Harry Austin takes a look back at the results from Match Week Five in the USL Championship - some games went exactly as expected and some gave the table an early season shakeup. Then we preview the lone midweek game, with Charleston Battery visiting Tampa Bay Rowdies on Wednesday.

Louisville City 1 - 0 Detroit City
Louisville City (3-0-2) rebounded from its worst defeat last week with a convincing win against Detroit City FC (1-0-4). While the score ended 1-0 this game was not as close as the final score shows; Nate Steinwasher kept Detroit City in the game by stopping two one-on-one opportunities by Lou City. Still not everything is perfect for Lou City, who despite having 21 shots, with 7 on target, only wrought 1 goal. DCFC had 9 shots, but 0 on target - which leaves the question for Detroit City, can they find a consistent goal scorer?

San Diego Loyal 2 - 1 FC Tulsa
FC Tulsa (1-3-2) scored an own goal to give San Diego Loyal (3-1-1) all three points at the death in (90+4) - its going to be a long flight back to Tulsa for Collin Fernandez who headed a cross into the upper right corner. San Diego kicked off an afternoon game and had a PK opportunity in the 26th minute; however, Charlie Adams missed the attempt off the crossbar. Evan Coway opened the scoring for San Diego in the 63rd minute, only to see Rodrigo da Costa equalize in the 64th minute.

Indy Eleven 0 - 3 Oakland Roots
In one of the most shocking results of the day, Oakland Roots (2-1-1) went into Indianapolis and came away with a very convincing win. To get things started, Lindo Mfeka beat Yannik Ottl, who came out of the box, with a wide open goal to open the scoring in the 43rd minute. Oakland’s second goal also came off an Indy defensive error by Jesus Vazquez, whose pass Lindo Mfeka intercepted in the box - Lindo’s shot was saved, but Dariusz Formella scored off the rebound to take a 2-0 lead. Oakland put the game away in the 78th minute off a chip by Edgardo Rito as Indy Eleven (1-2-1) was pressing forward.

Charleston Battery 3 - 2 vs Hartford Athletic
In a seesaw game that saw teams trade goals and a win at the death for Charleston Battery (2-0-2). Hartford Athletic (0-3-2) opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a goal by Prince Saydee. Charleston equalized in the 35th minute with a great cross by Derek Dodson to Nick Markanich who finished far post! After the half, Augustine Williams scored a 50th minute goal from the top of the box. Conor McGlynn equalized for Hartford in the 60th minute on a ball that popped up in the box - he then slid it past the Battery Goalie to tie the game. In the 76th minute Charleston went down a man due to a second yellow on Dante Polvara. In a possible Goal of the Week, Arture Rodriquez took a free kick about 20-25 yards out, from the far left side, in a driving rainstorm and put it on frame; amazingly, it got past the Hartford GK for the winner!

Tampa Bay Rowdies 2 - 0 Miami FC
Tampa Bay Rowdies (1-2-2) finally found the W column of the standings with a convincing win over THE Miami FC (0-2-3). A result from a game which, at the beginning of the season, no one would have thought both teams would be winless coming in. It was in the 23rd minute when the Rowdies got on the board with a goal by Felix Schroter off a cross by Conner Antley. The game would go back and forth until Cal Jennings scored a header off a corner kick from Lewis Hilton. The Rowdies defense stood tall the rest of the match as THE Miami was just not able to break them down.

Colorado Springs Switchbacks 1 - 0 Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Pittsburgh Riverhounds (1-1-3) have to be seeing red after this match against the Colorado Springs Switchbacks (3-1-1) as they ended with 9 on the pitch. After a snoozer of a first half where neither team had any shots on target, Robbier Mertz straight red card with a high boot to Jairo Henriquez. In the 75th minute, Maalique Foster was pulled down from behind in the box by Patrick Hogan and a PK attempt was awarded. Unfortunately for Colorado Springs, Foster misfired the Panenka attempt and it was easily collected by the Riverhounds Goalkeeper, Mahmali Waite. Romario Williams buried a pass back in the box by Patrick Seagrist to finally get that goal that the Switchbacks needed and they got their 3 points. As if to rub salt into the wounds of Pittsburgh, Artuo Osna got a second yellow at 90+5 and the Riverhounds finished the game with just 9 men.

