USL Power Rankings: LouCity erupt, Las Vegas’ crazy comeback & more from Week 30
With five weeks to play entering the weekend, just three clubs - Louisville, Charleston, and New Mexico - had clinched spots in the postseason. On the bottom end, only Miami was eliminated. There’s everything to play for as the season enters its last month.
How did the final round of September pan out, and which clubs raised their stock with the postseason fast approaching? Let’s dig in.
1. Louisville (+1)
Result: 4-2 win v. Memphis
Louisville and Memphis last met as conference rivals, dueling it out in the first round of the 2023 playoffs. At that point, LouCity was the fifth seed in the East after a good-not-great regular season and relied on a Cameron Lancaster goal to keep pace with 901 and eventually win on penalty kicks. What a difference a year makes, with Louisville back atop their USL perch and Memphis having decamped for the Western Conference.
Unusually, Memphis played like the aggressor in the opening minutes. That's not to say LouCity was tepid, but 901 took risks to break the stranglehold that Louisville so often creates. Any touch for Elijah Wynder or Taylor Davila down the middle came under instant, ferocious pressure.
Even as that aggression and a tendency to sell out on the counter gave Memphis an edge, Danny Cruz never wavered. Down 2-0, Louisville found acres of space between overcommitted lines and generated chances of their own. It was only a matter of time before the dam broke, and it did thanks to Aiden McFadden’s free-wheeling runs between the lines (he took four shots as a wing back), Kyle Adams’ brilliance against the counter (seven ball recoveries), and Davila’s sensational ability to find touches in tight spaces (he got a brace and competed 88% of his passes).
By the time it was a 4-2 lead, Louisville had yet again proven themselves to be an entirely different beast than in 2023. This team is efficient, deep, and able to bounce back from adversity. They’re the East’s prohibitive favorites because of a trust in those gifts and Danny Cruz’s system.
2. Charleston (+1)
Result: Bye
Charleston needed the break having played the most matches in the USL to date. Fresh off Aaron Molloy's return from injury and Nick Markanich's record-setting break a week back, the Battery look ready to make a charge in the final weeks of the season. Louisville is still hard to reach atop the East, but Charleston has the depth and quick-twitch scoring to give them a push come November.
3. Sacramento (+5)
Result: 4-0 win v. New Mexico
11 days ago, Sacramento came out flying in Albuquerque but couldn’t capitalize on their dominant press to take an early lead. They ended up conceding thrice in the second half to lose that game. Indeed, the Republic have dominated for long stretches against Louisville, Charleston, and New Mexico this year without sealing the deal. A rematch against New Mexico this Sunday was an opportunity to break through - and they did just that.
Mark Briggs set his team up in a 5-1-3-1 press as a baseline, focusing more on midfield denial than outright man-to-man aggression against New Mexico’s central defenders. Backpasses or meandering dribbles toward the sideline saw the Republic push up, adopting more of a 3-1-4-2 with both wing backs flying high and Russell Cicerone becoming an added forward. Sacramento got the balance right with consistency.
In attack, Jack Gurr was resplendent on the right. The guests’ 4-2-3-1 proritized pressure from the wingers to try and match the Republic back three, but Sacramento was more than happy to spray long ball after long ball toward Gurr. The Englishman was perpetually in one-on-one situations, and he paid off such an opportunity with a left-footed hockey assist to go up 2-0.
Between the perfect pressing scheme, Gurr’s dynamism, and…well…pretty much everything else, it couldn’t have been a better night. Sacramento has been looking to make a statement, and they shouted one from the rooftops against their Western Conference rivals.
4. Las Vegas (No change)
Result: 2-1 win at Phoenix
Even in their lean years, the Lights have been competitive with Phoenix. Las Vegas won three of four matches against Rising in their last-place 2022 and 2023 seasons, and they've only lost once against their desert neighbors since 2021. The Lights traveled to Arizona this weekend seeking to keep the good times rolling and to stay in the hunt for a home playoff game.
This match-up ought to have been a battle of two obsessively possessive clubs, but it was clear from the jump that the Lights were to be the aggressors. They controlled the lion’s share of the ball, and they were able to weaponize JC Ngando in the center-right portion of the field. Ngando’s late free kick goal will stand out, but his steady passing (three chances created on 68 touches) was every bit as key for Dennis Sanchez and co.
Late subs allowed the Lights to amp up the intensity of their press and get over the line. The always-manic Coleman Gannon spelled returning Phoenix legend Solomon Asante, and Vaughn Covil brought a winger’s industry to one of the two striker spots. Las Vegas kept up their pressure, scored twice after the 95th minute, and walked away with a win that was probably deserved but came about in a hugely fortunate fashion - albeit one that owed a lot to Sanchez’s changes.
