The 2025 USL W League season started like every other Asheville City Women’s season before that–with a search for a new head coach. Head Coach Brooke Bingham departed for another opportunity after leading the Blues to their first playoff berth since the Women’s squad joined the W in her only season at the helm of Asheville. Ownership began a search looking for someone who not only could build off of the playoff appearance from the year prior, but also that could bring continuity to a position that has not had a semblance of it since the inception of the women’s team.

Enter Maxi Viera.

“In talking and interviewing Maxi for our head coaching position, I could immediately feel his passion for the game and his love for coaching. His genuineness and authenticity were easy to spot and our team responded to this all season long.  Maxi brought out the best in everyone and I know our players, staff and fans would follow him into any game loving our chances to win,” said President Jimmy Wheeler.

“Thank you to all of the club directors for hiring me. I wanted to prove to them that they made the right decision,” said Viera. “I was so ready to work, and I knew nobody was going to work harder than me.”

Building a Blue Family

The first step to building off of the season before was recruitment. Recruiting as a new coach can be tricky, but thankfully for Viera he had a returning core of players from the season before itching to come back; This group included his younger sister Juli Viera, Alison Little, Naroa Domenech, Lucie Bertrand, Kelly Gordon, Jesse Smith, Lucy Sloan, Yuliia Khrystiuk, and Gry Boe Thrysoe.

“I played for ACSC last summer and I instantly felt like a part of the Asheville family. The team, the staff, our fans, and the community just makes every single moment unique. I could have spent my summer back home in Denmark with my own family, but I just knew that this season would be special,” remarked Thrysoe. “I knew that some of the girls from last year were returning and I had a feeling that we could build something special and grow from the 2024 season. I knew that we were capable of achieving more and I am so proud of everyone around Asheville City who was a part of writing history multiple times this season.”

“The first year once I got to Asheville I was so surprised by the atmosphere and the fans in the community and I couldn't imagine being that close to people somewhere in such a short period of time so ever since I didn't even want to try to go to different teams. And then last year the experience was even better because I got really close with the girls so we all agreed on coming back,” said Khrystiuk, who has spent three out of the last four Summers in Asheville, with 2023 being the only year away due to injury.

Coach Viera was also able to bring back former players from years prior as well when Sarah Jacobs, a veteran from the inaugural ACSC women’s team, and Phoebe Hollin committed to spend their Summer in western North Carolina.

“It’s like having another coach on the field. I could talk to her and organize the team right away,” said Coach Viera when talking about Jacobs.

Having that core coming back was a great first step, but the coaching staff still had to build out the rest of the squad. They received help from core the returning players who put in good words with their former teammates about Asheville as the team began to take shape.

“Juli Viera made me want to come to Asheville. I saw how she became a different player in a great way after she came back from ACSC in the previous year. She recommended me to come and play for Asheville,” said Emma Sheehan.

“I was about to buy my flight to go to Uruguay in the summer and Juli texted me about the possibility of coming to Asheville City. I already knew some things about the club and I saw what she’s posted and it was good. I talked with her about how the team is and she told me a lot about the people, the city, and that literally they are like a family. So I was so excited to go and also I believe it helps a lot of players in college so we can still play and be fit while opening more doors to go to play in pro,” said Lu Flores.

“Honestly, Naroa is the reason that I came to Asheville. We both transferred to UNC Charlotte in January and became roommates. Throughout the semester she mentioned Asheville City a couple times and how amazing and fun it was. She mentioned how the soccer was good but beyond that the people, the community, the culture were good. She had nothing but good things to say about Asheville so when I heard they were looking for a center back I decided to give it a try and the rest is history,” said Rachel Logue

“I wanted to come to Asheville City because I could see that they had a successful program as well as a club who takes care of their players. After speaking with Maxi, I loved how passionate he was about soccer and knew I could have a competitive summer with the team he was putting together,” said Sarah Gorham.

Now that the talent was assembled, there was one more ingredient–and perhaps the most important one–left to add; Getting the team to gel. This is something that normally takes time, you have to get the players to buy into the system, get them to trust the coaching staff, and have the players build chemistry on and off the pitch. 

Normally things like this take time, something that there is not a lot of in the structure of a USLW season; But, as we all saw, there was something special about this team.

