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 9.

Must watch Cross Conference Match

Monterey Bay Union 2 - 2 Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Monterey Bay FC (3-4-2 13 points ) and Pittsburgh Riverhounds (2-5-2 11 points) played a thrilling game which highlighted both teams' leading goal scorers. Albert Dikwa (7 goals) got the Riverhounds on the board first in the 16th minute with a great assist by Kernardo Forbes who forced a turnover that led to the first goal. Alex Dixon got Monterey Bay FC even when Christian Volesky's awesome one touched a cross from Morey Doner that Dixon finished. In the 55th minute Max Glasser was called for a foul on Luke Biasion the endline, but Albert Dikwa missed the penalty kick when Jahmali White saved the attempt pretty easily when the shot was low and to the right. However, Albert Dikwa responded in the 73rd minute, with a goal off a rebounded header. But Christian Volesky (4th goal) equalized late to split the points between Monterey Bay and Pittsburgh.

Must watch Eastern Conference Match

Hartford Athletic 0 - 2 Memphis 901 FC
Outside of El Paso, is there a hotter team than Memphis 901 FC (2-3-2 9 points) who are undefeated in its last 5 games. For Hartford Athletic (1-2-5 5 points) they seem like a team that should be having better results. In the 31st minute, Memphis went from its goal box to a goal by Laurent Kissiedoe with the assist from Luiz Fernado in three passes in an easy goal. Hartford had several shots on Bill Hamid, but the 901FC Defense was up to the test. And then Rashawn Dally (Bruno Lapa assisted) scored in the 83rd minute after coming on in the 80th minute to give Memphis all three points on the road!

Must watch Western conference match

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC 2 - 3 El Paso Locomotive
Who remembers that El Paso Locomotive (5-1-3 16 points) started off the season with three straight losses? Since then El Paso has been on a roll, undefeated in the last 6 games. This game the Locomotive got off to a quick start with goals in the 10th and 13th minutes. Peter Petrovic was involved in both goals. Peter got the assist with a cross along the backline to Luis Solignac who just tapped it into the goal to get the first goal. Peter got his goal, which started with a great pass from Solignac to Ricardo Zacarias at the top of the box to Peter out on the left who slotted it home in the far corner. COS Switchbacks (5-1-3 16 points) got on the scoreboard with a goal in the 61st minute from Jimmy Ockford off a beautiful assist from the corner from Jairo Mauricio Henriquez. Despite the Switchbacks attacking, Emmanuel Sonupe (Eder Borelli assist) scored a chip goal in the 74th minute to put El Paso up 3-1. Yumu fouled Drew Skundrich in the box to give the Switchbacks a penalty kick which Romario WIlliams converted to end this great game 3-2.

Eastern Conference Action

The Miami FC 3 - 1 Birmingham Legion FC
Week 9 kicked off on May 3rd, when The Miami FC (2-5-2 11 points) didn't take long to put this game away against Birmingham Legions FC (5-4-1 16 points). Christian Sorto took advantage of the sun in Trevor Spangenberg’s eyes , and scored 2 minutes off a free kick. After a Save of the week candidate by Jake McGuire, Alex Crognale scored an own goal off a corner kick by Addan Stanley in the 16th minute. Enzo Martinez followed his own shot with a goal in the 36th minute, but that would be all that Legion could get. Dennis Dowouna scored the final goal of the night, when the Legion defense did not close him out and he took advantage.

Loudoun United FC 1 - 2 Indy Eleven
This game is marred by the fact that Loudoun United FC (3-1-4 10 points) were robbed of a goal by Zach Ryan in the 31st minute. The ball was clearly behind the goal, and the players all stopped and reacted to it going in, but the referee’s did not! And that would have put Loudoun up 2-0. In the 6th minute Kalil El Medkhar scored off an assist by Koa Santos. Kalil cut in front of the Indy defender to take a cross and hammer it home with the ball never touching the ground. Indy Eleven (2-3-3 9 points) turned things around in the second half, when Sebastian Guenzatti scored the equalizer off an assist by Younes Boudadi. The winner for Indy came in the 90th minute, when Douglas Martinez headed a ball forward and Juan Tejada got to it first and scored past Hugo Fauroux for the winner.

Detroit City FC 1 - 1 FC Tulsa
Detroit City FC (1-2-6 5 points) scored a goal which was the highlight of this game against FC Tulsa (1-5-3 8 points). Prior to this game, in league play, Detroit City had scored in just one game. In the 10th minute Abdoulaye Diop scored from about 25 yards out in a goal of the week candidate. Dario Suarez equalized off a penalty kick due to a hand ball on Michael Bryant in the 45 minute. Would love to say the second half was exciting soccer, but the best highlight is a bad tackle by Rhys Williams who probably should have seen a straight red for sliding into the Tulsa GK Michael Nelson. But only was only yellow carded, but it was his second and he was sent off.

