ST. PAUL, Minn. — Alex Moreno scored in just the second minute; his third on the season from outside of 18 yards. Nathan “Dr. Goals” Donovan doubled Minneapolis City SC’s lead in the ninth, as center forwards should from inside their opponent’s penalty area. If a six-plus hour bus ride that morning had imparted any weariness, City’s players had dispensed of it during warmups. The Crows were flying in Aurora, Ill.
“The first two performances we’ve had for long road trips — Rockford and RKC — it took us a little bit of time to, you know, shake the cobwebs off,” said Minneapolis head coach Jon Forsythe. “But, I felt the guys, from the first minute of the game, they were laser-focused and saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to win this title, and we’re going to win it today.'”
Early goals at home, conversely, have been a common occurrence for City, scoring seven times inside of 12 minutes through five games. Add to that Moreno and Donovan’s strikes on Saturday, and the Crows are averaging a goal-a-game in the opening quarter of contests.
“Hakeem [Morgan] was our captain today, and he did a really good job preparing us,” said Morgan Olson, who started at wingback. “He had a really good talk before the game. They put us in, like, a garage for our locker room. So, we kind of used that as fuel, saying, ‘We can’t come in here, use a garage as our locker room, and lose. We have to go out, and have a really strong start, and go beat these guys.’ So yeah, we were all really mentally locked-in, and really prepared for the game. That allowed us to have a really-good start.”
Not letting up, Morgan would add his first in the 36th minute.
Elsewhere on the pitch, Jeloni Murray-Powell continued to prove his worth in different ways, taking a shift in the Crows’ back three. Olson, making his third start, this time out wide, turned in his best performance of the season. Rayme Nyembwe looked every-bit the part in his second start in the middle of the defense. And Will Schmidt, making his first League Two starting XI, drew praise from Forsythe for not only his technical ability, but also his work-rate.
“He probably ran more than anybody else on the field today,” said Forsythe. “Got himself into tackles. And yeah, just a top-class player. He’s put himself in a really good position, where we, as a staff, as we go into the playoffs, he’s earned himself a lot of trust.”
Getting Masango Akale back did not hurt, either.
“Oh my God, I mean, he opened up so many-more options for us with his driven runs, like how direct he is. How versatile he is, running behind, getting the ball underneath. It’s just another layer that we add to our attack,” said Morgan of Akale.
The totality of the Crows performance prompted a pair of changes from the hosts following Morgan’s goal, as Daniel Zepeda and Brian Salvino replaced Jack Kuelthau and Mateusz Drazek. It was not yet halftime.
After the break, two more substitutes entered for the Gas Lamps. But it was Salvino, who had come in the 37th minute, that would offer River Light at least a glimmer of hope. The 6-foot-5, Western Springs, Ill. native pulled one back for the hosts in the 52nd minute.
When Morgan responded with a left-footed trivela from 20 yards to restore the Crows’ three-goal lead, the audacity of the attempt sent the message that Minneapolis was not going to cede the evening.
Salvino, persistently, struck again in the 68th minute, accomplishing what no League Two team had this season — scoring two goals in a game against City.
But a contorted attempt at a clearance from a Crows’ corner from Dylan Drendel landed Moreno on the scoresheet — credited with an Olimpico — to effectively conclude proceedings.
The final whistle confirmed it. Minneapolis City had won its second-consecutive Heartland Division title.
Reflections in Silverware
The author asked Forsythe, Morgan and Olson to contextualize winning the division. With the first-year head coach, it was about how securing silverware, with three games in-hand, met with preseason expectations.
“It’s a dream scenario,” Forsythe said. “I know the success of the club last year. I think the staff, Justin [Oliver] and Tudor [Flintham], did a great job. And I knew with Matt [VanBenschoten] and Casey [Holm], the history that they have, the connections they have, we would have an amazing roster. I also know [Alex Hosler and I] have been able to be pretty successful in a lot of places in our career, but yeah, it’s a dream come true.
“We know there’s a lot of parity in the division. We know there’s a lot of good teams, lot of complicated games, and honestly, to come through unscathed, so far, is a very proud moment for me, and for the whole staff.
“The guys go about it properly. Sometimes, in summer environments, there are guys that are half-in, half-out. And, I think the best thing about our team, is the complete buy-in that everybody has. You can tell — even the last games as the season starts to end, even though we’re in a comfortable position — these guys are super hungry. And you see, again, from the beginning of the game, we show the dominance and why we deserve to be champions.”
Having joined City in 2023, Morgan played through a pair of seasons that held only eight-combined league victories. After a year away from Minneapolis, he’s headed to the postseason with the Crows for the first time.
