A Message from Kalamazoo FC Owner/President Dave Shufelt:
Hello Fans,
What an exciting year!! Two years in the USL League 2 and Kalamazoo FC is a two-time Great Lakes Division Champion! I’m very proud of our men’s squad! But the biggest news of the 2022 season was the addition of our women’s squad who competed in the brand-new USL W-League!
The overwhelming support from our fans and community in the women’s inaugural season was incredible. In their first season the KZFC women beat or tied all other first year teams in their division. The women’s squad also set a club attendance record with our second highest attended match vs Flint City Bucks on May 14th! Our striker Bailey Korhorn recorded 12 goals making her the second highest scorer in the W-League, earning herself a place in the Team of the Year Second Team for 2022! I feel that we are just scratching the surface with the women’s squad, and I could not be prouder of our first year!
Our attendance was up almost double from our 2021 season. The 2022 season was second only to the inaugural 2016 season for KZFC. I want to thank our coaching staff for their efforts in the challenging process of recruitment and training. On the men’s side, Coach Shane Lyons and Assistant Coach Lukas Von Lienen put together yet another successful season ending in a Division Title. We retained many of the guys who played on last year’s squad, and I hope to see many of the guys from this season back again in 2023!
On the women’s side, Coach Todd Wells and Assistant Coaches Rich Labadie, Justin Dacey, and Joe Fuld put together a fabulous squad in a very short time frame. Again, I hope to see those players return in a KZFC jersey for 2023!
I would also like to thank my operational staff. Brand new this year, Elliot Miller and Jake Shufelt did a wonderful job of stepping in and keeping Kalamazoo FC going at a high level for our players, fans, and USL League 2 and USL W-League. Also, we can’t forget our interns Jordan Hartmann and Lily Browning. As always, we had two key people behind the scenes in Kevin Campbell and Captain Ron Webb. Both of these gentlemen were indispensable to our operations this season. I’d also like to thank my wife, Melissa Shufelt, for her continued support and for helping out on every match day. Thank you to all of our sponsors, especially to our brand-new Key Sponsor, Zhang Financial, who have shown amazing support for the club and community.
The future looks bright! Kalamazoo FC is committed to bringing the community the same level of soccer next year. Please email me with things you would like to see improved and also if you have an organization interested in exploring sponsorship opportunities: dshufelt@kalamazoofc.com.
Lastly, keep a lookout for social media posts in the coming weeks. We will be reaching out to our local charities to give them our promised donations from our match days! Remember that a core value of Kalamazoo FC is that $1.00 of every ticket sold goes to a local charity. This value, for me, is the most rewarding part of Kalamazoo FC. As the lads say… Cheers!
Until next year,
Dave Shufelt