Western Conference Action

Rio Grande Valley FC 2 - 2 New Mexico United
Ohhh Rio Grande Valley FC (1-5-2 8 points) this one will hurt and could possibly come back and cost them in the playoff picture. RGVFC controlled this game for 90 minutes, but when it came to stoppage time in the second half versus New Mexico United (2-2-3 8 Points), they gave it away. In the 7th minute Christiano Francois with a give and go goal with Juan Cabezas the assist. In the 73rd minute WIlmer Cabrera scored off an assist from Taylor Davila on a 3-3 counter attack. Then when the clock struck 90, RGVFC just shut down. In the 91st minute Harry Swartz scored off a shot by Alexander Waggoner which was saved by Tyler Deric, only for it to fall to Harry. In the 92nd minute, Andres Robles Garcia sent a cross in the box, where Kalen Ryden headed it back to an unmarked Sergio Rivas in the center of the box who headed it in the goal. And RGVFC's three points were gone in 90 seconds!

Orange County SC 1 - 2 San Diego Loyal
San Diego Loyal (5-2-2 17 points) scored early in the 15th minute a Tumi Moshobane and then in the 15th minute by Joe Corona. However, this game was marred by an alleged homophobic slur by an unidentified Orange County SC (1-3-5 6 points) player. At the time of writing this, the player has not been identified, but Orange County SC, came out with an immediate release that the alleged player has been suspended while the investigation is ongoing. This game was a chippy game with 12 yellow cards given and a second yellow/red card to Nick Moon. It will be interesting to see what happens with the changes at USL HQ to see how they handle the discipline for a homophobic slur.

Las Vegas Lights 1 - 2 San Antonio FC
Las Vegas Lights (0-5-3 5 points) Hosts San Antonio FC (4-4-1 16 points) In the final game of the week and the second game of the week for Las Vegas Lights (0-5-3 5 points) in three days Las Vegas and San Antonio faced off for the second straight weekend. Unlike the game in San Antonio, Sam Adeniran was able to put SAFC on the scoreboard in the 5th minute. However, like the game in San Antonio Preston Tabortetaka scored off an assist by Andres Jimenez. The difference between the last two weeks is that San Antonio FC was able to find a winner with a goal of the week candidate by Tani Oluwaseyi in the 81st minute.

Cross Conference Action

Las Vegas Lights 0 - 1 Charleston Battery
Las Vegas Lights (0-5-3 5 points) playing two matches in 3 days, hosted Charleston Battery (5-3-1 18 points) on friday night with a wrestling match as well. Vegas is Vegas! Unfortunately for Vegas, the results were not there, despite being the better team for most of the match. The difference in the game was a poor foul by Lucas Stauffer on Augustine Williams (5 goals) in the box which Williams converted. However, the star of this match was Trey Muse who had 6 saves, that kept the Lights winless on the season!

Birmingham Legion FC 1 - 4 Oakland Roots SC
Oakland Roots (3-2-3 11 points) got the surprise win of the week against Birmingham Legion FC (5-1-4 16 points). However, like the Loudoun United game this game was changed on a call by the referee. Phanuel Kavita, already on a yellow card, was called for a handball in the box, but the shot was into the body and his arm was not out. Dariuz Formella converted the penalty kick at 45+3 to give the Roots a 1-0 lead. Legion did respond in the 48th minute off a free kick assist from Tyler Pasher that Enzo Martinez (5 goals) headed into the back of the net. But that would be the last positive of the night for Birmingham, as the Roots took over the rest of the game. The Roots were given a soft penalty when Gabriel Alves slightly tugged Bryan Tamacas shoulder and he sold it. But Dariusz Formella's second penalty was saved by Matt Van Oekel, but the rebound fell to Lindo Mfeka who finished it. Trayvon Reid (71st minute and Johnny Rodriguez (88th minute) finished off the scoring against a 10 man Birmingham.

Tampa Bay Rowdies 2 - 0 Phoenix Rising FC
Are the Tampa Bay Rowdies (3-2-4 11 points) turning it around having won back to back games. The Rowdies dominated Phoenix Risings FC (2-4-2 10 points) from the start. Ryan Spaulding crossed it into an unmarked Jerome Williams in the 10th minute to open the scoring. Charlie Dennis scored the final goal of the night at 45+1 off a great free kick at the top of the box. The Rowdies should have put 4-5 on Rising, but poor finishing and a few saves from Rocco Rios Novo kept it at 2-0. I hate to say this, but the lowlight of the night was Jackson Conway who subbed on in the 76th minute only to throw an elbow at a Rowdies player and was given a straight Red in the 78th minute. For Conway, this should be at least a 3 game suspension as it was a dangerous elbow for no real reason.

Harry’s Corner Awards

Team of the Week: El Paso Locomotive is there a hotter team than El Paso and a hotter combo of Luis Solignac and Petar Petrovic? Going to Colorado Springs and walking away with all three points, and making it look easy. Its not just SOlignac and Petrovic, the defense has been great, and El Paso always seems to control the midfield.
Goal of the Week: Tani Oluwaseyi San Antonio FC. Game Winner and the body control with the spin to put it on frame where the goalie had no shot.
Keeper of the Week: Trey Muse Charleston Battery 6 saves put the Battery into the driver's seat in the Eastern Conference once again.
Player of the Week:
Concerned Team of the Week: Birmingham Legion FC what a rough week 2 losses by a combined score of 7-2. While in second place in the East, 5 wins is great, but 4 losses have to be concerning. Legion has the talent to go far, but can this team get over the bar to where they can be a dominant team. 18 goals allowed has to be a major concern if this team is going to go far in the playoffs

by Harry Austin