“That's a kudos to the players because they understood that from day one we were going to do that. We were going to take advantage in our camaraderie. I told them, ‘you all are very good players; but you are great human beings, and you work together as a group of teammates and friends, and that is going to differentiate you from the other teams,’” recalled Coach Viera.

“It always takes time to get to know each other on the field – and especially with a group of girls that have never played together before. But I have never felt this chemistry on the field grow so fast with a new team.” remarked Gry Boe Thrysoe.

“Most of us have only known each other for a couple months but I don’t think people would be able to notice,” said Rachel Logue. “The chemistry on and off the field grew so quickly. Off the field we were always hanging out and doing stuff, just enjoying each others company and on the field it showed. The way we connected passes and worked with and played off of each other was incredible to see and be apart of especially with such little time together. I think chemistry is one of the things that allowed us to be so successful because at the end of the day I knew everyone on that team had my back and would support me and I would do the same for them.” 

A group of players that for the most part have not played together before that are from all different backgrounds clicking so quickly is remarkable, and would not have happened if not for the leadership of Coach Viera.

“Maxi came in and since day one he was like, ‘I'm Coach Maxi. But at the same time, friend Maxi and brother Maxi.’ So you felt like he was there for you regardless of whether he was coaching you or you needed something outside of the field. And he made us feel like we were all we had and all we needed to have to be successful. So since day one, we felt really connected with him and with each other,” said Yuliia Khrystiuk.

“I would run through a brick wall for Maxi and I think the rest of the girls would too,” said Phoebe Hollin.

The Beginning of the Journey

The 2025 season started off in Knoxville, as the team traveled to take on One Knox in their inaugural home opener. The game was back and forth as a strong One Knox side tried to announce their arrival on the scene with a statement result in game one, but Yuliia Khrystiuk lifted the Blues over the hosts with a late goal–perhaps a sign of things to come.

Up next came the home opener at Greenwood Field against Southern Soccer Academy. If there was ever a game that mimicked a see-saw it was this one. The Blues, paced by a Caitlin Conroy brace, grabbed a lead on three separate occasions, but each time the lead was squandered as the first–and only–points were dropped in the regular season. In a division that seemed like it was poised for a tight finish at the top, dropping points at home this early in the season seemed like it would loom large as the season wore on.

“I was telling them, ‘Man, this tie is going to hurt, we're going to remember this tie down the road.’ I kept thinking of those two points that may be needed to qualify for the playoffs, not knowing how we’re gonna turn out,” said Maxi Viera.

Spoiler alert–it would not. A run of brilliance began for the Blues as they started to slowly, but surely, run away with the division. They dispatched both One Knox and the Birmingham Legion at Greenwood Field in their next two matches with a pair of 2-0 victories, setting up a clash for the top spot in the division with rival Tennessee SC, the team who ended the Blues season the year prior.

“From the beginning it was a revenge season. Most of the returning players, at the end of last season when they they were knocked out by Tennessee, said ‘We’re coming back next year and we will have a revenge season. You know, that's how all it started. So that was a revenge game,” said Viera.

If revenge is a dish best served cold, this meal was served straight from the depths of the freezer as the Blues had six different players stamp their name on the scoresheet in a 6-1 thrashing of the defending South Central Division champs.

“I think Tennessee at home was brilliant. We weren’t expected to beat them and we beat them 6-1. Those games where we pulled through and we proved people wrong it was so great,” remarked Caitlin Conroy when talking about her favorite moments of the season.

The win catapulted the Blues to the top of the division, and they hit the ground running from there.

“That's another game that gave the team a lot of confidence,” said Maxi Viera.

The Cardiac Blues

Next up, the Blues traveled to Georgia looking to seek revenge on the SSA team that stole a point from them just a couple of weeks prior. Things did not start off to plan as an Alexandra Gib goal put the hosts in front in the 17th minute, and for the first time all season, the Blues were trailing in a match. Halftime came and went with no answer from the Blues as the minutes on the clock kept creeping higher and higher. 50… 55… 60… 65… time was running out and the Blues faced dropping points again to the same opposition that spoiled their home opener. But then, it came.

Yuliia Khrystiuk’s goal in the 69th minute gave the Blues enough of a spark to set off a fire, as her tally set off a run that saw the Blues put three in the net in a span of seven minutes as Phoebe Hollin and Caitlin Conroy both added goals to give the Blues a come-from-behind 3-1 win over SSA. This was the first instance of the “Cardiac Blues” going to work and it would be far from the last.

