Thank You, Soccer County: A Love Letter to Year One of the Infantry and Westchester SC

It’s crazy to think we are done with our first season. From day one, it was inevitable that the long road of the 2025 USL League One season would eventually come to an end, but what a bittersweet season it has been. And yes, we did finish last… BUT that doesn’t mean this season was anything short of a resounding success.

The Genesis

I still remember how this whole shabang began. Please allow me to begin by introducing myself. I’m Devon, I am the Events Director for the 914th Infantry, the official supporters’ group of Westchester SC. This is our blog, From the Mall to the Wall.

Huge shoutout and thank you to Randy, our Communications Director, for getting this off the ground here as we plan for the next season that begins a few short months from now. During professional hours, I teach middle schoolers Social Studies in a bilingual classroom… off the clock, I am an avid soccer fan and madly in love with this, my local club.

To tell the story correctly, I feel it is necessary to go to the start. For me, that start began with two people: Dan Alpert, a man I call a friend and that others call a board member for The Third Rail (the official supporters’ group of NYCFC), and Mitch Baruchowitz, a man I met in the summer of 2024, like many of the other wonderful people connected to this story — the founder of Westchester SC.

Before creating and synthesizing this team and project, Mitch had been involved in the business world, but sought something more. His son, Braden, became enamored with soccer… he pulled his dad in… and all of a sudden, a USL League One franchise was coming to Westchester County. For many of us, this was like a dream come true. This was going to be a grassroots, local franchise rooted in the community, and we had an opportunity to become involved in building that community.

Dan connected to Mitch and the other early front office members in the middle of 2024, and myself and others came along for the ride. And so one night, late in the spring, we all met at Rockwell’s in Pelham for the first time. There, we met Mitch, us TR guys met some other local soccer fans that would become a crucial part of this project and vision, and the process of building this community began.

Things moved very quickly, as Mitch said they would. Mitch promised us that by the spring of 2025, he would have a professional team playing on the field in Mount Vernon. By the end of the calendar year, the first jerseys were made and released, other merch followed, and the vision really began to materialize. The first signings were made, including former NYRB and Jamaican international Kemar Lawrence. What had been a pipe dream for some, a distant reality for others, and a long-term vision for all those involved had become tangible in front of our very eyes.

The Season

By the time the first games took place (the friendly with NYCFC2, the USOC game away at Motown, or the first home game against the Pancyprian Freedoms in the USOC), the entire squad had been built and the energy was palpable.

I still remember seeing Mitch at Memorial Field right before kickoff at that Pancyprian game and having the discussion that yes, this wasn’t a dream anymore — this was real. Like, really real. And when we beat Motown away, beat Pancyprian at home, and finally began playing in the USL League One, that reality became a part of all of our lives and routines.

By then, we had decided a name for this supporters’ group: we would become the 914th Infantry. In one of our first home games, as we marched from Cantina Lobos to Memorial Field, some of our earliest members (most notably Roly) began joking about the Bee-Line Bee being one of the defining mascots or images of Westchester as a whole.

Rob, who would soon become the Chairman of our supporters’ group, brought down some wonderfully made scarves and began enrolling members, both inside and outside of the stadium. People truly bought into the vision of our group and the club as a whole from day one, and we all felt that.

Unfortunately, the results didn’t always go our way on the field. Some games, we blamed poor calls from referees. Others, we knew in our hearts we had been unlucky. As the season wore on, we continued to dream of our first home win.

By June, our second “true” away day took place (following that Motown game early in the year), when myself, the two Joses (yes, there are two… only Sr. is the VP of our group, after all…), Roly, Joe Gucci, Rob, and Simon traveled out to Pittsburgh where we witnessed the heartbreak of a 1-0 loss in the Jägermeister Cup.

By August, as we began discussing the next major away trip to Portland Hearts of Pine, we still yearned for a home win.

Although the results were not falling for us on the field, we continued to win in the stands. Our capo, Jordan, with some help from other members of the community, began to build chants and songs for us to energize ourselves and the guys on the field.

Jose, our Infantry VP, flipped some mean burgers and hot dogs (sometimes on top of an abandoned washing machine, I may add), filling the Best Buy parking lot and our stomachs with the smells and flavors of the best food you could get on a game day during our tailgates.

