By Kevin Kyle
City is itching.
Not only is the Sioux Falls City Football Club itching to get back on the field following its 2-0 loss to Minnesota Aurora FC, June 6 in Eagan, MN, but it’s itching for a ‘real’ home opener.
Having missed out on opening-day activities due to visiting RKC Third Coast coming and going without ever setting foot on the pitch, June 1, SFCFC is chomping at the bit to stretch its collective legs in front of the club’s famously fervent faithful. Players and fans alike are sure to bring plenty of energy to Bob Young Stadium in Sioux Falls Wednesday night (7 p.m.) when City hosts Rochester FC in the first of four home matches in a nine-day stretch (June 11-20) – including a pair against this season’s nemesis, Aurora FC. 
“I think all of us are so ready… have four home games coming up,” said veteran midfielder recently turned defender Taylor Thomas. “We’re already at June 10th and haven’t had a real home game yet. We’re basically halfway through season and haven’t had that environment and that challenge of holding down our fort here at home, and I think it does give us a lot of energy and something more to play for. We’re excited!”
The excitement is twofold regarding the action, as City want to play in front of its fans while also putting what it learned from the Aurora FC into play.
“I think coming off of Aurora it probably shed some light on positive things, for sure, but also some areas we need continue to improve on,” said SFCFC coach Dale Weiler. “The week has been focused on what we learned from that match and applying a few details – predominantly on the defensive end of our game. We’d like our wide areas to be less exposed in those spaces, from a tactical view.”
Though City picked up three points on it journey to Rochester, May 29, it did so with a numerical advantage for 62 minutes of the match that was scoreless when the red card was shown to RFC defender Mariana Brito. City went on to tally the opening goal of the match 11 minutes into the second half, via a strong individual effort by Hanna Schimmer, and received an ensuing brace of headed goals by Mia Mullenmeister from precision setups by Hailee Christensen and Madie Donovan.
City had 22 shots in the contest, creating chances at will with an 11-to-10 advantage, but also let its guard down in relinquishing a tally after Mullenmeister’s first. It’s likely RFC will note that in its gameplan and push to apply constant pressure on City’s recently beleaguered back line that saw stalwart center back Mo Malone stretchered from the Aurora FC clash.
“I did get crunched and landed on my neck and shoulders,” said Malone. “In the moment, I was terrified; I didn’t really know what happened. When I was told I was stretchered from the field I didn’t remember it… having some short-term memory loss… during that 7-10-minute period. So, that’s pretty terrifying, but once I got to the hospital, I found out I just had some whiplash – no concussion – and a high ankle sprain between my tib (tibia) and fib (fibula).
“The trainer says three or four weeks, but it’s going to be sooner than that. I know my body, I know I can progress faster. It’s just going to take some time; the swelling from my whiplash has gone down and now it’s just getting the swelling down in my ankle.”
While Malone’s vacancy might give other clubs great grief, City isn’t sweating with its abundance of aptitude.
“Obviously, I’ve had to come into that role (center back) this year, which is new for me, but our team is full of talented players… have A LOT of depth,” said Thomas. “We saw Izzy (Snowden) come in on the back line, and she really stepped up. Lulu (Moreno) subbed into the defense, and she stepped up… may see her slide into the middle. I think this is a time when other players can step up into the moment and really run with it.”
And run with ‘it’ City will, as the club has been focused on raising its level of precision and intensity on the heels of the Aurora FC loss.
“I think coming off the Aurora game, it was a great team which played at a very high level,” said Thomas. “It showed us we need to come every single day to training and play at that level – every time. We can’t afford, at this point in the season, to have any more minutes off or take time off during a game. So, it’s been coming to training, working our high press and getting after each other in the most competitive, fun way. I think we’ve been able to do that these last few days. Hopefully, we can take that into our games this week with Rochester and (Chicago City) Dutch Lions and prepare us to take on Aurora again next week.”
Arriving back in Sioux Falls at 2:30 a.m. Saturday has left little time to prepare for a slew of soccer matches over nine days. City was back at it Sunday with a short workout before raising the intensity and precision of its training Monday and Tuesday. 
“The energy from the group all week has been good; that says a lot about the team, coming off an emotional experience against Aurora,” said Weiler. “They’ve been able to package that feeling and bring it into a good week of training. Our mindset is a little unique from the past because we have these four games in short stretch. So, how we manage training is different from weeks prior, with a confined stretch of games.”
With that in mind, it’s likely the home-opening do over will be an extremely enthusiastic encounter for everyone. And with City (9 points from 5 matches) a marker behind RFC (10 points, 7 matches) for the third position in the six-team USL W Central Conference Heartland Division, emotion could factor highly into the match.
“That always brings more intensity and emotion; it’ a testament to Sioux Falls, knowing our first game had some challenges with it and the feeling ‘we’re going to stick it out no matter what’s going to happen,’” said Weiler. “I would expect that will be the same and I can already feel the vibe within the group building up to play in front of our fans. You can’t beat it here at the ‘Bob.’”
This is YOUR City!