From an MLS Next Pro dynasty to the USL Championship Final, meet two professionals who have found success at every turn
Wherever Clay Holstad and Noah Fuson go, trophies follow.
The pair share a decorated friendship in their second season with Rhode Island FC. They were top contributors in the Ocean State club’s historic 2024 season that saw RIFC become just the third expansion team in league history to reach the USL Championship Final in its first year. Bringing the Eastern Conference title back to Rhode Island was just the latest installment in a friendship full of hardware.
Fuson’s First Opportunities
Prior to meeting Holstad, Fuson was just a young player determined to make it as a professional. After graduating high school, the Los Angeles, California native accepted a unique invitation to move overseas and join the i2i International Soccer Academy in England, putting full focus on starting a professional career.
In England, he had the opportunity to study abroad at York St. John University while getting professional exposure against some of England’s top professional teams. Featuring for semi-professional club Tadcaster Albion A.F.C’s U-21 squad, Fuson got the opportunity to showcase against well-known professional teams such as Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leeds United, Hull City and Huddersfield Town A.F.C. While the unique experience did not end in a contract at an English club, it allowed him to gain valuable experience that helped him earn some of his first inroads to the professional world.
Following more than a year in England, Fuson’s first trial with a professional club took him overseas once again, this time to Icelandic club Víkingur Reykjavík. After a two-week trial didn’t go his way, Fuson returned stateside and tried out with USL Championship sides Sacramento Republic FC and Loudoun United FC. After neither opportunity ended in a contract offer, Fuson eventually got his break when USL League One’s Forward Madison FC came calling. In August 2020, Fuson signed his first professional contract with the Wisconsin-based club, and could call himself a professional soccer player for the first time.
Fuson made an immediate impact in his first year, coming off the bench in all 12 of Madison’s remaining games after signing with The Flamingos midseason. He re-signed in 2021 following a successful rookie campaign, and ended up scoring three goals in 33 total appearances in his two-season stint. Although his time in Madison was successful, the time came for Fuson to make a move in 2022.
“I was pretty devastated because I was out of a contract and Madison did not re-sign me,” Fuson said. “So I was like, ‘oh no, I’m done.’”
Luckily for Fuson, his professional career was just getting started. After earning a trial with Major League Soccer reserve side Columbus Crew 2 in the newly-established MLS Next Pro in 2022, Fuson joined the club for its first ever season. In 27 appearances across the regular-season and playoffs, Fuson scored 10 goals, bagged four assists and helped lead the team to a league-best 16W-3L-5T record. Crew 2 led the league with 48 points, 62 goals and a +40 goal differential, losing just once in 12 games at home – another league-leading accomplishment. The historic season culminated in both the conference title and the first-ever MLS Next Pro Cup Championship. During a dramatic 4-3 extra-time win over Toronto FC II in the Eastern Conference Final, Fuson scored the opening goal in the 32nd minute, capping the first of three-straight 10-goal seasons.
Heading into his second year in Columbus at just 22 years old, Fuson had his eye on another title. Although the team experienced tremendous turnover in the offseason, Fuson was one of 11 returners continuing with one of Major League Soccer’s most dominant organizations. That choice ultimately led to the next chapter of his career, and the first meeting between two friends that would go on to share even more success together.
Enter Clay Holstad.
An Unlikely Path
After a successful five-year career at the University of Kentucky, Holstad’s soccer future was uncertain. In the midst of earning a degree in chemical engineering, working towards his MBA and applying to medical school, pursuing a professional career was not at the forefront of the midfielder’s mind.
“I wanted to go pro, but I didn’t really know because I hadn’t talked to anybody,” Holstad said. “I didn’t know where the interest was or how you went about it. I had no idea how it worked. I was thinking, ‘I would love to get drafted. That way, I don’t have to go search for a team!’”
When the 2024 Major League Soccer SuperDraft came around, Holstad had just completed his fifth season at Kentucky when he received a call from his coach. Less than a minute after being told the news that MLS teams may have been interested in him, he heard his name called. Holstad was drafted 43rd overall in the second round by Columbus Crew, and the opportunity he had dreamt of was suddenly right in front of him. In less than a month, he went from planning the final semester of his master’s program to getting on a plane to Ohio to compete in MLS preseason.
