Since this season began, the Chattanooga Football Club has played matches in North Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Memphis, with only one completed home match.
It's time to come home again, and CFC will be there for a while.
Due to a rained-out match that needs to be completed and a schedule backloaded with games in Chattanooga to attempt to maximize the home crowd, CFC has six matches at Finley Stadium in the next 20 days - including five in the next two weeks, starting at 7:30 tonight against the New Orleans Jesters.
The teams are meeting for the second time this year. They played to a 1-1 draw May 13 in Louisiana.
"These two weeks are our season, basically," CFC coach Bill Elliott said. "We've been on the road a lot this season, and now we get to reap the benefit of that by playing the next stretch at home. We're expecting to capitalize on last Thursday's win in Birmingham and bring that momentum home."
CFC is 2-1-3 overall and 1-0-3 in the National Premier Soccer League's Southeast Division. With three points for the win and one point for each tie, CFC was fifth in the 10-team division standings as of Wednesday night. The division leader was New Orleans, which is 3-0-2 in Southeast competition.
That lag in points places extra importance on CFC getting a win and three important points tonight as the regular season moves into the second half.
CFC will host Inter Nashville FC on Saturday, Birmingham on Tuesday, FC Carolina United on June 24, Memphis City FC on June 28 and Georgia Revolution on July 4. The match against Birmingham will be the resumption of a May 20 match stopped due to weather with CFC ahead 1-0 in the 22nd minute.
CFC has two wins and a tie in its past three matches. With a younger group of offensive players slowly coming along (four goals in the past three matches), defense has been the constant. CFC hasn't allowed a goal in four matches and has given up only three all year, none since facing New Orleans.
Most of the team's offensive production has been at home. Can that continue?
There will be plenty of chances over the next two weeks.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.