NOSL gains foothold in the community
Malone University’s Austin Coldsnow (Stark County United) battles Northwestern grad and current Cornerstone University player Micah Boggs (FC Accipiter) during a recent NOSL semifinal clash.
In 2007 the Coen Brothers released the award-winning movie, “No Country for Old Men.”
That title definitely suits the upstart Northern Ohio Soccer League, where old men will struggle to keep pace with the talented and youthful adults who have made the NOSL a true up-and-comer in men’s adult soccer in Ohio.
The Northern Ohio Soccer League, based out of Holmes County, is the brainchild of Braden Mast, a 2017 graduate of Hiland High School and soon-to-be junior at Mt. Vernon University.
Mast is a sports management major with a finance minor, and his passion for athletics, innovation and organization put creating a high-caliber soccer league right in his wheelhouse.
Mast began to formulate the idea of creating the men’s soccer league in 2016. He knew it would take time and a major commitment, but he had a passion for it and began building from the ground up.
“This has been a lot of hands-on, valuable experience, and it has put me on the right track for the future,” Mast said. “It was a lot of work putting it together, but it was also a lot of fun because I enjoy the game and the challenge.”
The NOSL started with his Amish Country United team, which features a lot of local talent, plus players from Mansfield Christian Schools and MVNU.
“When we started Amish Country United, we didn’t have a league to play in, so we looked around, and most of the leagues were unorganized and not very serious,” Mast said. “So I decided to just start one.”
Player interest was high from Wayne County, and another team featuring a number of Malone University men’s players and another from Ashland came on board.
The infant NOSL was up and running, and it wouldn’t take long to gain a foothold in the soccer community.
Mast has created an adult soccer league that has brought together top talent. This is not just some old-man league where weekend warriors go out and get gassed after five minutes. The NOSL features gifted soccer players: stars from high schools and colleges from all over Northern Ohio.
While they have just five teams in the inaugural year, another six teams already committed for next season, which will run the number of teams to at least 11, and the NOSL continues to gain the eye of Ohio soccer players and other organizers. That includes three teams from Cleveland, one from Kent and another from Ashland.
Mast has been diligent on Twitter, and word of mouth has helped grow excitement.
“The talent level in the NOSL is amazing,” Mast said. “There wasn’t anything out there for high-caliber guys from high school and college to play in the offseason, so I wanted to offer something that would help them stay sharp.”
While Mast said most of the Div. I collegiate players are playing club soccer, his goal was to draw Div. II and Div. III college-level talent to the league. It also has been a good opportunity for top-caliber high school talent.
The NOSL has even caught the attention of the secretary and president of Ohio North, which is affiliated with the U.S. Soccer Federation.
“Both of them said that we might be the best adult soccer league in Northern Ohio, and that means a lot coming from those guys,” Mast said. “They said that there is a ton of growth potential and that we could set the tone for other leagues in Northern Ohio.”
In his zeal for the soccer league to grow, Mast would love to see other leagues develop all over Ohio, making it not just a Northern Ohio league, but also a true Ohio league.
His immediate goal is to turn the NOSL into a 16-team league with two divisions where teams play promotion-relegation like the English Premier League, in which the bottom-two teams in the top division drop down to the second division while the top-two teams in the second-tier division advance to the top league.
“It’s merit-based, and it tends to keep interest high and teams playing the whole game when they know every goal matters,” Mast said. “Teams will need to fight to stay in that upper division, which creates excitement.”
In addition Mast has had a number of inquiries about a women’s league, something he will look at in the future.
Mast said the talent level has already inspired Amish Country United to get better because they want to compete with the upper-echelon teams.
“The hope is that these teams will continue to challenge each other, and that will only make the league more balanced and competitive,” he added.
Mast said another pursuit this offseason will be to secure a corporate sponsor for the league, which would only add to the name recognition.
The level of play is the drawing card, but there are other reasons the NOSL has quickly gained recognition. With a referee scheduler, each game played has seen quality officiating, making it an enjoyable experience for everyone. In addition the NOSL website has generated a real buzz.
A quick visit to www.noslsoccer.com reveals game-action photographs, an updated statistics page, team photos, online voting for nominated players for the Team of the Season and more.
The inaugural season will wrap up soon. Two semifinal games took place on Saturday, July 6 and Monday, July 8 with the final taking place at Wooster High School on Saturday, July 13.