Our Story

Mountains to Sea FC began as an idea for a statewide amateur soccer tournament — the Mountains to Sea Cup, named after North Carolina’s iconic Mountains to Sea Trail. Back in 2023, I set out to create a competition that would bring together the top finishers from different local leagues into a single-elimination event. My goal was to partner with the UPSL to build on their existing structure, and by early 2024, seven clubs had agreed to participate, with several others showing interest. Unfortunately, despite strong momentum, the project never reached the public stage.

With the cup on hold, I turned to my friend Duane Arnold, who had been playing co-ed indoor soccer at XL Soccer World, and pitched him a new idea: let’s start our own team and see where it goes. We repurposed part of the Mountains to Sea Cup logo and launched Mountains to Sea FC. After two seasons at XL, interest began to fade, and we needed to reorganize. That turning point came in February 2025, when we received an Instagram message from Fortitudo CF, who were looking for someone to take over their team for the upcoming Capital Area Soccer Association (CASA) Under-23 League.

When Duane and I took over, Fortitudo had held a few tryouts but hadn’t yet begun regular practices. I worked with their head coach, Walter, to set up two weekly training sessions — one focused on cardio and conditioning, the other on tactics and team play. We merged our logos, competed under the Mountains to Sea FC name, and hit the ground running.

Our first CASA season was a challenge. As the newest club in the league, we were still building chemistry and structure. We took our share of tough results but earned our first league win against Johnston County FC — our lone victory of the season, though we stayed competitive throughout.

Then came the playoffs. We made one last recruiting push, bringing in a few new players — just enough to spark a turnaround. In an unforgettable match, we knocked off the top-seeded Kangoory FC in penalty kicks, then went on to defeat Johnston County FC once again in the final to claim the CASA Championship.

Since that victory, we’ve focused on building momentum. We joined Quadra in Knightdale for year-round, futsal-style indoor play and plan to enter Triangle Adult Soccer League (TASL) Division 2 in the spring. Our long-term goal is to establish ourselves as a consistent presence in the Carolinas Cup and U.S. Open Cup Qualifiers, representing the spirit of North Carolina soccer — from the mountains to the sea.