USL Championship round-up, May 17 & 18

The USL Championship weekend began on Friday night with a pair of games featuring two sides who started the season poorly. Unfortunately for El Paso Locomotive, that start has continued into its third month, but the visit of Memphis 901 to Southwest University Park was a chance to keep a turnaround going that started with a 2-0 win at Loudoun United last week. An impressive crowd of 6,000 were on hand to see the home side take the lead in the 24th minute when 901's Akeem Ward put through his own net, but that was as good as it got for Brian Clarhaut's side, the visitors drawing level  five minutes later through Marlon, and then grabbing a winner in stoppage time when Bruno Lapa scored from close range. The defeat was enough to seal Clarhaut's fate and former Colombian international Wilmer Cabrera - who managed Locomotive's Texas rivals Rio Grande Valley Toros until they closed in the winter - was announced as taking over from this week. Friday's other match saw Colorado Springs Switchbacks, who started the season with five straight defeats but have been unbeaten ever since, welcome expansion side Rhode Island FC to Weidner Field, where over 8,000 were on hand to see another win for the comeback kids. The visitors quietened the crowd in the thirteenth minute when Frank Nodarse scored to give them the lead but the Seals' hopes of earning a second league win were dealt a blow when Ronaldo Damus equalised fourteen minutes later. Still, Rhode Island had their share of the game and were unlucky to fall behind just pas the hour when Karifa Yao scored an own goal. Try as they might, the new boys couldn't find a leveller of their own and the result was sealed when Damus scored again from the penalty spot with three minutes to go to make it 3-1 to the home side.

With leaders Charleston Battery and thitrd-place Detroit City both not in action at the weekend, second-place Louisville City had a chance to reduce the gap between them and the Battery and open up a gap below them in the Eastern Conference when they visited Las Vegas Lights on Saturday night. The rebuilding job at Cashman Field is still very much a work in progress but there have been positive signs, not least of which is the impressive new stand in the old baseball outfield. City have been in formidable form of late and again took the lead in the seventh minute when Taylor Davila fired home, but Lights came back at them and earned an equaliser through Valentin Noel, his fifth of the season. Las Vegas then took the lead when former Louisville man Charlie Adams scored from a free-kick, but Danny Cruz's men are a cagey lot and allowed the home side to control possession while trying to unlock their defence. That tactic paid off twenty minutes from time when substitute Ray Serrano levelled on the rebound, and it will have been Lights coach Dennis Sanchez who was probably the happier of the two coaches. Fourth-place Indy Eleven consolidated their position with another good win at Michael A Carroll Stadium on Saturday, turning away the challenge of Hartford Athletic with some style in front of another 1,000-plus crowd. Midfielder Jack Blake got things rolling as early as the third minute when he notched from the penalty spot, but it took until the third minute of first-half stoppage time for them to add a second, Ben Ofeimu hammering home a rebound. Things got no better for Athletic in the second-half, with Douglas Martinez making it 3-0 nine minutes after the restart, and Augustine Williams completed the job for Indy, although Michee Ngalina did pull one back for the visitors when ten minutes to go.

Loudoun United earned their first win in over a month when they beat Monterey Bay FC 3-0 at Segra Field on Saturday, a night when everything seemed to click for Ryan Martin's youngsters. Union were missing their main threat in Tristan Trager and went behind after just nine minutes, Riley Bidois grabbing his first of the season. The visitors job was then made more difficult by the loss of Anthony Orendain-Holguin, the striker picking up his second yellow card seven minutes before half-time to send his teammates in a goal and a man down at the break. United brought Kalil ElMedkhar on as a second-half substitute and it took him just eleven minutes to find the net, doubling the home side's lead, and the job was finished off by an own goal eleven minutes from time from centre-back Carlos Guzman. Pittsburgh Riverhounds entertained North Carolina FC for the first time since 2019 on Saturday in a game of few chances that eventually ended 1-1. Edward Kizza opened the scoring for the hosts a minute before the break and the sellout crowd of 5,113 were hopeful of adding another win to their six-match unbeaten run since three straight losses at the start of the season. That wasn't to be as Evan Conway headed the visitors level just before the hour, but Riverhounds now haven't lost in seven league matches and still seem like they have something extra in reserve.

Last week's 1-0 home defeat by Birmingham Legion was unusual for Tampa Bay Rowdies in a couple of ways. Firstly, that they lost at home at all, and secondly that the game featured just a single goal when the usual pattern at Al Lang Stadium is for a multiple goal affair. Both things were put right on Saturday night against an inspid FC Tulsa side that clearly had their minds on their US Open Cup tie with MLS's Sporting Kansas City this week, and Rowdies managed to run up five with no reply in front of a 5,000-plus crowd in St Petersburg. Manny Arteaga got the party started in the twelfth minute, with Cal Jennings adding a second ten minutes later. Centre-back Forest Lasso, back in the side after suspension, headed home from a corner to make it 3-0, and Artega notched his brace from the penalty spot after Jennings had been brought down in first-half stoppage time. The second-half brought some respite for the beleagured Oklahomans but Lasso still managed to add a fifth, the 5-0 win doubling Rowdies' goal difference on the season so far. Rowdies' Florida rivals The Miami FC are having a bad season, all told, and when that comes on the heels of a bad season last year and a subsequent rebuilding attempt under new head coach Antonio Nocerino, it's clear that things are not going well in the Magic City. They travelled to Phoenix Rising on Saturday hoping to catch the defending champions on at off-night, but were thoroughly overwhelmed, surrending over 70% of possession to the hosts, who also had eight shots on target. Just two of them were converted in the end - Federico Varela and Edgardo Rito scoring in the 36th and 43rd minutes, respectively - but Miami were well-beaten and will have to take stock again this week. Rising, however, are quietly moving up the table in the Western Conference after a slow start and the clubs above them will be looking over their shoulders.

Just one of the top three in the West was in action at the weekend as Orange County SC visited Oakland Roots for a California derby match. Roots are still under interim head coach Gavin Glinto after Noah Delgado was let go two weeks ago, and were looking for their first win in six games, but things got off to a bad start when Thomas Amang was given enough freedom in the box to open the scoring for OC in the twenty-first minute. Roots got back into the game ten minutes later when Jamaican striker Trayvone Reid stepped up to convert a spot-kick given for a bad foul by Marcus Nakkim, and it looked like the sides might have to settle for a point each in Hayward. That was without reckoning for the hail mary pass from Jeciel Cedeno that found Gigi Margvelashvili in the County box and the Georgian defender fired home to give Oakland the win.