Decatur FC set a new all-time attendance record for the WPSL as the team recorded a 0-0 draw with Georgia Impact.
With a crowd of 2,126 fans in attendance, the club smashed the previous WPSL record of 1,847 by nearly 300 fans.
“Nine months ago, we didn’t really have anything,” Decatur FC coach Campbell Chapman said. “We didn’t have a logo, we didn’t have a coach, we didn’t have a team. It was just an idea. And within two games, 2,100 people think they want to come and watch women play soccer. It’s amazing.”
The attendees certainly weren’t disappointed. Wearing their sky blue alternate jerseys, Decatur proved they had the mettle to take on a top WPSL Southeastern Conference team. After two relatively easy wins over Atlanta Fire and the FC Nashville Wolves, the team came up against their first real opponent in Georgia Impact. From the opening whistle, the game was grounded in defense. The players on each team were familiar with each other through playing against one another in college and at younger levels, and both teams knew that the other was a good team.
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For Decatur, this proved challenging. Their pass-heavy system relies on being quicker than their opponents and being able to move the ball without interruption. The team struggled to find the rhythm they had established in earlier games of quick passes that led to runs into the box and eventually goals. Decatur FC would often put together one or two passes on a run but good defense from Georgia Impact would break up the play and the ball would go the other way.
Decatur also seemed more hesitant to shoot than in previous games, instead inclined to take another touch on the ball, often delaying the play. The team leaned more on its defense Friday night, with attacking players sometimes dropping back on defense rather than aggressively pursuing the ball as they had in prior games since Impact was often able to match them in races to the ball.
Decatur had numerous chances throughout the game as players pressed Georgia Impact hard, but many shots went wide of the goal or were saved by Impact’s keeper. Georgia’s strong defense also hindered Decatur’s number of chances as they broke up the passes that had given Decatur FC so much success in previous games.
“Obviously the first two games, we’re new to the league and we were fortunate that we could dictate — and we did, we did dictate, in the first half,” Chapman said. “I thought we were very much on top of the game. But like I said before, when you don’t put your chances away and the other team has attacks, they grow in confidence. Their coach then says, ‘You know what, let’s keep that person further forward.’ He put some extra strikers in. So consequently, really what he wanted was end-to-end. And it was exciting to watch, obviously, but you could see that the team that scored first was probably going to win. It was going to take something special.”
In the second half, Georgia Impact’s confidence seemed to grow and they began heavily pressing Decatur FC, hemming Decatur in their own half for much of the half. But Decatur’s back line, led by goalkeeper Jaddah Foos and captain Jazmin Ferguson, stood strong, and the team managed to press back at the end of the second half, though nothing came of it.
“[Our backline is] all great athletes,” Chapman said. “So as a coach, that gives you the confidence to know that you can attack and you can leave them vulnerable at times on 1v1. But when you’ve got that strength and that athleticism at the back, it’s going to take a very good goal to beat us.”
That goal hasn’t come yet. Decatur has yet to concede a goal through three games. They’ll look to keep that streak going on Sunday when they travel to play FC Birmingham. It’s a quick turnaround for the team, but their coach has high expectations.
“I think we’ve got some girls who didn’t play so much tonight who are fresh,” Chapman said. “And they’ll come in and come off the benches. Some girls were getting tired there at the end, and it’s a quick turnaround, 48 hours. I knew that going in that some girls … hadn’t played as much and that they would come in and be pivotal for Sunday. We’re still undefeated, we still haven’t given up a goal.”
It’s up to their fresh lineup on Sunday to see that streak continue.
