SPOKANE, Wash. — Well, it's been an incredible ride for the Spokane Velocity.
Losers of five of their last six matches of the regular season, the Velocity is now just one win away from hoisting the USL League One championship in their inaugural season.
"You could see it building in the last couple of games of the season," Manager Leigh Veidman said. "You could see it versus Knoxville. You can see how the boys feel, talk and train every single day. As we started to build this club in this team and this culture, you start to see this team gel throughout the year, and the football that they can play, they were not out of this by any means. So the first job was to get us into [the] playoffs. We got over that hurdle, and then, like we said, once you're in, you can go and do really whatever you want to go and do, so they've put themselves in this position, fantastic performances to get to this point. We've got one more to get it done, and we can 1,000% go and lift this trophy on Sunday."
"I think it's going to be a challenge, obviously, but we've been up for it all season long," Luis Gil said. "We've had a roller coaster of a season, and I think it's just going to be such a battle. And I feel like we have the guys for it, so to be a part of that, it's just going to just make it that much more special."
"Super happy to be on the field with all these guys," Goalkeeper Brooks Thompson said. "I mean, we've got a lot of really good players on the team, and I believe in all of them. I think we can get it done.:
"With us being the team that finished seventh, I don't think there's any pressure on us," midfielder Andre Lewis said. "I think all the pressure is on them. So we just have to go and do what we have to do."
"Nobody expected this in year one, but when you've got a group of hard-working people who work behind the scenes trying to build something like this, when you've got a great locker room of amazing people, excellent football players who work hard, apply themselves every day, deal with the highs, deal with the lows that a season brings, and then you've got the City of Spokane, who showed up for us all year, if there is a magic recipe, that is it," Veidman said.
The Velocity and Union Omaha will kick it off at noon on Sunday, and you can catch that game locally on KSKN 22.
You can watch the Spokane Velocity's full press conference from Wednesday afternoon on KREM 2+ or at the YouTube link below.