Another week of hot USL Championship action and our In The Know guy In The League, Harry Austin, gives us his match reviews, reactions and players of the week for Week 10

Must watch Cross Conference Match

Charleston Battery 0 - 7 San Antonio FC
Charleston Battery (5-3-2 18 points) ran into a buzzsaw against San Antonio (5-4-1 19 points). Not sure what to say other than it was not the Battery’s night. San Antonio had goals from Samual Adeniran (8th minute), Fabien Garcia (20th minute), Ignacio Bailone (80th and 89th minutes). But the star of the night was Tani Oluwaseyi who had 3 goals (26th, 32nd and 53rd minute) to go with 2 assists! Add in a clean sheet by Jordan Farr. The biggest news outside of the score, is that San Antonio FC is finally healthy and the depth is one of the tops in the league.

Must watch Eastern Conference Match

Louisville City FC 3 - 1 Miami FC
In the first match of the season on ESPN2, Louisville City FC (5-2-2 17 points) got off to a fast start with a goal in the 7th minute by Dylan Mares. However, a foul by Amadou Dia in the box gave THE Miami FC (2-5-3 11 points) Kyle Murphy the penalty kick which he converted to equalize the game at 1. In the second half, Brian Ownby scored a possible goal of the week contender in the 62 minute with the assist by Wilson Harris to put Lou City up 2-1. Then Sean Totsch penalty shot converted in the 70th minute to give Lou City a comfortable 3-1 win.

Must watch Western conference match

New Mexico United 2 - 1 Monterey Bay Union
New Mexico United (3-2-3 11 points) got a little bit of redemption against Monterey Bay FC (3-4-3 13 points) with a 2-1 win to even up the H2H for the year. Alexander Waggoner scored his first professional goal (22nd minute), cleaning up a rebounded shot by Amando Moreno. Sergio Rivas scored off (59th minute) an assist by Moreno to put NMU up by down. In the 80th minute, Monterey Bay Adrian Rebollar ruined the clean sheet by scoring a goal to end the scoring. Only negative for New Mexico was the Sam Hamilton getting 2 yellows/red card in a span of 6 minutes in the second half.

Eastern Conference Action

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC 2 - 1 Birmingham Legion
Golden Boot leader Albert Dikwa (9 goals Kenardo Forbes Assist) got Pittsburgh Riverhounds (3-5-2 14 points) off to a hot start in the 11th minute. Pittsburgh almost added a second goal in the 13th minute but Matt Van Oekel got a save to keep Birmingham Legion (5-1-5 16 points) in the game. Legion equalized in the 35th minute off a goal of the week candidate by Matthew Corcoran from about 20 yards out who got the ball over the wall and into the near post that froze Jahmali White. The winning goal in the 70th minute off the head of Dikwa came off a great cross by Langston Blackstock.

Tampa Bay Rowdies 5 - 1 Detroit City FC
Oh, Detroit City FC (1-2-7 5 points) they finally get a goal, but the defense gets hammered by Tampa Bay Rowdies (4-2-4 14 points). And it started early, third minute Jerome (JJ) Williams headed home a cross by Ryan Spaulding. JJ got his second goal in the 13th minute with a tap in goal from a pass by Aaron Guillen. Detroit City equalized off a goal of the week candidate by Abdoulaye Diop free kick from about 23 yards out that just slipped under the crossbar. Unfortunately for DCFC, Charlie Dennis off an assist by Dayonn Harris got the 3rd goal. JJ Williams got his hat trick off a shot by Ryan Spaulding whos shot bounced off Steinwascher and deflected into the goal off the body of JJ. Dayonn Harris finished the scoring in the 53rd minute with an assist by JJ Williams.

Western Conference Action

San Diego Loyal SC 2 - 3 io Grande Valley FC
No one had this result even the fans of Rio Grande Valley FC (2-5-2 11 points). RGVFC got off to a hot start like they did last week with goals by Robert Coronado (assist from Ricky Ruiz) and Christiano Francois 5 minutes apart in the first half (26th and 31st minute) San Diego Loyal (5-2-3 17 minutes) goal came off a goal of the week candidate from Adrien Perez (assist Ronaldo Damus)(35th minute). Adrien goal, was from the left side near the out of bounds and finished in the upper corner. However, unlike last week RGV got the third goal by RIcky RUiz in the 39th minute to put RGV up for good at 3-1. Loyal did pull one back in at 90+3 on a pk by Joe Corona after a penalty was awarded on a foul by Erik Pimentel.