“It’s a surreal feeling,” said Morgan. “I think, it’s just, today was put into perspective, how far we’ve come as a club. I’m going from struggling the first two years that I was here to now, at this point, being 9-0-0 and making it to the playoffs, with still three games to go. It just shows the work that’s been put in from the front office, recruiting guys, bringing guys in, with the coaching style, players, and everything. And also, the work that we do every day at practice.”
Joining the year after Morgan’s arrival, Olson’s introduction to City was a 5-7-0 losing season, ahead of going on to score in League Two’s national quarterfinals in his second campaign.
“I think beforehand, you know, we’re fighting for maybe a couple wins in a season. But now we’re fighting to win every-single game. And if we don’t win every-single game, we’re not happy with it. We’re unsatisfied,” noted Morgan. “So, I think the mindset shift has been huge, that I’ve noticed in the past three years, here. And that’s really the biggest difference. Even after such a successful season last year, we came into the season this year with something to prove. We want to make it even further. We want to win the national title. So, yeah, there’s been a big mindset shift, and you can just sense it throughout the team.”
Double Double-Digit
Donovan’s brace against Edgewater Castle FC at home on June 20 made him the first Crow to score 10 goals in a season. Last night, Morgan’s brace made him the second. Even in 2018 and 2021, when City reached 47 team goals, no individual player reached double-digits.
Morgan also moved into sole possession of third place in club history with 15 career goals, with only Eli Goldman (18) and Will Kidd (19) above him. Donovan’s dozen — all scored this summer — place him tied for sixth with Nick Hutton.
As it stands, accounting for a Minnesota Super Cup semifinal, the remainder of the League Two regular season, and at least one playoff game, the Crows are guaranteed to take the field five-more times this year. They will need 13 goals to set a new club single-season high of 48 or more.
Amid all this, and after scoring four goals this past week, the author asked Morgan, who trails Donovan this season by only two scores, if he thought he could catch the center forward.
“Hopefully, I get to score as many goals as Donnie,” said Morgan. “Playing with him has been nothing short of a blessing. I feel like we feed off each other, we’re both very competitive, and we have built this chemistry in some way. We just play of each other very well. If he scores, I’m happy; if I score, he’s happy. And whoever scores, as long as we win games, that makes me happy. But hopefully, if I get to the level of scoring as many goals as he has, that would be great for me.”
Sprint for the Heartland!
It’s all sorted for City. On 27 points, with no other Heartland side able to finish the regular season on more than 25 points, none can pass the Crows. Minneapolis is postseason bound. Minneapolis has repeated as division champion.
But what of the Heartland’s second playoff berth? Only RKC Third Coast, Rochester FC, and (sadly) Edgewater Castle have been mathematically eliminated from mid-July soccer. Realistically, though, a two-horse race is being run. In it, former-Crow Scott Heinen’s Chicago Dutch Lions are trying to chase down the Dreamers.
Sueno will play RKC at home on July 1, in its penultimate regular-season match. Should the Seagulls get a result, it will give the Lions margin for error.
Else, for practical purproses, having already been defeated 3-0 by Sueno, Chicago will need to grab wins away to flagging Rochester on July 2, and away to RKC on June 8.
Depending on how events transpire, that could set up huge stakes when the Lions visit the Dreamers on July 11, in what will prove the final game of the summer for one side.
Lest one think the Crows’ marks have all been struck, the top-10 division winners as sorted by points-per-game will earn berths into the 2027 U.S. Open Cup. And, beyond that, lies pursuit of the club’s first Central Conference title, and national championship.
“Anytime you win a trophy, anytime you win a division, especially with such dominance, there’s so many memories that you know will take a long way,” Forsythe said. “But honestly, when we came in after we trained a few weeks, and we saw the team that we have, our objective, of course, first was to win the division. But that’s not our only objective.
“We want to continue to dominate. We want to continue to win every game that’s before us. And then, we want to compete on the national level. To be honest with you, I haven’t spoken or seen much outside of our conference, but as we enter the playoffs, I have so much belief in our team. I don’t see a reason why we can’t have a very long and deep playoff run again and compete for the national championship.
“So we want to enjoy it now, enjoy it tonight. But then, we know these guys are hungry for even more. We want to continue to represent the club at the highest level, and meet and go past any of the sporting objectives that the club had as we came into the year.”
It’s incredible, that feeling of being away and still having more fans than the home team. It just shows, it’s a testament to what we have as a club, Minneapolis City, what we have built. What Minneapolis City has built is incredible. The relationship between players, coaches, fans, I feel like we’re all a family, and they show it to us on away trips, at home games. The support, I feel like that’s been the biggest part of our success, lately. The support that we get from outside, just transpires onto the field and pushes us to push more, be better, work harder, and score goals; at the end of the day to win games. — Hakeem Morgan