His sudden introduction to the highest level of soccer in the United States immediately tested him against some of the most well-known players in MLS. In less than two months, Holstad’s future had turned upside down, but in the best way possible. It didn’t take him long to adjust to his new setting.
“At first, I had a bunch of nerves,” Holstad said. “I saw veterans like Darlington Nagby and Cucho Hernández, who had been there forever. They are incredible players. When I first went in, I was like, ‘dear God, I’m gonna struggle.’ But when I got there and started playing with them, I realized, ‘this is just soccer. These guys are really good, but I can play with them.’”
Eventually, Holstad received an offer from the Crew’s second team, and officially put pen to paper to sign his first professional deal on March 23, 2023. There, he joined Fuson in what would turn into another dominant season in MLS Next Pro.
First Season Together
Despite fielding a refreshed roster in 2023, Columbus Crew 2 continued to make history in MLS Next Pro. Fuson and Holstad were both regulars in the starting 11 for a team that became the first in league history to advance to win two consecutive conference titles and advance to back-to-back MLS Next Pro Cup Finals. Although the team improved on its slate from the previous year with 54 points from a 16W-9L-3T record, Crew 2 finished third in the conference, and a new, high-flying team was challenging its status as the top dog. This time around, Crew 2 went into the playoffs with a much different mentality.
“We weren’t supposed to make it to the finals,” Fuson said. “The first-place team from Charlotte, Crown Legacy FC, was supposed to roll over us, because our team had gotten a lot younger and they had Patrick Agyemang. We were definitely underdogs.”
Agyemang, who featured for the United States Men’s National Team during the 2025 Gold Cup and recently made a club-record transfer from Charlotte FC to England’s Derby County, was one of the best young superstars in the league at the time. Crown Legacy FC had cruised through the regular season in 2023, finishing a staggering 10 points clear of second place New England Revolution II at the top of the table. However, not even Agyemang’s impressive 10 goals in 11 appearances during his rookie campaign was enough to stop Columbus from getting through a difficult quarterfinal matchup.
“We had the ball maybe 35 percent of the time during that game,” Holstad said. “We had one shot on target. We knew we had to just grind it out because all that mattered was winning. Having been the underdog, we know how difficult it can be sometimes and we know what it takes. It does help us now, because we know it’s possible. We have done it.”
Despite being on the back foot for the majority of the game, Columbus’ lone shot on target came from Fuson, who buried one of the most decisive goals of his career in the 50th minute. The impressive strike secured a massive 1-0 road upset that stunned the best team in the league, and was one of his three goal contributions during a playoff run that brought Columbus back to the MLS Next Pro Final for the second-straight year.
Once again, Fuson had scored a vital goal in a major final, netting 10 goals for the second-straight year.
“After struggling and sitting back and basically not touching the ball for 90 minutes, to be able to be the one that scored that goal and help us get to that next round was a really important moment for me in my career,” Fuson said. “It was really special. No one thought that we would make it that far. It was a great feeling.”
Holstad and Fuson didn’t know it yet, but that winning mentality would prove to be vital when the pair did it all over again in the Ocean State just one year later.
Reuniting in the Ocean State
After a successful first year in Columbus, it was time for an upward move. Holstad and Fuson both felt it was time to graduate from the third-division developmental league, which has historically consisted primarily of MLS academy players that need professional minutes.
“MLS Next Pro continues getting younger and younger,” Fuson said. “When an opportunity with the first team didn’t come in Columbus, and it was time to move on from the second team environment to go play soccer at a higher level.”
Holstad was the first to take the leap of faith to a new league, signing with Rhode Island FC on Jan. 12, 2024. He had never played in the USL Championship prior to signing with the Ocean State club, and didn’t recognize any names on the roster besides JJ Williams, who grew up with Holstad in Alabama. That unfamiliarity would change when he received a Facetime call from a familiar name during a family vacation in Nashville.
“I was coming home from an Auburn football game with my family, and all of the sudden I picked up my phone, wondering why Noah was calling me,” Holstad said. “I figured I might as well answer it, because he doesn’t typically call me. He told me he was thinking about signing with Rhode Island FC, and my parents told me, ‘you have to tell him to sign.’”
Holstad was just the ninth player to sign for Rhode Island FC ahead of its inaugural season. He had little familiarity with the roster, and that’s exactly what he told Fuson.
“It wasn’t even a two minute phone call,” Fuson said. “Clay pretty much said, ‘yeah dude, why not? I’d love to have you here.’ He didn’t say much about the team. He just said it would be cool for us to play together again.”
