days.
A look at West Seattle Junction FC’s schedule for their inaugural season. (Photo from West Seattle Junction FC)
Breakdown by month
The opening month of the season will surely be a big one for West Seattle considering it features their first three matches that they’ll ever play in USL League Two competition, battling the Oregon teams of the Northwest Division first. Capital FC is their home and season opener, as mentioned previously, with matchups against Lane United and United PDX following that. It must be somewhat nice for the club to be able to kick things off on their home turf for the first three matches of the season, looking to find some footing and gain some comfort as the club begins operations and starts to make its own history.
June is the busiest month of West Seattle’s schedule, featuring eight matches in league play. West Seattle will battle every team in the division at least once, including facing off against the Tacoma Stars twice during this month. All but one of these contests will take place on the road, with their second battle of the month against the Tacoma Stars as the only home match, on June 16th. After that nice opening month of May as they have three contests at home, West Seattle is put to the test with those seven road contests in June in what will prove to be a time that can make or break their playoff aspirations. It won’t come easy to start with for West Seattle as they create the foundation of their club overall, but when it comes to results on the pitch, June is a tough test as you could ask for.
July has the same number of games as the month of May, and all of those are home matches for the Junction just like the month of May as well. Following the brutal gauntlet that is the month of June, West Seattle gets some relief in the form of July when they’ll battle a rebranded FC Olympia, Midlakes United, and closing things out by hosting defending champions Ballard with a Sunday, July 14th match that kicks off at 1PM PST. FC Olympia was previously known as Oly Town FC but has simplified their name and gone to a crest that resembles more of the history of Olympia. The tough month of June will likely help West Seattle know if they’ll be looking to solidify their postseason plans or just simply closing out their inaugural season by the time that the July matches come around.
What’s next?
Following the announcement of their 2024 schedule release, West Seattle Junction FC has a few more primary objectives ahead of the beginning of their inaugural season. Their jerseys still must be unveiled, coaching hires need to be made, further branding will be shown off, and that will all come ahead of the first game of the season against Capital FC on Sunday, May 19th with a kickoff time of 2PM PST. It’s been exciting to watch the three Seattle-area clubs introduce themselves and begin to teach us who they are, especially with West Seattle Junction FC announcing that Easy Street Records will be their jersey sponsor and that Lake Washington Physical Therapy will be their official physical therapy partner. The club needs to get their respective ducks in order, and we didn’t even mention that they’ve got a roster to fill out. It will be very exciting and intriguing to see the teams form, the rivalries start, and a whole 2024 season unfold.
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Check out our previous West Seattle Junction FC articles here.
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Check out previous articles with writing by Charles Hamaker here.