S2 were relocated in 2018 toCheney Stadium inTacoma, Washington, after theTacoma Rainiers baseball team were also added to the ownership group a year earlier. The team was then renamed to the Defiance in 2019.[4] The MLS–USL agreement was terminated in 2021 and the Defiance were moved the following season into MLS Next Pro, a new third-division league for reserve teams.[5] The team also moved back to Starfire Stadium in Tukwila due to scheduling conflicts with the baseball season and the abandonment of plans to build asoccer-specific stadium withNational Women's Soccer League clubOL Reign.[6][7]
The regular season for MLS Next Pro clubs has 28 matches and runs for 30 weeks from March to October; the league does not havedraws and instead has tied matches proceed into apenalty shootout to decide the result.[8] Teams earn threepoints for a win, two points for a shootout win, one point for a shootout loss, and no points for a loss.[9] The top eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs, asingle-elimination knockout tournament that decides the season's champion. The higher-seeded team in each round hosts the match and, if applicable, picks from the remaining opponents in the lower seeds.[10]
In addition to league play, MLS Next Pro clubs can participate in theU.S. Open Cup, an annual knockout tournament organized by theUnited States Soccer Federation that is open to all eligible teams in the country. In their inaugural season, S2 advanced to the fourth round of the2015 U.S. Open Cup and were eliminated in the same round as their parent team.[11] From 2016 to 2023, reserve teams that were owned by another participant in a higher division were barred from participating in the U.S. Open Cup; the policy was reversed after MLS withdrew most of its teams from the competition in 2024.[12][13] As of 2025[update], MLS clubs that qualified for continental competitions are able to instead send their MLS Next Pro team to represent them in the U.S. Open Cup.[13]
USL Championship (USLC) – Asecond-division league in U.S. men's soccer formed in 2011 that adopted its current name in 2019.[14] It was named USL Pro from 2011 to 2014 and United Soccer League (USL) from 2015 to 2018.[15]
^Top goalscorer(s) includes all goals scored in the regular season, playoffs,U.S. Open Cup, and other competitive matches.
^MLS Next Pro uses apenalty shootout to decide matches that are tied after regulation time. Teams receive onepoint for a shootout loss and two points for a shootout win.[9]
^Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, the2020 USL Championship season was shortened to 16 matches played from July to October within limited geographic regions. The Defiance played two matches prior to the season's suspension in March that were counted in the standings, leaving 14 remaining matches.[25]
^In 2022, the Tacoma Defiance joined 19 other reserve teams affiliated with MLS clubs in the inaugural season ofMLS Next Pro, a third-division league run by MLS. In doing so, they voluntarily moved down a tier in theU.S. league system.[5]