San Antonio FC 0 - 0 Sacramento Republic FC
San Antonio FC (3-2-0) and Sacramento Republic (3-2-0) played a classic #SAvSAC match - in 10 matches it’s all even at 4 wins for each club and 2 draws and all wins have been by just one goal (the most common result is 1-0). So, while this game did not feature any goals, both SAFC and SacRep had a few opportunities, but in a game that was dominated by both defenses and some inconsistent calls. Both teams probably feel they did enough for the three points, but a draw was a fair result. Both teams came in as contenders for the Western Conference and this game does not change those expectations.

This game was marred by having a fan come on the pitch late in the game with a large yellow card to give to the Referee who had an inconsistent night on calls. As a San Antonio fan and season ticket holder, this was unacceptable by the fan and by the SAFC Security Staff for letting a fan get all the way to the players and then let the same fan engage with the Sacramento Republic Bench and Coaching Staff. I personally don't care if you are a 17 year old kid or a 50 year old that was influenced by adult beverages - fans do not belong on the pitch… period. Also, if you are working security, you have to pay attention, because this cannot happen again!

El Paso Locomotive 1 - 0 Orange County SC
El Paso Locomotive (2-3-1) have rebound well from a slow start having gone undefeated in their last three games with a shut out of Orange County SC (0-2-3) in El Paso. If there is one person you do not leave in the box alone it is Luis Soliignac who finished in the bottom right corner off of an assist from Yuma in the 19th minute of the first half. The crazy stat of the game is El Paso took 20 shots in the game but were only on target for 3. In a game that was choppy as both teams combined for 27 fouls (ELP 13 OC 14), the Locomotive defense stood strong for the shutout!

Monterey Bay Union 4 - 2 New Mexico United
New Mexico (1-2-0) started out hot, scoring the first goal by Chris Wehan in the 12th minute. After that it was all Monterey Bay Union (2-2-1) who scored the next 4 goals. The first two it was Carlos Herrera that started the attack. On the first goal it was an outlet pass to Sam Gleadle who provided a perfect assist to Alex Dixon who was able to convert. The second goal was a kick by Herrera, which was headed by Christian Volesky to Sam Gleadle who finished one on one with the goal keeper. The third goal right after the half, Mobi Fehr got the turnover and gave a perfect thru ball to Christian Volesky who also punish New Mexico GK one one one! Sam Gleadle finished his night with an assist to Christian Volesky who had a wide open net thanks to the heel kick by Sam! Amando Moreno got a goal for New Mexico in the 76th minute but by that time the game was well out of hand for New Mexico United. There will be lots of questions about the defensive effort by NMU. But hats off to Sam Gleadle and Monterey Bay for putting the pressure on New Mexico.

Birmingham Legion 1 - 2 Phoenix Rising FC
Easter Sunday saw Phoenix Rising (1-1-2) get its first win of the year away to Birmingham Legion (3-1-1). The first half was a back-and-forth affair and Rising probably had a little better showing, but by the 45-minute mark, it was still 0-0. In the 58th, Danny Trejo opened the scoring with a wonderful header off a cross from Gabi Torres. However, Birmingham Legion immediately answered a minute later, with a goal by Gabriel Alves and the assist coming from Enzo Martinez. It was Carlos Harvey in the 66th minute who put Phoenix Rising ahead to stay with an assist from Manuel Arteaga. One has to wonder what happened to the Legion defense as it seems they fell asleep and gave Harvey all the room he needed in the box. An odd stat about this game was that there were three goals taken away due to offsides calls (Birmingham Legion won that over Rising by 2 offside calls to 1).

Charleston Battery head off to Tampa to take on a Rowdies side looking to resurge.

Wed - April 12

Tampa Bay Rowdies vs Charleston Battery - 4:30p (PST) / 7:30p (ET)

Charleston Battery (East 3rd place 2-0-2) travel to Al Lang Stadium to face the Tampa Bay Rowdies (East 7th place 1-2-2). With Tampa Bay getting their first win this past weekend, the Rowdies would love to finish this three game homestand with 6 points by getting the win over Charleston. The way the schedule has been planned, Charleston will be looking to sweep the season series, having already shut out Tampa 3-0 in their initial game. In that first match, Charleston got on the board quickly and put the game away with two goals in the first 11 minutes - look for Tampa to hold down the fort a little better at Al Lang. Enjoy this game; they won’t see one another again - maybe unless they both land in the playoffs.

by Harry Austin