Next, the squad traveled down to Clemson, South Carolina to take on the Greenville Liberty at Historic Riggs Field. The game remained scoreless as both teams struggled to create really dangerous chances before something peculiar occurred in the 70th minute.

“Before the game Maxi said ‘it's going to take every single person to win the game’ and we really felt that. It wasn't one of our good games, we were struggling the whole time and Greenville had more chances than we did,” said Yuliia Khrystiuk. “Then I remember seeing Phoebe on the sideline coming in as an attacking mid and everybody was so confused.”

Subbing a defender on in an attacking midfield position is a bold move, but Viera again found the right buttons to press as Hollin would come in and put away the winning goal in the 85th minute as the Blues waltzed off the campus of Clemson with all three points in hand.

“I think Maxi told her ‘You're gonna go in and score a goal, I believe in you,’ and I think Phoebe coming in with this energy and us feeling it really brought us all together; And around the 90th minute I got the ball from Kelly [Gordon] in the corner of the field and I just toe-balled it to Phoebe and she scored and the celebration on Clemson’s field in the corner probably was one of the coolest moments of the season,” said Khrystiuk.

“I was actually really angry because I didn’t start the game, and obviously I’m a defender and Maxi turned to me and was like ‘You’re going to go on in midfield.’ And obviously I was like I don’t really want to go on in midfield, I want to play defense,” recalled Phoebe Hollin. “So I was really angry but like I said I’d run through a brick wall for Maxi so I thought ‘Alright, if that’s what he wants me to do then that’s what I’ll do.’ I won the ball back, passed it out wide and just thought I’m going to follow my run into the top of the box and thankfully Yuliia gave me a good ball and I was able to put it away.”

The next match required more late-game magic. After building a 2-0 lead within sixteen minutes at home against the Chattanooga Red Wolves, the Blues found themselves tied with just over 20 minutes to play. This time Emma Sheehan produced the magic, scoring two goals in three minutes to secure a 4-2 victory as the win streak reached 7.

Three days later, the squad headed to Nashville to take on Tennessee SC with a chance to clinch the club’s first ever USLW South Central Division title. The Blues found themselves once again tied heading into the 70th minute as a Lu Flores strike was cancelled out by a tally from the hosts. With a chance to serve a double dosage of payback to TSC on the line, Phoebe Hollin once again put Asheville in front with a 75th minute strike to clinch the division title; A moment which will not be soon forgotten by anyone involved with the team.

“One of my favorite moments was the day we beat Tennessee and knew we were division champions,” said Lucie Bertrand.

The Blues then traveled to Chattanooga for the return game against the Red Wolves and found themselves down 1-0 at half after conceding a goal moments before the break. But at this point if you do not know how this ends up, you have not been paying attention.

Emma Sheehan equalized in the 63rd minute before Gry Boe Thrysoe scored the winner in the 81st minute as the Blues once again pulled a win out from the jaws of defeat.

Asheville finished off the regular season with a 2-0 win on Pride Night over the Liberty after Hollin and Flores both got on the board in the first half as the team headed into the playoffs boasting the #1 sport in the latest USLW power rankings.

The Class of the Southern Conference

Asheville was named as hosts for the first weekend of the tournament and were placed in a pod with the Tallahassee Reckoning, Lonestar SC, and Sporting Jacksonville. The Blues found themselves pitted up against the Reckoning in the first round. 

Both sides were creating solid chances in a fast-paced game but neither side could find that elusive opener early. Then in the 34th minute, the dam burst. 

Gry Boe Thrysoe placed a volley off of a feed from Lucie Bertrand past keeper to get the hosts on the board and they did not stop there. Emma Sheehan doubled the lead in the 37th minute before Bertrand put a bow on the offensive onslaught in the 39th minute when she drove her penalty kick home. The Blues conceded one in the second half but it would not be near enough as the Blues advanced into the Southern Conference Final where Lonestar SC awaited them after they outlasted Sporting Jax on penalties earlier on in the day at Greenwood Field.

Now standing in the way of the first Southern Conference title in club history and the semifinals stood Lonestar SC, champions of the Lone Star Division in the regular season. The visitors would strike first in the 19th minute off of a goal by Teagan Wahle and they would carry that advantage into the break. 

