Catching up with Chicago House A.C.: Onwards and upwards

On April 26th, Chicago House Athletic Club’s run in the 2023 U.S. Open Cup came to a close at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview.

Nearly three months later, Chicago’s Midwest Premier League season wrapped up at Wyeth Stadium in Rockford.

Two very different settings and opponents, and yet the scenes at full-time were pretty similar. It was reminiscent of the last day of school. The House players, coaches, and staff celebrated with each other, happy with the journey they had gone through, but still knowing that there was more to come in the future.

So, what took place between those three months? Well, a good amount, both on and off the field.

A look back

This past season technically started all the way back in October of 2022.

Chicago applied for U.S. Open Cup qualifying, and after being accepted they were put into the 2nd round. That set up a matchup with FC 1927, where the House needed a stoppage-time penalty to send things to a shootout, where they ultimately won and advanced to the next round.

Let me go back to that real quick, because it’s important to grasp just how different things could’ve been. I don’t want to spoil the rest of the story, but everyone knows what took place during Chicago’s eventual Open Cup run, and how much that meant for the club.

None of that would have happened if Seo-In Kim didn’t convert from the penalty spot in the 92nd minute. None of that would have happened if goalkeeper Tony Halterman didn’t step up in the shootout, saving two and scoring one himself.

The House were so close to falling at the first hurdle and nothing coming of it.

Then again, if my grandmother had wheels then she would have been a bike.

Chicago took on Metro Louisville in the next round, and this time they scored an early penalty kick to jump in front. The opposition eventually grew into the game, and they would end up equalizing at the half-hour mark. They looked more likely to score next, but instead it was the House who jumped in front with 15 minutes to go. One huge save at the death later and they had booked their place in the final qualifying round.

This was certainly like a final. There were goals on either side of the contest, with Brockton FC scoring early and Chicago scoring late. After a hectic overtime period that was cut short due to the lights going off, we got a penalty shootout that seemed to go on and on and on. It concluded in the dark, and it concluded with the House securing a spot in the U.S. Open Cup. (I wrote a whole match report for those last two games but those were for a different site and I can’t really link them here so just Google it please)

After a three-month break, it was time for the proper Open Cup. Chicago finally got to host a match, as they took on Bavarian United in Elmhurst. It was a tight and tense affair, with the House edging in front before the break via a John Makowiecki header. Things got hairy near the end, but that lone goal was enough to seal the victory.

That set up a massive fixture against USL outfit Forward Madison, with that contest taking place in Madison. This initially seemed like more of a cause for celebration than an actual competitive match. Chicago were going to have a fun away day, play against a solid team in a lovely environment, and mainly avoid getting blown out.

Things went as expected early on, with the hosts taking a 2-0 lead at the start of the second half. The House were putting up a decent fight, but they didn’t come too close to really challenging the opposition. Then Adam Mann suddenly pulled one back on the break. The team kept pushing forward, and they managed to carve out a final chance at the death, which was converted by AR Smith.

Madison’s fans and players were stunned, and Chicago seemed a little surprised too. Just like that we were heading to overtime.

Now the House just had to hold on for another 30 minutes and force a penalty shootout, where they had a much better chance of picking up the win. They then took the lead themselves midway through overtime thanks to another goal from Smith. There goes that script. Chicago bunkered down, and just like they had done in the previous round, they held on to survive and advance.

Their reward? A meeting with the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer at their old home of SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview. It’s hard to describe how unreal this matchup felt in the weeks building up to it, and the day itself was a wonderful one for all of Chicago soccer. This was the end of the road for the House in the Open Cup, though, as they lost 3-0 when all was said and done.

It was a bittersweet end, but the run still meant so much for the club. There was success on the field, with five straight wins, including one against a professional USL side. Chicago also gained plenty of press off the field, which helped bring awareness to what they had been doing while also bringing in some much-needed funding.

The ending of their Open Cup journey brought on a new challenge. The House now had to prepare for a new league campaign in the Midwest Premier League.

“It was such an emotional high, and then you kind of have to reset and go into preseason mode again,” said head coach Matt Poland. “It was a little challenging for us, but that's part of gaining the professionalism of being able to get up for every game. You had this highly emotional game playing against MLS players and then you're going to play in high school stadiums and play in front of less fans and everything, so it's harder to get invested. Part of learning that professional lifestyle as a player is bringing your best, regardless of any outside factors.”

There was still a bit of a cooldown period, though. Their first game of the MPL season ended in a loss, as they fell to Berber City. Chicago seemed to turn things around with a draw and a win, but then they failed to win any of their next three.

“The biggest thing for us early on was that we were creating probably just as many chances as we were in the first half of the season as the second half, we just weren't taking advantage of them,” said Poland.

That aforementioned second half of the season is when the team took off. The floodgates opened in a game against Indy Boyz FC, where the House scored 14. They carried that momentum into their next two matches, as they beat a pair of tough teams in RWB Adria and Edgewater Castle. Chicago ended the campaign in style, dropping 8 on Rockford FC.

