Wednesday, June 22
Chattanooga Red Wolves 7-1 Charlotte Independence
A perfectly executed corner kick where Miguel Ibarra found Héctor Acosta to open the scoring was basically all Charlotte were able to do last Wednesday. After a quick equalizer from Rey Ortiz, a go-ahead goal from Juan Gailndrez that he followed up by converting a questionable penalty, Charlotte packed it in. They finished the night playing incredibly sloppy. Independence were constantly allowing Chattanooga to eat up large areas of open space, and ended the match with only eight defensive clearances. The win was desperately needed by Chattanooga, who had lost four in a row before.
Northern Colorado Hailstorm 4-1 Central Valley Fuego
Another match where the away side scored first, only for the home team to find a groove and build unstoppable momentum. Northern Colorado peppered Fuego with 23 shots, but Hailstorm mostly capitalized on chances where Fuego either seemed unprepared, or goalkeeper Ofek Antman was caught flat-footed. In a bizarre sequence for Hailstorm, the first goal by Lachlan McLean was assisted by Trevor Amann… who was then assisted by Irvin Parra… who was then assisted by Marky Hernández… who then scored on his own. In just as bizarre of a sequence, Fuego winger Nathan Smith (who started the game) received a yellow card for dissent in the sixth minute of stoppage time, and a second yellow card for a separate foul less than a minute later. These fouls during a meaningless portion of the game kept him out of their weekend match against North Carolina FC
Thursday, June 23
Forward Madison 2-1 Richmond Kickers
Madison were on the front foot for the entire match, but a late first half goal by Richmond’s Nil Vinyals was the difference in the game until after the 80th minute. Akira Fitzgerald’s four saves in the first 70ish minutes would prove to be not enough. Madison scored two goals in quick succession from Jeremiah Streng and Matheus Cassini, and were able to steal a game that they frankly deserved to win all along. Cassini’s game-winner was his third goal in two games, and Madison’s third straight win at home.
Saturday, June 25
Greenville Triumph 2-1 Northern Colorado Hailstorm
The actual match itself may not seem like old hat for Greenville, but the results sure do. Triumph’s win is their fourth straight at home, and Northern Colorado has still only accumulated a single point in the league so far in matches following wins. Northern Colorado will continue a stretch on the calendar where they do not get a full week’s rest between games until July 30.
Chattanooga Red Wolves 1-2 FC Tucson
New FC Tucson signing Fernando Garcia looked like he belonged right away, as the former Des Moines Menace player scored what would end up being the game winner in his FC Tucson debut. While still bottom of the table, many are wondering if this is the beginning of a Tucson midseason run like we saw last season. Meanwhile, Chattanooga seem to still be unable to show enough evidence that they are turning a corner, after having lost their second game at home to the league’s bottom team.
Central Valley Fuego 3-2 North Carolina FC
This was an interesting one, as each of Fuego’s three goals were memorable. The first was scored by Maxi Schenfeld, former Union Omaha midfielder Devin Boyce’s best friend, on an admittedly beautiful volley that sent North Carolina keeper Nic Holiday’s ankles all the way to Bakersfield. The second goal may not have actually been a goal, and with USL League One’s lack of cameras, Christian Chaney’s score just before halftime is forever lost in the ether. But don’t worry, because his third goal can be best described as, “failing to sweep the leg, but getting a header as he was in the process of standing up”. The result helped jumble up the table, as it left both teams on 17 points.
Charlotte Indpendence 6-2 Forward Madison
Another howler caused by miscommunication between Madison keeper Phil Breno and his backline opened the floodgates of a resounding Charlotte victory, where six different Charlotte players took part in the scoring. The result snapped a four-game losing streak for Charlotte, who still somehow lost the week 7-9 on aggregate.
USL League One Table: Week 14
| Team | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
| Greenville Triumph | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 20 |
| Richmond Kickers | 5 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 18 |
| Chattanooga Red Wolves | 5 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 17 |
| North Carolina FC | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 17 |
| Charlotte Independence | 5 | 2 | 6 | -8 | 17 |
| Central Valley Fuego | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 17 |
| Forward Madison | 4 | 5 | 4 | -4 | 17 |
| Union Omaha | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 16 |
| South Georgia Tormenta | 3 | 5 | 4 | -2 | 14 |
| Northern Colorado Hailstorm | 3 | 4 | 4 | -1 | 13 |
| FC Tucson | 3 | 2 | 6 | -7 | 11 |
Two weeks since our last look at the table, and we’re only seeing potential for a slight increase in the gap from the bottom of the table to the rest of the league. Hailstorm have the best chance to climb up the table with the matches they have in hand at home, but they still have a very compact schedule to work through, as do Omaha.
Week 14 Matches
Wednesday, June 29
Greenville Triumph v. North Carolina FC
North Carolina’s season is far from slipping after their loss in Fresno, but back-to-back road matches in Greenville and Richmond before hosting Omaha isn’t an ideal stretch for trying to avoid a slump. They could do themselves, and the rest of the league, a huge favor by at least getting a result.
FC Tucson v. Richmond Kickers
Tucson have only a point in four matches at home so far this season, but so far this year Richmond’s road struggles have been a carbon copy of last season. And under pressure in Tucson last year, Richmond dropped both of their matches to end their 2021 season.
Thursday, June 30
Northern Colorado Hailstorm v. Chattanooga Red Wolves
Hailstorm will try to find some consistency in their hyper-compacted schedule, while Chattanooga has the luxury of knowing they have more than a week off following this game. They’ll hate sitting on a loss during an extended break while teams with matches in hand begin playing catchup behind them on the table.
Friday, July 1
Union Omaha v. Charlotte Independence
Will the historically steady play of Union Omaha be able to trump what has been a rollercoaster of a season from Charlotte Independence, whose games are averaging 3.7 goals? Stay tuned for Rich’s update later in the week.
Saturday, July 2
Richmond Kickers v. North Carolina FC
Both teams will be coming off games the previous Wednesday, with Richmond having traveled back home all the way from Tucson. Tucson isn’t the only demon of 2021 Richmond has to potentially exorcise this week: last season, they managed only two points out of a possible twelve against bottom of table North Carolina.
Central Valley Fuego v. South Georgia Tormenta
Tormenta has already, impressively (or unimpressively), matched a previous five match unbeaten run in league play with the six match winless run they currently find themselves mired in. This current slide all started with a 4-0 home defeat to Fuego, but Fuego themselves have managed only one win since. Fuego has a bit more buffer to work with than Tormenta, who probably feel like this is a must-win game.
Sunday, July 3
FC Tucson v. Greenville Triumph
Greenville is on a nice little run right now, and the schedule is really working in their favor to build some padding in their lead. Arguably, their next difficult game isn’t for almost another month when they go to Richmond. Anybody that thinks Tucson’s recent win in Chattanooga and the recent addition of Fernando Garcia is signs of a mid-season run will be looking carefully at this back-to-back home stretch hosting Richmond and Greenville.
Who Gives A Hoot? 