MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — Memphis 901 FC is headed to the postseason for the first time in franchise history.
The club clinching the 3rd seed in the Eastern Division of the USL Championship playoffs after a strong finish in the regular season.
“We want to be playing your best soccer going into playoffs and we feel like they’re really peaking at the right time so we’re excited for playoffs to start,” said forward Kyle Murphy.
“To finish the season with 50 points third place, you know, 11th overall in the entire league is a tremendous feat for this group,” head coach Ben Pirmann said. “They’ve been through a lot. You know, we’ve talked about the late start all those things that play into it, and they’ve just done nothing but grind and grind and getting results and I’m proud of them especially at home to do what we did in those last two matches.”
901 kicks off its inaugural postseason with a match against Charlotte. The two clubs have met six times between 2019 and 2020, with the Independence holding a 4-1-1 advantage.
“They’re a deep team,” Pirmann said. “They made the playoffs last year so they’ve been there. You know, we also had some good success against them last year at the end of the season but obviously this year to brand new team, we’ve never played them. You know, we’ll be we’ll be ready for I think it’ll be a really good and fair game and hopefully, some things can tilt in our favor.”
This season has been a true cinderella story for 901 FC, and they plan to take full advantage of the club’s first postseason.
“At the start it was like kind of piece by piece but we kind of saw as the roster was building had the the town that was on it,” Murphy said. “So, just a matter of time before it really started jelling together and really playing our best soccer. We’ve had our ups and downs throughout the season, but it’s helped us grow and I feel like we can take those lessons and go to the postseason.”
901’s Quarterfinals match up is set for Saturday at 6pm.
