Northern Virginia Cavalry

This team almost never happened. They began building a baseball stadium in Ashburn, VA for the Cavalry and an independent team to play there in 2014. The stadium wasn’t finished, and they delayed the start until 2015. 

The first NASL season wasn’t one to write home about. The team finished last, and almost folded. They hung in there, trying to stay afloat with NASL free agents, and USL players looking to take the next step. They were late in the game to build a youth system, and in such a competitive soccer state, they weren’t able to get many good athletes. Their first good player they got was a defender from the University of Virginia, who wasn’t drafted in the MLS draft. He helped the team out, earning a NASL best XI. That year, NoVa signed a deal with DC United to host players for them to get first team playing time. With that deal, DC United scooped up their best player. The team had another down year with only a few players from DC playing for them. They went out and signed an Israeli player from FC Ashdad trying to take the next step in his career. They still weren’t doing great on the field, but the supporters were coming. The location in Ashburn was closer and less crowded than getting to Buzzard Point in downtown DC. They knew that the players that took the field were playing for a glorified minor league team. They signed the assistant coach from DC United during the Spanish manager’s regime as their new head coach. He turned the team around, and earned the first over .500 season in team history. Another positive season, and he was hired as the manager for AC St. Louis. NoVa’s biggest rivals, the Richmond Kickers, were starting a fierce-one sided rivalry. The Kickers won the first 8 meetings between the teams before the Cavs beat them on the stretch run of a season so Richmond would miss the playoffs. Northern Virginia is the weakest team in League One. They should be relegated if they continue to sputter along. They have the lowest capacity stadium in League One, so they might feel more at home in League Two.

I replaced the grey with pewter because that color scheme was overused. I also changed the name to Northern Virginia, because I thought that was the team name until recently! The kits are Under Armour, and I just kinda made what I thought looked good.