North Carolina FC starts new season with new faces, returning to USL Championship

By Louis Fernandez, WRAL Sports

A new season, a return to the USL Championship league and plenty of new players, but for North Carolina FC, is still feels like the same club that went from worst-to-first, winning the USL League One Championship in November.

"Honestly, I don't see that much of a difference," returning midfielder Mikey Maldonado said on Tuesday after the beginning of preseason training.

"Everyone's still bought into the same tasks that we have, of course we want a championship again, but I think everyone's bought in," Maldonado said.

Spiritually, at the core, it's the same culture, but on the surface there are a few changes. The new players, for example, 13 of them to be exact. These new folks make up more than half of the roster, with 12 players returning from last season's title run.

"Everyone's moving up another level, so you have to raise the level no matter what. Guys coming in already have experience at MLS and (USL) Championship level, it's just going to make everyone better," Maldonado said.

One of those players with experience at the MLS level is Jacori Hayes. The midfielder has 72 appearances and 3,143 minutes in MLS. He says he likes what he see so far from NC FC.

"That's the worry with expansion teams, the teams that are coming up to a higher league, you're like, alright, is it just kind of a learning curve? How's this first season going to be, but talking to the coaching staff, seeing the players that they have signed, really convinced me that this club is serious and looking to build off the Championship from last year and just win another trophy this year," Hayes said.

Meshing the old with the new is always a challenge, but Hayes said it's one the club is up for.

"I think the crucial part, we have good young players, we have good veteran pieces that know the league know kind of what to expect week-in and week-out when we face opponents and so we'll just kind of lean on each other throughout the year," Hayes said.

Then of course, there's the one constant, head coach John Bradford. This will be his sixth year with the professional North Carolina FC team, entering his fourth as the head coach. In December of last year, Bradford was promoted to also take on the role of sporting director, the first in the club's history. Think of it as a general manager for NC FC. In the December announcement from the club, some of the outlines of his role included leading "the club’s overall vision on player and technical staff recruitment and development for on-field competition." That includes managing players for a possible transfer or sale to other clubs.

"I've always been involved heavily in the recruitment of all of our players in the signing of the players and that kind of thing and so I think that branches now into how do you balance, you know, building the roster to compete to hopefully, you know, be at the top of USL Championship, but also have some players that we have a vision for that can potentially move on in the future," Bradford said on Tuesday.

So some old, some new, but a different bar to clear for NC FC, especially since they left USL Championship back in 2021.

"The level has been raised for sure," Bradford said.

"I think the league as a whole has improved. The rosters are better, the investment is higher, the environments are improved... it's an exciting moment to raise our own level too."

The club will get an early chance to test that level out: North Carolina FC opens the season with a home match against Charleston Battery at WakeMed Soccer Park. The match starts at 7 p.m. The Battery lost last year in the USL Championship Final to Phoenix Rising FC.