Although Holstad’s response was vague, it did not take much to convince Fuson to sign with Rhode Island FC just four days after Holstad on Jan. 16, 2024, joining his fellow MLS Next Pro finalist in taking the step up to the next level. Although neither of them knew where they stood in the lineup, they quickly proved they were ready to compete at the division II level.
“After being in Columbus Crew 2 for its first-ever season as a club, I thought it was a really unique opportunity to come to another club that was going into its first year,” Fuson said. “I thought it would be cool to be able to do it again and have a friend here with me.”
Although the step up to the second division of men’s professional soccer in the United States was an upward one, Holstad and Fuson both knew they belonged. They just needed to prove it to their new teammates, who were all getting familiar with each other in preseason.
“I had never heard of anybody on the roster, and they had no idea who we were,” said Holstad. “When you come in from a lower league, everyone doesn’t really have the highest expectations for you. They’re thinking, ‘you were just playing against kids,’ but I knew what Noah could do and I knew he was going to play a big role. I had played so long with him, and I knew that we could both find our way in.”
A Historic Run
Although Rhode Island FC’s inaugural season got off to a slow start, Fuson and Holstad played an integral role in helping the team orchestrate an incredible midseason turnaround. After winning just one of its opening 12 games, RIFC exploded for an astonishing 22 goals in eight games through the summer months, propelling the Ocean State club from 11th to fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Fuson flourished in his first year in the USL Championship, finishing the regular season with a league-leading 10 assists, winning him the 2024 USL Championship Golden Playmaker Award and Rhode Island FC’s Player of the Year Award. He added nine goals to his impressive regular-season tally, marking one of the most productive seasons of his professional career.
As for Holstad, he finished third on the team with 3,052 minutes in 35 starts, becoming one of the squad’s most consistent midfielders while scoring four goals and adding two assists. He became known for his highlight-reel, long-range scoring abilities, firing missiles from outside the box on several occasions. One of his most memorable long-distance goals came in a historic 5-2 win over Louisville City FC that cemented Rhode Island FC as the only visiting team to beat the league-leaders at Lynn Family Stadium in 2024. Holstad joined Fuson in taking home a postseason honor, winning Rhode Island FC’s Midfielder of the Year Award.
“We had self-belief in every game that we were going to win,” Fuson said. “Last year in Louisville, they were surprised with how we came in. They told us, ‘wow, every other team that comes in here is scared to play us, but you guys are super calm. Every other team already felt like they lost before the games even start.”
The astounding success didn’t stop in the regular season. RIFC’s red-hot run in the second half of the year set the stage for an unprecedented journey to the Eastern Conference title and USL Championship Final. During the club’s first-ever appearance in the Eastern Conference Final against second place Charleston Battery on the road, Fuson drilled home the game-winning goal for the Ocean State club in the second half, breaking a tense 1-1 tie and toppling one of the league’s best clubs.
Once again, his tenth goal of the season was his most important. He had scored in a Conference Final for a third-straight season that, in familiar fashion, ended with Holstad and Fuson hoisting a trophy.
“I don’t think anyone that actually watched our games last year thought that the team should have been listed as an underdog,” Holstad said. “Even though we started the playoffs in fifth place, the feeling in the locker room was, ‘there’s no shot that we don’t win this game.’ At both RIFC and Columbus, no matter what the situation outside looked like, the feeling inside of the locker room was always that we knew what we could do. We had an incredible amount of belief in ourselves.”
“In Columbus, we were the reigning champs,” Fuson said. “Our mentality was that we were going to come in and beat whoever we were playing. We carried that mentality with us to Rhode Island, and we truly believed that we could beat anybody who lined up against us.”
From MLS Next Pro’s rising stars to starters on the biggest stage, deep playoff runs that most players experience only once or twice in their careers have become commonplace for Holstad and Fuson. Although the team’s magical run fell short in the USL Championship Final, the Eastern Conference trophy materialized a season that wrote the newest chapter in USL Championship history. In 2025, off the heels of that incredible season, the pair inked contract extensions with the club that will keep them in Rhode Island for years to come.
“We have spent so much time together over the last two years,” Holstad said. “There’s not many guys that have gone from team to team together like this. What’s a few more years? We’ll see how long we can keep it going!”