“I think it just started with that week of training before Indy. Coach reminded us of how we score our goals, how we get things done,” said midfielder Shannon Seymour. “I think we just needed that reminder to get back to it. Obviously we had that big game against Indy where we put a lot in the back of the net, so I think that was good for the confidence as well. Against Adria, we knew we had to come out, play strong, play a little bit differently against them. With Edgewater, we had to really step it up. It's been good in terms of our success and seeing the team start to gel towards this end-of-season run.”

A highlight of that run came when Seymour scored against Edgewater and pulled off a remarkable dance routine.

“It’s pretty funny. I had a friend growing up, and my sister, she used to watch the movie Hairspray all the time with her friends,” said Seymour. “There was a little dance, and it's like twist, twist, twist, mashed potato, mambo. So my friend was like, ‘If you score, I need that celebration.’ So I told him I got him. I told my teammates that I got one in me today, so this is the celebration if anybody wants to join in. Long story short it was for my boy Kenton.”

The strong end to the season may not have been enough to secure the league title, with the House finishing in 3rd, but that wasn’t really the goal of the campaign. The focus was always on growth.

“The biggest thing with the Midwest Premier League was development. Can we see improvement from the first game to the last game? So far there's been a lot of growth,” said Poland. “We've gotten every player, every goalkeeper meaningful minutes this season, which is another big thing for our development. We've had four different goalies play, and so for us to be able to rotate and have that much depth and still find success is a massive thing.”

All things considered, the 2023 campaign was an excellent one for the club on the field.

Expansion

Chicago can’t only think about how things are going on the field, though. They always have to make sure it’s all going well off the field too. That’s what almost getting liquidated does to an organization, to be fair.

Fortunately for all involved, the House has moved past those days.

“Financially we're operating profitably,” said managing partner, president, and CEO Peter Wilt. “If you look back to the end of 2021, that was 18 months ago, we haven't taken on any more new debt. So not only are we breaking even, we're making money. We're paying off some of our debt from the past, which is really important to us so that we don't leave people or businesses hanging. I feel good about where we're at and I’m optimistic about the future.”

Ok good, we got that out of the way.

This money has come from a few different avenues, like ticket sales, merchandise, food stands at the stadium, and other random things. A new venture which has come up recently is the creation of House academy teams. They’re still in their infancy, but there’s certainly potential there.

“You know, the boys academy and the girls academy have only one or two teams each, and that will grow,” said Wilt. “For now, we've put a stake in the ground there and it helps establish us. We've established a foundation.”

A different program that has really solidified itself is Chicago’s U-23 team. Created last year, the youngsters have played a consistent stream of games since the previous fall, and they’ve only ever lost once. The team’s impact goes beyond the individual match results. What’s really important is the development of these players.

“This year we've really integrated the U-23 team into the first team. They have shared training sessions, shared coaching, shared players in many cases. It really feels like they’re a part of the organization and part of the first team,” said Wilt.

“It's definitely good for them. They got to experience the next level of what they're trying to achieve, and hopefully they will work hard in their college seasons to come back to fight for first team spots next year,” said head coach Poland. “It's good for the first team guys too because the younger guys are coming in and challenging them and making them work in training. It's just another aspect of what we want as a club, in terms of creating that club culture and creating that professionalism. It’s also nice to have a second team, where we can have first team guys that need minutes drop down and get minutes while rewarding the U-23’s that are having success with a call-up.”

There are two other programs that the House has going on. There’s the recently created women’s team, which “played an independent schedule this year and is looking at joining a league for 2024” according to Wilt, and a futsal team that will be coming soon.

“It's amazing to me how broad Chicago House has grown,” said Wilt.

Looking ahead

Like Squidward doing sit-ups in a chrome-covered room, what the club is concerned with now is the future.

To start with some bad news, there won’t be a fall season in the Midwest Premier League. That means no guaranteed games every weekend, and no matches with real implications. That’s a real blow, but it’s not going to stop Chicago from moving forward.

“It's a challenge, but we went through it last year,” said Wilt. “While we had certainly hoped there would be a fall season, we understand what needs to be done now because we did it last year.”

“Starting in the fall we'll start adding in friendlies and hopefully get somewhere between six to eight games, that’d be ideal,” said Poland. “The biggest thing for us in the fall is, you know, we'll have a few weeks of training and then we'll take a little breather, kind of a mid-season break, and then we'll start ramping up for the Open Cup.”

Ah yes, the Open Cup. That’s why this stretch will matter so much for the House. They know how important a cup run can be, and they’ll be desperate to repeat the success they had in this season’s competition.

“That'll be the main focus, the Open Cup, getting the guys ready for that,” said Poland. “The first game potentially would be sometime in the middle of September. Last year we were fortunate to get a bye in the first round, so then the games didn't start until October, but we'll find out sometime in August when that first game is.”

