USL League One, NISA & MLS Next Pro round-up, April 6-7

With Chattanooga Red Wolves' home game with Charlotte Independence postponed due to issues with the Red Wolves' pitch, there were just three games in the third-tier USL League One on Saturday, beginning with Richmond Kickers home clash with Central Valley Fuego at City Stadium. A crowd of over 3,500 were given an early fillip when English striker Chandler O'Dwyer scored his second of the season in the eighteenth minute and it finally looked like Kickers might earn their first league win since the beginning of July 2023. Jermaine Jones has begun a rebuilding job at the visitors from Fresno, however, and they weren't going to go without a fight, drawing level just past the half-hour through Robert Coronado after a defensive mishap. Thirteen minutes into the second-half, Fuego went ahead through Zahir Vasquez's headed goal and this seemed to spark the home side into life, equalising three minutes later when Adrian Billhardt finished a smart move, and then taking the lead - and eventually the 3 points - through O'Dwyer's rebound effort eighteen minutes from time.

Greenville Triumph have been having no trouble adding to the win column this season and, after knocking out One Knoxville in the US Open Cup last week, had the chance to leapfrog the Tennessee side to go top if they could beat Northern Colorado Hailstorm on home turf at Paladin Stadium on Saturday. Hailstorm traditionally build their sides from the back but have looked vulnerable there this season and are lacking the goal threat of Trevor Amann - rattling in the goals for Sacramento Republic in the USL Championship - to get them out of trouble. So it proved in Greenville as the home side took the lead through a Lyam McKinnon penalty just before the half, going 3-0 up early in the second-half through Leonardo Castro and a second for McKinnon. Hailstorm did get one back when Lucky Opara scored just past the hour but were unable to make further progress, the 3-1 win putting Triumph top of the pile in USL-1. The final game of the USL-1 weekend came from Statesboro where South Georgia Tormenta welcomed Lexington SC to town. Both sides had just one win from four games before kick-off but Tormenta had shown good form in the Open Cup and so were firm favourites going into the match. As it turned out, the odds checkers were spot on, as Tormenta scored three with no reply from a timid Lexington side, goals from Gabriel Rodriguez, Pedro Fonseca (a penalty), and Sebastian Vivas spread out between the eighth and 81st minute.

The third-tier National Independent Soccer Association finally got their 2024 season underway on Saturday with a pair of games hosted by two of their bigger names. Michigan Stars, fresh off cup heroics which saw them knock out MLS Next Pro's Minnesota United 2 last week, welcomed Savannah Clovers to Romeo High School Stadium on the outskirts of Detroit with the visitors in some disarray and now backed financially by the league itself. The Stars were ahead at the break due to a 32nd minute goal from Praise Maduekwe, his first for the club, but were tied again twelve minutes into the second-half when former Albion San Diego man Corey Lundeen notched. Lundeen then added a second to give Clovers the lead six minutes from time but a frantic finish saw Niels Lellouch and Elias McCloud give Michigan the win.

Over on the West Coast, the season's first Los Angeles derby saw Los Angeles Force - now domiciled at Long Beach Community College - welcome new arrivals Irvine Zeta to NISA. Zeta have been in good form in their Open Cup match so far and were given an early break when Ronaldo Pineda - who moved from Albion San Diego in the winter - was shown a red card in the eighteenth minute, but the first-half ended goalless. That lasted until the 68th minute when Zeta found the net through Greg Stratton, doubling their lead four minutes later when Alex Culwell scored. At this point, Force looked dead and buried but Bryan Ortega pulled one back with ten minutes to go, allowing Mexican striker Jose Montes de Oca to tie the game at 2-2 with his 93rd minute strike.

The two independent clubs in the third-tier MLS reserve league - Chattanooga FC and Carolina Core - were not in action this weekend and so there is little to report from MLS Next Pro, save for Ventura County FC - Los Angeles Galaxy's young charges - making it four wins from four games by beating Whitecaps FC 2 on Sunday.