We surpassed 100 members of the Infantry during Year One, a feat we aimed for but nevertheless celebrated. Scott, Randy, Rob, and others produced unique, artistic merchandise that came to represent us and our sentiments as a group and the emotions and feelings of the club as a whole as luck simply couldn’t fall our way.

Momentum was building, we were building, and people continued to buy into this greater vision.

Eventually, that first win came. Texoma, one of our greatest contenders (for last place, but who’s really counting?) came to visit us on our Noche Latina, and we all felt that anything was possible. Scott, our aforementioned Game Day Experience Director, brought flags representative of Hispanic heritage across the globe that we waved in the stands at kickoff and used to decorate Section 103, our Supporters’ Section.

With all the positivity in the air, we did what we felt had been impossible… we actually won a home game. Smoke bombs billowed blue and gold into the air inside of 103, Scott ran carrying flags, and a handful of supporters stayed late into the night to congratulate our players and provide them with a well-deserved send-off following a well-deserved victory.

From there, we would go on to win another home game before the end of the season against FC Naples, yet another Year One franchise. Win or lose, there was always something to see — Sweeper Keeper Dane. Jonny Bolanos. The Powder Brothers. J.C.O. and the Hunt for the Golden Boot. Fac-u-se? The Angry Sebastian Palma. Nachito.

Did we make the playoffs? No, but that didn’t matter. After all, this club had spawned from a vision in thin air just one year prior. Fans filled the stadium. Had Brooklyn played a USL game yet? Were the Cosmos automatically relevant again? We were here, fighting, for a project that we all believed in. That meant the Infantry, the guys on the field, the coaching staff, the front office team, and everyone in between that made this all possible.

Some Thank Yous

With that, I would like to thank some members of this great, burgeoning community.

• Thank you to Mitch for creating this idea and giving us all a reason to be here behind this team and project.

• Thank you to Dan for connecting us all so early on in the inception of this club.

• Thank you to Rob for being dedicated to this club and the Infantry every single day despite the distance.

• Thank you to Jose for always caring for the youngsters around you and putting your heart and soul into everything you have done for us all.

• Thank you to Roly for bringing some laughter to us all and anger to some.

• Thank you to Seamus for the gummy bears, the drums, the chants, and the ideas — the gifts that don’t stop giving!

• Thank you to Jordan for chanting on, even if your voice is gone.

• Thank you to Scott for being the steel beam that holds this all together. You always show up, you always show out, and the environment at every game would be very different without you.

• Thank you to Randy for the great ideas, the wonderful text, the beautiful imagery, and the merchandise. Oh and, of course, for helping with this blog!

• Thank you to Justin for every minute you give to getting new ideas and projects off the ground, as well as always being the calmest voice in the room.

• Thank you to Angel, our president, for being the glue that makes everything stick. From scheduling and organizing watch parties to keeping us in the loop with information from the club, we would not operate the same without your expertise and your jokes.

• Thank you to Sophia for being one of the first women in this club and for being my rock as we continued on through this first-year process.

Most of all, thank you to the community as a whole for believing in us, for joining us, and for being a part of this ride. But there is a long ride ahead…

The Next Steps

Just because Westchester SC is done with the 2025 season does not mean we, the Infantry, are resting. As the temperature drops, the holiday cheer returns, and the months count down, we remain steadfast in our work to improve and grow this community.

First of all, if you are not already a member of the 914th Infantry, JOIN US. At the bottom of this long article, you will see links to all of our social media pages, as well as some more information about our leadership, our mission, our merchandise, and more. One of those links is to our Discord, which will become our primary mode of communication in the new year. Please join our Discord community and talk to myself and any others there!

Next, some upcoming events. Our end-of-season party will be taking place later this November — please continue to check our website and social media pages for any updates on that.

Throughout the winter, we will continue to host soccer events including watch parties, charity drives, e-sports/gaming sessions, and weekly virtual meetings. Please reach out to any of us for more information regarding any and all of those events.

We are always looking for ways to improve and grow this community, and that requires input from you — our readers and community members. Please continue to share your great ideas, and we will try to reflect on and incorporate as many of them as possible as we turn to a new year.

I speak on behalf of the Infantry as a whole when I say we hope to see you in the new year, Year Two of Westchester SC. Thank you for reading this overly detailed, unnecessarily long, and likely boring article — my first here on From the Mall to the Wall.

P.S. Never forget… F**K THE COSMOS!