USL Jägermeister Cup, NISA & MLS Next Pro round-ups, April 26-28

US soccer's newest competition - the USL Jägermeister Cup - got underway at the weekend, with five games featuring USL League One sides organised into regional groups. Strangely, the West Group from first to get underway as expansion side Spokane Velocity welcomed Central Valley Fuego to One Spokane Stadium for a 3pm local time kick-off. An impressive crowd of over four thousand saw the home side take the lead through Pierre Reedy, finishing off a smart move that also involved Josh Dolling, controlling the game through half-time and well into the second-half. In fact, some among the Velocity faithful may have already left to beat the traffic by the time Fuego's Qudus Lawal fell after minimal contact from Spokane defender Marcelo Lage, the referee awarding a penalty that was converted by Robert Coronado. That sent the match to penalties, with two points on offer for the victorious side and one point for the losers, and it was the visitors who triumphed 4-2.

The two matches in the East Group got underway at the same time in South Carolina and Georgia, with form side Greenville Triumph hosting Richmond Kickers, and Charlotte Independence travelling to Statesboro to face South Georgia Tormenta. The horrible gridiron pitch at Greenville's Paladin Stadium was surrounded by over 4,000 fans, twice their average crowd, no doubt attracted by the promise of good soccer and hard liquor that the Jägermeister Cup promises (and maybe the fact that it was Upstate Youth Soccer Night at Paladin). Somehow the first-half remained goalless, with home 'keeper Christian Garner saving a Nil Vinyals penalty, and Leo Castro hitting the bar for Triumph. Twenty-five minutes into the second-half, Richmond were first to score, Ryan Sierakowski grabbing a deflected header shortly after Tyler Poalk cleared off the line for Triumph, and Castro forced a save from Ryan Shellow in the Kickers goal. Triumph kept at it, though, and forced an equaliser from a corner with a minute left to play, Evan Lee sweeping in from close range after a scramble. That led to another penalty shootout and again the away side won out, Kickers converting all five penalties while Shellow saved from Ben Zakowski. The pattern continued down at Tormenta Stadium, where the away side silenced the 1,053 home fans by taking an eighth minute lead though a Juan Carlos Obregon Jr header. Tormenta's Conor Doyle had called Charlotte 'keeper Austin Pack into action as early as the first minute and the rest of the game was not short on goalmouth action, with good chances for the home side's Phillip Spengler going close either side of the break. It wasn't until the third minute of stoppage time, though, that Tormenta found a leveller, Sebastian Vivas heading home from a corner to send the game to penalties. The first nine spot-kicks were converted to give Charlotte a 5-4 lead going into Josh Ramos's final kick for Tormenta. Austin Pack made the save to give Independence the two points.

Saturday's final game came from the Central Group, where Chattanooga Red Wolves hosted One Knoxville in a Smoky Mountain Smackdown. A crowd of 2,553 at CHI Memorial Stadiumsaw a cagey first half marked only by three yellow cards for Knoxville players, but the visitors found the net just four minutes after the restart, Jordan Skelton heading home from a free-kick. It was mostly Knoxville's game afterwards, although Red Wolves had a decent chance right before the final whistle, and the three points - the first in Jägermeister Cup history, went to eastern Tennessee. The second game in the Central Group came from Georgetown, Kentucky, on Sunday, where Lexington SC welcomed Forward Madison to Toyota Stadium, gridiron markings and all. The visitors started strongly, with two chances for Derek Gebhard going begging before the first-half petered out into a midfield battle. The second-half sparked into life in the 51st minute when Tate Robertson clashed with Devin Boyce, the former receiving a red card for kicking out after they tangled, receiving his marching orders while being carried off after a blow to the head by the referee in the melee! Aidan Mesias went close for Madison ten minutes later but the game looked like it was heading for penalties, only for Lexington to go down to nine players when Yannick Yankam was given a second yellow three minutes from time. Despite all that, it was the home side that finally broke the deadlock, a Kaelon Fox header from a free-kick enough to end the game 1-0 in favour Lexington.

The final game in the first round of games is on Wednesday when Union Omaha face Northern Colorado Hailstorm in the West Group.

The NISA weekend started on Friday evening in Atlanta, where Georgia FC welcomed state rivals Savannah Clovers to Silverbacks Park. With the home side still looking for their first win, and Clovers having won 2-0 in Florida against Club de Lyon last week, it was expected that the visitors would cruise to an easy win but that was far from the case as former Atlanta United man Patrick Okonkwo, centre-back Kevin Herrera, and Giovanni Rios Hernandez gave the home side a 3-0 win. Saturday's games started in the Detroit commuter town of Romeo, where Michigan Stars continued their winning ways against a game Club de Lyon side. Already having won their first two league games, Stars made a great start when Leon Maric gave them the lead in the 33rd minute, but that lasted just one minute before full-back Ivan Arenas levelled for the Florida side, silencing the Barnabo Field crowd. That's how it stayed right through to the 83rd minute when the Lions took a surprise lead, former Charlotte Fc academy prospect Andrew Anyafo finding the net, but the Stars had the last laugh, two goals in stoppage time from Nicolas Nikolla and Nils Lelouch giving them nine points out of nine at the top of NISA's Eastern Conference.

Saturday's other game was another Los Angeles derby from the Long Beach Community College, where Los Angeles Force and Capo FC met for the first time, a 0-0 draw the outcome of that one, Capo's third draw in three games. The final game of the weekend also came from Los Angeles where Irvine Zeta hosted Arizona Monsoon at the Championship Soccer Stadium they share with USL Championship side Orange County SC. Zeta scored as early as the third minute through Mexican winger Marcel Alexis Salceda, but were frustrated by some decent work at the back by the young Arizona side who got through half-time at just 1-0 down. Zeta play some lovely soccer, though, and Shin'ya Kadono grabbed an inevitable second nine minutes into the second-half, with former Cal State standout george Almeida adding a brace in the 62nd and 66th minute for a dominant 4-0 win, taking Zeta top of the Western Conference on goals scored from LA Force.

The first ever battle of independent teams in MLS Next Pro history took place on Saturday night and it was Chattanooga FC who took the win, turning aside Carolina Core 2-0 in front of 3,614 fans at Finley Stadium (meaning almost 6,000 paid to see third-tier soccer in the Scenic City). Jesus Ibarra opened the scoring in the seventh minute with his third of the season, curling in from the left wing, with former New Mexico United man Milo Garvanian scoring his first ever professional goal with fifteen minutes left on the clock to secure the points for the Boys in Blue. To their credit, Core were in the game, albeit playing on the counter-attack, but they remain winless in ninety minutes in their debut season, while Chattanooga top the Eastern Conference having lost just once in regular time in the league this year.