“We know we have at least one game, hopefully four games, in U.S. Open Cup qualifying starting in September,” said Wilt. “So before that we'll schedule friendlies and we've already had those talks, hopefully we'll be able to get enough friendlies so we can prepare for the Open Cup qualifiers and connect with the training sessions that we have here.”

Although there won’t be a fall season in the Midwest Premier League, the club is still happy with continuing in that competition going forward. On a personal note, I may have only covered the league at the very end of the campaign, but I enjoyed my time doing so. It’s a well-run league most of the time, and there’s still a certain non-league magic to it. No one cares what I think, though, so I’ll just put another quote from Wilt here.

“I like the Midwest Premier League, it's a very good league,” said Wilt. “It's committed to open-system elements such as promotion and relegation, and I'm real hopeful. I'm pushing for promotion-relegation for the MPL. I'm pushing for a women's league, and I’m also pushing for a long season or a fall schedule. There's a league meeting in September, and I think those issues will be discussed.”

“I'm hopeful that by the March annual general meeting that those three issues will have the support needed to move forward. If that can all happen, then Chicago House will be really excited and pleased to stay in the Midwest Premier League and work with the league to grow both ourselves and the league,” added Wilt.

That’s the near-future settled, then. Before we go beyond that, the fact that Chicago has the next year or so lined up is a great sign nonetheless. There was a point where people didn’t even know if the club was going to exist. They’re in a stable spot now, though, which makes planning for the future much easier.

“We're able to plan longer term than we've been able to for the last year and a half. Things are improving on that front, we now have our forecast for the next six months,” said Wilt. “We know we're gonna be good financially for the next six months. We know where our competition is for the next six months, and we will continue to see what the options are that develop in the future.”

Alright, let’s talk about that then. All of this growth and development is nice, but for most people that won’t matter too much if it doesn’t lead anywhere. The House starting off in a professional league was cool, but it means a potential return to the pro game will always be in the back of the minds of others. The club is still staying patient.

“Long term we want to play at the highest level that makes fiscal sense,” said Wilt. “If there's a third division pro league that has regional travel that makes economic sense, so we're not getting on airplanes to fly to away games, and embraces the open-system elements we advocate for, then at that point we would look at making a move back to the professional ranks. In the meantime, we want to develop players here and get more and more players to go play professional soccer.”

It’s not just the players who Chicago is trying to develop.

To set the scene a bit here, I was interviewing Wilt near midfield of the practice field, and head coach Poland was sitting on the benches talking to a few of his players and staff.

Anyone that knows anything about the House knows how brilliant of a job Poland has done ever since taking the job. He was put in a tough spot, replacing former head coach C.J. Brown when the club became an amateur side. Poland’s gone from strength-to-strength ever since, helping the team secure results while also developing players and getting them professional deals.

Now it might be time for Chicago to get him a deal.

“I want to help Matt Poland go to professional soccer. I think he's ready to go,” said Wilt. “I don't wanna say he’s done all that he can do here at this level cause we haven't won a trophy, that would be a bonus, but he's developed players, he's created an incredible culture and an incredible training environment on and off the field. He does so much work in the community that exemplifies the Chicago House mission. He's earned the opportunity to coach at a professional level. So, in the offseason, I'll be trying to help him find a new position. That's what Chicago House is about right now. It's about developing people and giving them experiences to advance their careers.”

When Wilt said that, I immediately started looking over to Poland, who had no idea any of this was going on.

What’s especially interesting about that quote is that I didn’t even ask Wilt about Poland. I know that he’ll eventually make a move upward, but I didn’t want to question anyone about it at practice because that’s something they’ll have to deal with in the future. It turns out that future might be a lot closer than I was expecting.

I interviewed Poland before Wilt, so I didn’t end up asking the coach what he thought about the comments. I have no idea if the pair have talked about this issue before. Hell, Poland could be reading this article himself right now and it’d be the first he’s heard of any of this.

Getting back to the article, Wilt was not only thankful for Poland, but for the many others who have helped the House during these tough times. Since the club didn’t have the funding, they needed volunteers to keep things running, and thankfully they’ve had numerous people step in and step up over the course of the past year.

That group of staff will be crucial as Chicago continues to grow.

“The risk is being an inch deep and a mile wide,” said Wilt. “The key is working with good people that are committed and talented and dedicated. We have some real quality people that are dedicating themselves to this as volunteers. That's the amazing thing. We have 16 individuals plus game day volunteers that are associated with Chicago House that are helping us without compensation. They do it because they believe in the mission, they believe in the people involved, and that's how we're able to grow the organization.”

The fact that there’s even a future is worth celebrating. It didn’t look like the House was going to exist at the start of 2022. It didn’t look like they were going to get past their first Open Cup qualifying game. It didn’t look like they’d ever be in a position where they can look ahead to the future.

They pushed forward, though, and now they’re ready to keep treading onwards and upwards.

“It's been a great season. It's accomplished more than what I had hoped for,” said Wilt. “I'm really proud of the work that everyone has done. They've taken this team from the brink of elimination to a club that's had success on the field, off the field, and in the community. We're positioned really well for our next stage.”