The USL Charlotte Independence Professional Soccer Club’s face of the franchise Jorge Herrera recently played his 100th game in an Independence uniform this past weekend when the Jacks played to a 1-1 draw against Penn FC.
Herrera is the club’s first player to reach the century mark for the franchise who plays their home games at the new beautiful Sportsplex at Matthews. He is the Independence first signing when the franchise formed in 2015 in the Charlotte area. During the inaugural season Herrera scored his first hat trick, then he scored the first goal at the club’s Grand Opening of playing at the Matthews Sportsplex during the 2017 campaign in June when the franchise moved to Matthews.
The 37 year old Columbia native has appeared in all 22 USL games this season and is the team’s leading scorer with 10 goals on 35 shots along with 3 assists. He is only one goal behind in the chase for the 2018 Golden Boot. Herrera has accumulated 62 USL career goals and is only six goals away from breaking Dane Kelly’s all-time record for the league.
He is a gentlemen on and off the field. He is kind to everyone and is a consummate professional. He is the perfect player to be the face of the franchise. His leadership, the way he handles himself with teammates, coaches and media has always been with class.
With nearly 200 USL games played in his illustrious career and over 6,000 minutes logged on the field with the Independence, Jorge shows no signs of slowing down as he is always leading the charge for the Jacks.
“I keep telling people that I will continue to play as long as I can so I just want to keep going,” said Herrera. “It has been a good ride with the Independence.”
Head Coach Mike Jeffries certainly appreciates Herrera and the contribution he has made to the franchise. “Jorge has clearly been the face of the franchise from day one and has been nothing but class for us.” “It’s a great accomplishment for himself and for us. It says a lot about him and Jorge still comes out every day and works extremely hard.”
Therefore, local soccer fans should come out to the Sportsplex at Matthews to watch extremely exciting and highly competitive professional soccer. Also, to cheer on Herrera and the Independence as they make their charge to qualify for the playoffs this 2018 season. The next game after Wednesday August 8th at home against Bethlehem Steel FC will be on Saturday night August 22nd at 7:30 pm when Louisville City FC visits. Plan ahead come out and support the team and make it a fun family affair.
