The First State has a championship professional sports team, and it’s likely one few knew existed.
Delaware City FC was the last of eight teams to qualify for the Major Arena Soccer League 3 playoffs as Atlantic Division winner but won the championship March 29 at the Fredericksburg Fieldhouse in Virginia.
Adding to the stunning nature of Delaware City FC’s triumph is that it is a first-year franchise.
Delaware City FC started its championship run by beating the Cincinnati Swerve 9-3 behind Henry Gamez’s six goals, one fewer than he scored all season.
The First State side then needed overtime to prevail 10-9 on Sebastian Renteria’s goal against the Rio Grande Valley Barracudas.
That set the stage for a championship showdown against the Muskegon Riders in which Delaware City FC prevailed 10-6 keyed by Gamez, who scored six goals and was named tournament MVP. Gamez is from Nicaragua and previously played professionally for its outdoor Club Deportivo Walter Ferreti side in the country’s premier division before moving to the Philadelphia area.
Delaware City FC plays at the Kirkwood Soccer’s indoor facility at its complex on Route 9 south of New Castle. Majority owner and team founder Steven Matalavage is a Milton native who graduated from Cape Henlopen in 2016 and played soccer there and at Neumann University in Aston Township, Pennsylvania.
“It was awesome,” Matalavage said. “We were really excited for the moment, to say the least. Once we won the division, we really believed in the group and, when we went down there, we were really confident.”
Marlon Trejo, his former Neumann teammate, is the Delaware City FC coach.
The victory could mean promotion to MASL2, which would require Delaware City FC to find a larger playing site, with Wilmington’s Chase Fieldhouse the nearest prospective location. MASL3 is the third tier in the U.S. indoor soccer pyramid.
Delaware City FC joins a list of championship-winning Delaware pro teams that includes the NBA G-League’s Delaware Blue Coats (2023); the Wilmington Blue Bombers’ 1942 and 1944 American Basketball League and 1966 and 1967 Eastern Basketball League titles; and Carolina League baseball’s Wilmington Blue Rocks (1994, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2019).
“Obviously, the first year, you never know what to expect going into it,” Matalavage said. “We had a little group of fans so we always had a small group of supporters. But it definitely grew when people started hearing about us.
“I think now people will pay attention to us even more.”