Next season, the Dalton State College men’s soccer program will field a former academy player for Chattanooga Football Club that has plenty of ties to the Dalton area already.
Hugo Martinez, who is from Cleveland, Tennessee, and trained at Dalton-based North Georgia Soccer Academy, will join the powerful Roadrunner program next season.
Martinez signed an academy contract with Chattanooga FC as a 17-year-old in 2022, allowing him to appear in games for the CFC squad. Now, Martinez will bring that experience against professional players into the college game.
“We are very proud that he signed with Dalton State and I know he will be a great student athlete for the Roadrunners,” Kerem Daser, the founder and CEO of Dalton’s North Georgia Soccer Academy.
Martinez competed with teams organized by Daser and staff at the youth soccer program for three years. Martinez helped the program reach the youth soccer National Premier Leagues finals in Denver, Colorado, in both 2022 and 2023.
Martinez will join a men’s soccer program at Dalton State that has competed on a national level in recent seasons. DSC reached No. 1 in the nation in the NAIA rankings for the first time in 2022, and the Roadrunners reached the NAIA national quarterfinals in 2023.