USL Championship & CPL round-up, April 13-14

Loudoun United and Memphis 901 opened the USL Championship weekend on Saturday night in front of almost 3,000 fans at Segra Field in Leesburg, Virginia, serving up a back and forth battle that ended 2-1 to the young home side. Samuel Careaga opened the scoring for the visitors in the 14th minute with a free-kick that found a gap in the Loudoun wall and 901 had chances to increase their lead before Zach Ryan scored his third of the season just before half-time. Memphis again went close in the second-half through Careaga and Nighte Pickering, but it was United's Drew Skundrich who found the net in the 69th minute with a header to give Loudoun all three points. Charleston Battery have been in tremedous form over the past few weeks and they travelled to Indianapolis expecting to cause more than a few problems for Indy Eleven on Saturday night. A crowd of 8,556 awaited them but were quietened in the 19th minute when Emilio Ycaza was set up by Nick markanich and fired home. Portland loanee Tega Ikoba scored his first for Indy to level eight minutes later, and Sebastian Gunezatti put them 2-1 within sixty seconds of the retsart, but Markanich showed exactly why he's one of the most exciting players in USL-C right now when he restored parity two minutes into time added on at the end of the first half. Ikoba and Augustine Williams could have scored for Indy in the second-half but the goals all belonged to the visitors, a Macauley King own goal and a Matt Myers shot sending all three points down to South Carolina.

Expansion club Rhode Island FC have had a quiet start to life in the league but fireworks were expected when Pittsburgh Riverhounds came to Providence on Saturday, given Rhode Island took 2023 league MVP Albert Dikwa and Marc Ybarra from the Steel City club over the winter. Riverhounds, though, have struggled this season, with just a point to show for their efforts, and the resulting 0-0 draw will have been greeted with a sigh of relief by their head coach Bob Lilley, if not the majority of the 3,678 in attendance. It also finished 0-0 down in Texas, where San Antonio FC entertained Orange County SC at Toyota Field, a 7,000-strong crowd no doubt expecting goals that just didn't come, despite both sides having chances. Maybe the goals were delivered west instead, because who would have expected El Paso Locomotive and Oakland Roots to share five goals on a chilly evening? El Paso are woeful at home but went ahead in the 13th minute through Amando Moreno's second-chance effort, only to be pegged back by Irish striker Niall Logue's 31st minute strike following a corner. Justin Dhillon, signed from San Antonio in the off-season, restored Locomotive's lead two minutes from the half-time whistle with a well-placed penalty after he was brought down by Irakoze Donasiyano, and the almost 7,000 crowd must have scoffed their hot dogs thinking they might - might - see a home win at Southwest University Park. They might well have done if Johnny Rodriguez hadn't woken up in the second-half, the former Cal State man scoring two minutes after the break and then adding a penalty strike of his own four minutes later to give Oakland a 3-2 lead. Jamaili Waite brought Rodriguez down for the penalty and he must be wondering quite why he left Pittsburgh in the winter...

There were a pair of games over in northern California on Saturday night, with Monterey Bay FC welcoming Las Vegas Lights to Seaside, and FC Tulsa pitching up at Heart Health Park to face Sacramento Republic. Las Vegas had won three on the trot before this week but were undone in the tenth minute when Shawn Smart fouled Chase Boone in the eighteen-yard area, Alex Dixon slotting home the penalty that followed. The home side had the better of the play for the rest of the half and doubled their advantage through a Tristan Trager strike on the stroke of half-time, only for Gaoussou Samake to pull one back in time added on and give the Lights hope that they could make it four from four. They couldn't, though, and Michael Gonzalez added a third for Frank Yallop's side on 74 minutes, with Lights' Emrah Klimenta receiving a second yellow in the aftermath. There was also a red card in Sacramento when a case of absolute shitbaggery by Republic's Lee Desmond saw Tulsa's Edwin Laszo sent-off for a push, the home side working the extra man advantage for a host of first-half chances, although they only had Rodridgo Lopez's 33rd minute goal to show for their efforts at the half. It was one-way traffic again in the second-half but Republic were stymied by a resolute Tulsa defence, allowing Patrick Seagrist to level midway through the half, and that's how it stayed, a a much-deserved point for the visitors disappointing the weekend's biggest crowd of 8,891.

Saturday's final game came from Arizona where 2023 champions Phoenix Rising entertained the pointless Colorado Springs Switchbacks at 38th Street. Rising's form has been all over the place so far this season and the crowd grew a tiny bit frustrated when they were unable to transfer their dominance into goals against a poor Switchbacks side. However, captain John Stenberg slotted home from a corner on 71 minutes to give the champions a lead they wouldn't surrender, three welcome points coming to Danny Stone's side. The USL-C weekend finished in Cary with the first visit of Birmingham Legion to North Carolina FC for four years. The home side started well when the referee awarded a very generous penalty for a Matt van Oekel foul on Rafa Mentzingen, Rodrigo da Costa converting for a 1-0 lead after just two minutes. The ever-busy Enzo Martinez finished a Stefano Pinho cross to equalise in the 29th minute, Legion's only shot on a target, and that's how it finished, van Oekel's save from Louis Perez twelve minutes into the second-half the only notable action.

The opening weekend of the Canadian Premier League brought a clean sweep of home victories, starting with York United's visit to Atletico Ottawa on Saturday evening. A goalless first half wasn't light on entertainment but the game came to life three minutes into the second-half when Austin Ricci put the visitors ahead. Manny Aparicio equalised midway through the half for the Ottawans, with Ollie Bassett a menace in midfield as ever, and it was the Irishman's cross that found Kris Twardek on the back post, the centre-back  slotting home to give Atletico the points. It was a smiliar story across the province in Hamilton, where Forge FC and Cavalry FC also played out a goalless first half in the first of their grudge games this season. The away side took the lead through Calgary mainstay Sergio Camargo on the hour but were pegged back ten minutes later when former Canadian international Tristan Borges pivoted and struck home. Forge pressed for a winner and found one through Beni Badibanga, although the eleven minutes left on the clock made for some nervy moments for the Hamilton side. First blood, though, to the Iron Men...

Over on the West Coast, Pacific FC welcomed HFX Wanderers to Vancouver Island for a busy game that saw the visitors create more chances but the home side be more clinical. That told in the final score, a 1-0 win to Pacific thanks to an Ayman Sellouf penalty given when Julian Dunn brought down Reon Moore, but HFX looked like a decent side in defeat. The final game also came from British Columbia, this time on Sunday as Vancouver FC hosted Winnipeg side Valour FC. This is only Vancouver's second year in the CPL, having finished seventh last season, but they've laid down a amrker from the off in 2024. They had to do it from behind, though, as Valour went ahead in the 24th minute through new Australian signing Jordi Swibel, only drawing level on the cusp of half-time when Moses Dyer finished a tidy move he had started himself out on the left wing. The home side went in front just two minutes into the second-half through a Paris Gee shot from distance into the top corner, and then finished the job with goals from Lebanese international Gabriel Bitar and ex-Cobbler David Norman Jr, a 4-1 win the result of the opening weekend.