USL Championship & USL League One round-up, March 15-16 (plus NISA news)

The USL Championship weekend began in Texas with El Paso Locomotive's third home game in eight days, welcoming heavyweights Louisville City for the visitors' first game of the season. El Paso just can't get it together at home and so it proved again when Wilson Harris scored the only goal of the game for Louisville, despite Locomotive enjoying the better chances. Loudoun United continued their bright start to 2024 with a 3-1 win over promoted side North Carolina FC. They have two of the league's best young strikers in Kalil ElMedkhar and Zach Ryan and both found the net, either side of a Mikey Maldonado goal for the visitors. Oalex Anderson was bright for North Carolina but Abdellatif Aboukoura put the game to bed with 5 minutes remaining to put United top of the table. Memphis 901 won a scrappy game against a revitalised Las Vegas Lights team last week but found a more organised Indy Eleven a hill to far to climb at home on Saturday. A Jack Blake penalty and a Douglas Martinez strike put the visitors 2-0 up just before the half, with Oscar Jimenez seeing red for 901 in first half stoppage time. The home side did manage to pull one back right at the death through Abdoulaye Cissoko but then were reduced to 9 men just before the final whistle when Akeem Ward was sent off.

Rhode Island FC opened their season - and their club history - at home to New Mexico United on Saturday and looked lively throughout in front of a capacity crowd of 5,252. After a goalless first half, it was the visitors who went ahead when Talen Maples scored from close range, but the newcomers managed to grab a draw when a dangerous cross found Chris Gloster putting through his own net, the first scorer in RIFC history being Own Goal. The Miami FC began a new era for the club in smart fashion last week with a 2-0 win over Colorado Springs Switchbacks but couldn't repeat the feat at home to Sacramento Republic. Just over a thousand were in attendance at the cavernous FIU Stadium to see Trevor Amman grab his third of the season to give Republic a 1-0 win, his step up from USL League One looking like the signing of the season already. USL Players' Shield holders Pittsburgh Riverhounds started their season with a loss in Albuquerque last week and will have cast an envious eye at their former MVP Albert Dikwa lining up for Rhode Island. They could have done with him against Orange County SC on Saturday when they simply weren't at the races, down on firepower and vulnerable at the back, Brian Ilovski and Cameron Dunbar ensuring the points went back to California with the visitors.

Tampa Bay Rowdies never quite recovered from the loss of coach Neill Collins to Barnsley midway through last season but started 2024 brightly at home to San Antonio in front of 7,500, the weekend's biggest crowd in USL-C. The mercurial Cal Jennings put the Rowdies a goal up after just 3 minutes and that's how it stayed until Manuel Arteaga doubled their lead with just 18 minutes left on the clock. 2022 champions San Antonio are no easy pickings, though, and they fought back for a 2-2 draw thanks to goals from Bura Nogueira and Carter Manley. After defeat in Miami last week, Colorado Springs Switchbacks would have loved to have steady the ship with a home win over Detroit City but Le Rouge - playing their season opener - had other ideas when Elvis Amoh put them ahead in the 11th minute. Matthew Mahoney equalised for the home side just after half-time but it was City who claimed the points thanks to an 89th minute winner from Connor Rutz.

Even in defeat at Memphis last week, Las Vegas Lights looked a different side to the one that finished bottom last year and their home opener - with a new stand occupying former baseball outfield territory - against FC Tulsa looked like they should continue that. However, Tulsa had other ideas and took a 3-0 lead through Stefan Stojanovic, Philip Goodrum, and Milo Yosef. Riki Alba pulled one back but the Lights revival will have to wait. The final two games on Saturday came from California, where Monterey Bay FC beat champions Phoenix Rising (who have now lost two out of two) with a first-half goal from Rafael Baca, and Oakland Roots drew 1-1 with Charleston Battery. Nick Markanich had given the visitors a 1-0 lead at half-time but Ilya Alekseev hit back to secure a point for Roots to add to last week's home win over Indy Eleven.

The third-tier USL League One began their second week of games on Friday night, when Lexington SC hosted Chattanooga Red Wolves on the gridiron markings in Georgetown, Kentucky. The visitors had much the better of the game but it was the home side's Yannick Yankam who scored the game's only goal to put Lexington top at this early stage. There were four games on Saturday, starting with Spokane Velocity's home opener against Richmond Kickers, the league's newest club against its oldest. A sell-out crowd of over 5,000 were barely in their seats before former Minnesota United man Romain Metanire's cross floated into the top corner of the net to give Velocity a lead which was doubled by Ahmed Longmire's first professional goal on the quarter-hour. Adrian Billhardt grabbed one back for the Kickers five minutes later, setting up a game of cat and mouse for the remainder of the match, but Velocity withstood heavy Richmond pressure to secure their first win.

A year ago, One Knoxville were the newcomers and they travelled to Charlotte Independence for the first game of their sophomore season. Heavy Knoxville pressure failed to result in a goal before the half but they didn't let up after the break and finally got a breakthrough in the 51st minute when Frank Ross curled one into the top corner. Charlotte forced an equaliser with 15 minutes left on the clock when Clay Dimwick scrambled a loose ball over the line but it was the visitors who came away with all 3 points after Angelo Kelly-Rosales's winner three minutes later. 2022 champions South Georgia Tormenta started with a defeat last week at home to Central Valley Fuego and looked to suffer a repeat of that when Devin Boyce put Forward Madison ahead after 69 minutes in Statesboro. However, Tormenta kept plugging away and finally got their reward in the 6th minute of stoppage time through Niall Watson, a 1-1 draw just about right in the end. The weekend's final game came from Fresno where a new look Central Valley Fuego opened their home season against Union Omaha. Fuego are a different prospect under Jermaine Jones this year but fell behind in the 18th minute to an acrobatic strike from centre-back Blake Malone. That's how it stayed until the 62nd minute when Omaha doubled their lead through substitute Josue Gomez, and although Fuego pulled one back through the lively Shavon John-Brown, it was the visitors who took the win.

The (very much) third third-tier league announced that they would delay their opening weekend - scheduled for next Saturday in Georgia - two weeks to allow the four new clubs more time to prepare for their first professional seasons.​