January 20, 2021 – Tulsa, OK –
Tulsa Athletic is a program you want to be a part of if you are a part of semi-professional soccer. Not only is their A team, which is in the NPSL, a fantastic club team; But their UPSL B team is just as good. They finished with a 9-2-1 record which captured them the number 1 spot in their conference, winning the conference championship, and it also helped them land a spot in the playoffs. So what makes this team so good? An even better question could be “Could their farm team compete in the NPSL as well?”
With only 11 players on their UPSL team compared to the 24 that they have on their NPSL team, it is hard to imagine how they were able to stay so dominant over 12 games with only 11 players; But each player brings something special to the team. Even some of these players play on their A team in the NPSL. Alex Harris, Munashe Raranje, Javo Reyes, and Nolan Cosgrove are members of the UPSL roster, but they also are on the main organizations roster as well. This only makes these selected players even better whenever they have to come back down and play the matches on the B squad.
What makes the future of the Tulsa Athletic even better is how young so many of their players are. 8 out of the 11 members on their roster were born after the year 2000, which must be extremely exciting for this coaching staff. With so many of them being so young the skies are the limit on how good they could get and with the program they have at this club, this team could stay dominant for years to come.
Head Coach Levi Coleman has had many years of professional soccer under his belt, which only helps him mold with his players even more. Having an impressive pro career with the Charleston Battery, Tulsa Revolution, and most importantly the Tulsa Athletic as he is a team legend. From 2013-15 he was the team’s leading scorer in his first 3 seasons; Which as any athlete would know, in any sport, is very difficult to do. He was also able to lead Tulsa to the 2013 and 2014 South Central Division Championships, while also capturing the regular season win title in 2016. Coach Coleman knows what it is like to be a great player, but now it is his time to show that he can be a great coach. There is no better start then the start he has had this season.
It is quite unbelievable to imagine this team as a farm team for their respective organization, but this could have contributed to all the success that the Tulsa Athletic has had as a whole. Being able to have a team that still competes in a greatly skilled league like the UPSL, is something a lot of soccer clubs could have. Do not be surprised if more and more soccer teams start to do this if Tulsa continues to have such success with their farm team.