After halftime, Asheville upped the pressure while Lonestar dropped back and absorbed it, hoping to eke out a victory to put themselves into the national semifinals. Chance upon chance fell to the wayside for the Blues. As the clock crept closer to 90 minutes played, the tension in the stadium was palpable. Players were giving everything they had left in the tank to try and fight to keep the season alive while the supporters kept encouraging the team to give them something to cheer for. 

But the Blues just could not seem to solve the Lonestar defense as the visitors held on for dear life, inching closer to an upset victory and a conference title. Despite the dire circumstances, observers would never be able to tell that Asheville’s season was mere minutes away from coming to a close as they played with a calmness and a confidence like they knew that their equalizer was going to come before the ref’s whistle could put an end to an historic season in Asheville.

“I just feel like at the time we talked about ‘Hey, let's not make it our last game.’ In the 85th minute when we all looked at each other like we saw some people crying and everybody got pretty emotional and that's kind of the time when we thought that we could be done and I don't know I just was hoping to get something,” said Yuliia Khrystiuk. “Right before the 90th minute I lost the ball on the side and it was a throw-in and I saw Lu sprinting to get the ball and I was like ‘oh yeah, we're not losing that game’ just because I saw so much belief from her. I got a quick throw-in and I just put the ball in the box and honestly I didn't really aim for Emma [Sheehan] or anybody.”

If Khrystiuk did not aim for Sheehan then that ball must have had eyes itself, as the cross found the head of the ECU striker who rose up from between two defenders and buried her chance with a thunderous header as the crowd exploded and life was breathed back into the lungs of the Asheville City season. 

“Even in the 85th minute when there was 5 minutes to go I was never thinking ‘oh, we’ve not got this.’ We just knew it was coming, it was just a matter of time,” said Caitlin Conroy.

The job was not finished yet though, as the two sides went into extra time. Extra time played out much like the second half, with Asheville hoarding the majority of the chances while Lonestar tried to cling on and get the match to penalties. Asheville created loads and loads of chances but could not seem to find a second goal as the match slowly started to seem destined to head to PKs. However, much like regulation, a storybook ending would be in the cards.

In the 119th minute the ball found its way to Khrystiuk on the flank which, if you are keeping score at home, means that something good is *probably* about to happen.

“I think like the amount of effort and hard work it took us to score that first goal we were like ‘Yeah, we're not letting this game go,’” said Khrystiuk. “Then Naroa came on and she gave us a huge push in pressing and controlling the ball and I knew that if you put a good ball in the box Naroa can make things happen. So when I got the ball from Lu again, I just tried to aim for [Naroa] and she scored and honestly it was probably one of the happiest moments of the season. We both cried and everybody ran to the corner and it was just crazy.”

“Honestly, I saw the ball go in and then I just started running and then I realized I had the whole team, all the bench players and everyone, on me and I don’t remember anything else. I just saw the ball going in and everyone running at me,” said Naroa Domenech.

Another comeback and another last minute goal as the Cardiac Blues grabbed an unbelievably thrilling 2-1 win at Greenwood Field to earn the first ever Southern Conference title in the team’s history.

“Lonestar was the craziest game of my life. I’m gonna remember that game for a long time,” said Maxi Viera.

“​​Nothing can beat that. Nothing can beat that. That was probably one of the greatest games of my life, I'm not going to lie,” declared Gaby Rourke.

Just the Start

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The Blues hosted the NC Courage in the national semifinals and despite Emma Sheehan finding the opener on a rocket of a volley that hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced in, playing a man down for over 2/3rds of the game proved to be too much as Asheville fell 2-1, bringing the 2025 season to a close. Although the season may have not had the ending that the team wanted, there is so much to be proud of in a Summer for the books. Not only was history made, but a foundation was laid for the future of the Women of Asheville.

“I think the biggest accomplishment was the the sense of team unity. We also established  a way of playing. I think that's going to be huge to build on for next season and for years to come,” said Coach Viera. “My biggest satisfaction is after the season was over, talking to the players and their families about how comfortable they felt the entire summer. A lot of them telling me, ‘Thank you for giving me back my confidence and my love for the game.’ I think that as coaches that's more satisfying than anything else and it's going to help the team for next season to have that foundation and to keep getting better and stronger and hopefully go for the ultimate title.”