Loons return for 2025 season with more stability, hope to continue last year's success
The Loons are back with more stability than this time last year.
"Of course, you have a little bit of rust from the offseason," goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair said. "But to be able to continue and have a good strong preseason compared to last year with a lot of moving pieces. Going into this year was a little more continuity which allowed us to succeed and pick up that rhythm a little more than the past."
For the most part, this is the same group of players that made it to the MLS quarterfinals last season — and that was just three months ago.
"To bring a lot of the same guys back, it just means that you can build those relationships that you already started building last year," forward Tani Oluwaseyi said. "With the offseason being so short, it wasn't that long ago that we were all playing together. So I think it means we'll be a more complete, stronger team moving forward."
Eric Ramsay now has his first full preseason as the club's manager under his belt. He hopes Saturday's match against Montreal is the start of a St. Paul advantage.
"We have to make sure this year that at home it feels like, to use a cliche, it really feels like a fortress because that obviously cost us last year until the latter months of the season and we found our stride," Ramsay said. "So I'm hoping we can pick up where we left off last year."
"I know we're all excited to be in front of our home fans," Oluwaseyi said. "It's been two or three months now since we last saw them in the Salt Lake game. I know everyone's rearing to go and brave the cold with them."
After getting beat 1-0 by LAFC in the season opener, Minnesota is also looking for its first goal of 2025 on Saturday too.
"I do feel it will come," Ramsay said. "I don't think we're a team that will lack goals over the course of the year. I feel like we're always good value for, particularly at home, lots of good chances."
