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QuickTake:
Created by local players, Valle Verde FC just began its third season in the United Premier Soccer League. It’s part of the growing soccer community in Lane County.
Guma Balcazar was playing at Kick City Sports Park, an indoor soccer facility, when his teammates had an idea.
One of them had just tried out for the Salem Panthers, a semiprofessional soccer team. What if the athletes started their own club in Springfield?
“There’s more than just playing Kick City or Sunday League,” Balcazar told Lookout Eugene-Springfield. “I think there’s another level between us and now Cascades FC that are playing pro level.”
So they created Valle Verde FC, a semiprofessional club in the United Premier Soccer League.
Balcazar, who is 26 and played soccer at Springfield High School, is co-owner. On Saturday, Sept. 19, the team played the Salem Panthers in its first game of the season, winning 3-1 in the match at Willamalane Sports Park.
Valle Verde, which played its debut season last fall, is made up of current and former college players, as well as some high schoolers and other local players.
Sporting director Jorge Huaracha-Canchola said there’s a big talent pool in Eugene and Springfield, so “creating a team that’s for the community was pretty easy.” He said the club’s goal is to provide players a “stepping stone” to higher levels of the game.
“I think (it’s) just creating a resource for local athletes to continue to develop, and not just as players, but as human beings,” Huaracha-Canchola said. “And obviously there’s certain characteristics that you need to be a pro. So I think just helping student-athletes get to that level, I think, is our goal.”
The United Premier Soccer League is a pro-development league with men’s and women’s teams. According to the league, it occupies the fourth tier of the U.S. soccer pyramid, just below the three professional tiers. The league has a spring and a fall season each year.
Huaracha-Canchola, 27, grew up playing in the Eugene Metro Fútbol Club and competed at Thurston High School before playing at George Fox and Bushnell universities. He said the local soccer community is growing, with Eugene’s new pro soccer club — Sporting Cascades FC — set to debut next March, “and we want to continue to be part of that development in the community.”
Valle Verde staff are volunteers, he said.
“We just have a passion for the game and love for our community,” Huaracha-Canchola said. “And we all come from a minority background, so I think that’s also a big piece of what Valle Verde is. Coming from immigrant families, we just really want to give back and be that resource that we didn’t have growing up.”
The players are also volunteers. The team is sponsored by local businesses who help to pay for gear and rent the field for practices and games. Admission to games is free.
Balcazar described the club as one big family.
“Everybody, the coaches, the players, the people that come to the games, the little kids that show up for the players, everybody involved, we treat them like family, and we want them to feel at home and feel like the club is theirs,” Huaracha-Canchola said.
Team captain Alexis Ledoux said the team’s cohesion helped it win games this spring, when Valle Verde made it to the conference final, where it lost to the team that would take the national title.
Ledoux played soccer at the University of California, Santa Barbara and moved to the area to play for the Sporting Cascades before the team’s inaugural season was pushed to 2027. He said there’s a big sports culture in Springfield and encouraged community members to come watch games.
“When you come out here and you see kids coming, you see parents coming, you see grandparents coming, people from all different backgrounds, it’s just very fun to see,” the 25-year-old said. “I think it’s one of the things that we learned from the World Cup, that everyone watches soccer. And it’s getting more and more popular.”
Ivan Torres, who began coaching the team in the spring, said Valle Verde’s second season was a “complete 180” from its first season, when it finished second to last.
“We did have more of the players come out, more of the community come out in support, more players available from the college scene,” said Torres, 24. “So I think overall we just had more community support.”
He said Valle Verde wants to cement itself as a strong team.
“Last season, a lot of teams may see as a fluke,” Torres said. “But I think we still have the resources to continue being one of those strong teams and competing at the top.”
The team will play Deportivo Rose City in Portland Saturday, Sept. 26. And Valle Verde’s next home game is Saturday, Oct. 10, versus Portland’s Rip City FC, at 7 p.m. at Willamalane Sports Park, 400 S. 32nd St., Springfield.
