How do you top an inaugural season where a team that placed 7th in the regular season standings, defies all odds and reaches a USL League One Championship? While ultimately falling short, you cannot ask for much more than that if you are the front office, the fans, and the city. I pose the same question as above; how do you top it? Well, you go and do it again, while enamoring a whole city in the process.
Spear-headed by the guiding light that is Leigh Veidman, the 2025 Spokane Velocity side proved that while titles are the main goal, sometimes they fail to paint the whole picture. Let’s start with the obvious- the 2025 regular season record decimated its 2024 counterpart, improving to an ever-welcome 14W/9D/7L, as compared to the humble 7W/6D/9L, already shows the standard that has been laid by this group. While for a second-year franchise, that is impressive enough already, this year’s play-off run was enough to make even the most seasoned of fans shed a tear.
The beauty of having the regular season showing that Spokane did, was that the city was gifted not one, but two home play-off matches. If you followed along, it is needless to say the cost of your tickets was ‘reimbursed’, and then some. First on the radar, South Georgia Tormenta FC (13W/6D/11L), a squad that Spokane had locked horns with two times in the regular season, resulting in the net-positive one win, and one draw. Similar records on paper, and ultimately even as it can get over the course of that 120-minute play-off match.
A 95th minute Mason Tunbridge penalty strike candidly sucked the air out of ONE Spokane Stadium, a gut punch that reverberated throughout the stands. That is, until Anaur Pelaez, did what Anaur Pelaez tends to do, and equalized in the 115th minute thanks to a well-struck, tidy penalty kick- a lifeline for the Velocity’s season, and a welcome dose of CPR for the home crowd.
A penalty shootout promptly followed suit, where the USL was given a small preview of the league’s best goalkeeper- Carlos Merancio Valdez. Thanks to a crucial denial of a Mason Tunbridge panenka, and an additional skied Tormenta attempt, Spokane was once again in a USL League One Semi-Final.
The next match proved to be an even bigger challenge, as the Velocity was taking on the squad responsible for their heaviest defeat of the season: a 6-1 thrashing at the hands of the Portland Hearts of Pine. This time around, things seemed to get off to a much better start, with our captain, Luis Gil, slotting away a deflected ball off a long Velocity throw-in right before the half-time whistle. Portland’s top scorer in 2025, Ollie Wright, made sure to keep ONE Spokane at bay with a 52nd minute curler into Merancio’s bottom left corner. As if Extra Time for a second match in a row was not agonizing enough, Jay Tee Kamara’s 92nd minute stunner did not help- once more, Spokane’s season had been given an expiration date.
However, some like to say expiration dates are mere suggestions- and I would like to believe that Nil Vinyals falls into the group of people. A finish reflective of his class, off a Marky Hernandez low cross, sent ONE Spokane into sheer pandemonium- a celebration that would make Seattle’s 12th Man proud. The hysteria bled into the start of the all too familiar penalty shootout, where the Velocity looked to repeat the previous week’s heroics, and reach a second consecutive USL League One Final. Did I mention Carlos Merancio was pretty good? Did I tag him as the league’s best goalkeeper? I sure did, and for good reason. In the shootout, Spokane’s man of the hour denied goals from Portland’s Michael Poon-Angeron and Jay Tee Kamara, booking Spokane’s flight to Knoxville for a second consecutive USL League One Final.
While a 2-0 loss to One Knoxville denied Spokane the chance to exercise the demons of 2024, the season gifted to us by this organization only further reinforces the fact that the Spokane Velocity is not going anywhere, any time soon. You can take what you want from this season- the 14 wins, the back-to-back finals, or the magical play-off run. All of those are trivial to what I believe to be the most imposing product of the 2025 season- the unwavering, unrelenting, ‘never say die’ spirit that has been breathed into this squad by Leigh Veidman. Not only have the numbers reflected the quality of work happening behind the doors of ONE Spokane Stadium, but the brand of football that has been instilled in this city is nothing short of inspiring- is third time the charm for 2026? Time will tell. What I can tell you, though, is that Spokane has well and truly arrived.
See you March 8th.
Cover Photo: Spokane Velocity FC
