The two largest youth soccer clubs in the area, CASL and TFCA, are merging into a single club that will be called North Carolina FC. This merge is said to help strengthen the youth soccer in the area and create a better feeder system into the second division professional team.  Raleigh is one of twelve cities that have a bid to be promoted as a first division MLS team, which is the major reason for the merge.  Panther Creek has many students that are affected by the merge and theses changes could affect how they are recruited by colleges.

Some students are skeptical, but most see the merge as a positive. Noe Varner, a Sophomore looking to play soccer in college, says, “It makes the club very big and it’s the biggest in the country.”  Saying also that the merge will provide better opportunities and better coaching.  Grant Stidham, Panther Creek soccer’s goalkeeper, believes, “It creates better competition”.  Parker Cross, a current TFCA player says the only downside is, “tryouts should be chaotic,” but also adding that everything should work out for the better.