Oakland Roots 3 - 0 Orange County SC
So much for the new coach bump for Orange County SC (1-3-6 6 points) lost for the 4th straight games. This time against Oakland Roots (4-2-3 14 points) who coasted to the win. The first goal scored by Dariusz Formella in the 30th minute summed up the game for OCSC. Dillion Powers' miss hit his clearance and it fell to Formella who buried it. Oakland got the second goal off a great play off a corner by Lindo Mfeka cross to Tarek Morad who headed it home. Edgardo Rito put the game away with an assist by Johnny Rodriguez.

Cross Conference Action

Memphis 901FC 2 - 1 Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
Ok I have to admit once again, that it looks like I undervalued Memphis 901 FC (3-3-2 12 Points) who despite being a man down for 59 minutes was able to get the three points against Colorado Springs Switchbacks (5-1-4 16 points) at home. Memphis opened the scoring in the 9th minute with a great drive into the box by Nighte Pickering, who passed it back to the middle of the box to a wide open Luiz Fernando who buried it. The Switchbacks answered in the 22nd minute with a goal by Romario WIllians (Steven Echeverria assist) with a goal that looked to be offside, but the flag stayed down. In the 31st minute Bruno Lapa was given a straight red for a kick to the midsection of the Switchbacks Captain Speedy Williams while on the ground. However, Luiz Fernando got his brace and the W, with a chip in the 88th minute that was world class.

El Paso Locomotive vs Loudoun United FC
Can anyone slow down El Paso Locomotive (6-1-3 19 points) winners of 5 straight and undefeated in 7 games after 3 losses to start the season? Loudoun United (3-1-5 10 points) put up a good game on the road, but showed once again as a young team playing on the road is different from playing at home, where Loudoun has had success this season. This was a game where El Paso did not play well 18 shots, but only 1 on target, but the goal by Christopher Garcia (Josue Gomez) in the 89th minute gave the Loco all three points.

Sacramento Republic FC 3 - 1 Indy Eleven
Sacramento Republic (6-3-0 21 points) the last USL Championship team without a loss on the season and this match was the Russell Cicerone (7 goals) show as he finished with all three goals for Sac Republic. For Indy Eleven (2-3-4 9 points) it was the same ol’ problems of not being able get anything off. 4 shots 1 on target compared to Sac Rep 19 shots and 11 on target. At what point will Indy put it together? Or was the roster built too old?

Las Vegas Lights FC 1 - 1 FC Tulsa
FC Tulsa ( 1-6-3 9 points) when are you going to turn it on? On the road in Vegas, it took a Eric Bird (61st minute to open the scoring with the assist from Marcus Epps. Las Vegas Lights (0-6-3 6 points) equalized on a penalty kick by Pato Botello Faz in the 68th minute off a foul by Milo Yosef. For Tulsa this is starting to be a disappointing year. Yes, its early, but I doubt any FC Tulsa fans had them with just 1 win. For Vegas, they are in the games, but just don't have the talent to win them at this point.

Phoenix Rising FC 3 - 1 Hartford Athletic
Hartford Athletic (1-2-6 5 points) just laid an egg. The goal was a penalty kick for Kyle Edwards 44th minute to tie the game. After Daniel Trejo scored in the 5th minute to open the scoring. But Hartford could not carry any momentum into the second half. Phoenix Rising (3-4-2 13 points) rebounded from a loss and took care of business. Carlos Harvey took a turnover the distance and scored a great goal, and Manuel Arteaga put the game away in the 81st minute, but this game was never in doubt.

Harry’s Corner Awards

Team of the Week: Rio Grande Valley FC.
RGV got the upset of the week, with a road win in San Diego. Especially coming off a let down against New Mexico United the previous week
Goal of the Week: Luiz Fernando, Memphis 901: Chip in the 88th minute.
Keeper of the Week: Benny Diaz, El Paso Locomotive: Five saves and a cleansheet.
Player of the Week: Tani Oluwaseyi, San Antonio FC.
Tani had 3 goals and 2 assists in the win over Charleston Battery on the road. WIth 4 goals in two games, Tani is making his loan to San Antonio from Minnesota United very productive, although improving on this week's production, might be a little hard.
Concerned Team of the Week: Birmingham Legion FC… again.
When it's good for Birmingham it's great, however this season is like yen and yang for Legion's fans. In the 5 wins they look great and can beat anyone, but 5 losses shows that this team might not be the championship contender that some think. It will be interesting to see what Legion does to bring more consistency to the team. I do think this team does need to bring in a little more depth, and could use some MLS loans to raise the talent.

by Harry Austin