The USL Championship season may have ended in November but teams have already started moving to make sure they improve in 2024. This series will look at the moves teams have made and what gaps still need to be addressed as they take this offseason to build a Championship-caliber squad. This is part three of the series.

Charleston Battery

Dreams almost came true for Charleston in the USL Championship Final. Hosting and frankly playing Phoenix off the pitch for large portions of the match, it looked like Charleston would run away with it. They generated close to double the Expected Goals of their opponents (1.93 to 1.07), close to double the shots (21 to 12) and were carrying a 1-0 lead into the late stages before the unthinkable happened. A Phoenix equalizer led to extra time and the unbelievable cruelty of a penalty shootout that was all but over after 3 rounds, only for Phoenix to turn it all the way around.

Ben Pirmann and his Charleston in 2023 were far from perfect but he did get the club playing his way by the end of the year and it nearly took them to a title. They sometimes struggled for goals but they found consistency and some defensive solidity with Derek Dodson and Leland Archer providing significant contributions in the backline. They were a team that logged 12 clean sheets but logged some lopsided losses as well, including the 7-0 loss to San Antonio and a 4-0 loss to Indy Eleven. This is why their return of 59 points and only finishing 4 off of Tampa Bay may feel a bit surprising. But they were defense first and that worked and helped them to 17 wins.

They announced a core of that team returning, with Chris Allan, Tristan Trager and Emilio Ycaza already under contract while Battery exercised options on Fidel Barajas, Nick Markanich, Trey Muse and Arturo Rodriguez among others. While they have re-signed Leland Archer, they have not been able to lock down Derek Dodson who remains a free agent. Deklan Wynne will also not be returning to the team next year after the club and player agreed on mutual termination. This despite Wynne logging 25 League starts and just north of 2300 minutes. Aside from these departures, there is one that stands out.

Will Augustine William return for 2024? *Image courtesy of Charleston Battery*

Notably missing from that list of returning players is their top scorer in 2023 Augustine Williams. Mark Segbers and Archer have been re-signed off this list so it is not outside the realm of possibility, but either locking down Augi or finding his replacement will be a key for Charleston this offseason.

This did not stop Charleston from raiding Memphis for Aaron Molloy, who has been one of the best midfielders in the League for the last couple years. Two goals and nine assists last year with a wonderful delivery from set pieces was enough for Pirmann to go shopping at his old club. Couple all of that with a player who does the battling in midfield, does not give the ball away cheaply and completed 90% of his passes and over 71% of his long passes in 2023 and you’ve got a great combination.

They have also gone and grabbed Graham Smith from Memphis and now Josh Drack from Huntsville City in MLS Next Pro. So as they sit with two keepers, five defenders and six midfielders, it does feel like they will need to make some calls on a forward. The Damus sweepstakes are still not settled so we will hold our breath there but Charleston will need some firepower up top to help turn this team from consistent to a contender for that first seed out East.

San Antonio FC

San Antonio named a new Sporting Director as it was announced Marco Ferruzzi would be taking over the role following a 19 year spell with FC Dallas. Despite this new hire, the club ’s chaotic approach to the offseason has not changed a bit. They had a solid season, finishing fourth in USL’s Western Conference, and they have made very little in the way of actual announcements.

Manager Alen Marcina seems to thrive on this sort of uncertainty. 32 players saw the field for SAFC at some point last season, which probably played a part in the season feeling a bit all over the place despite the team’s pretty impressive finish in the top half of the West’s playoff sides. They did not have any players compete in all 34 matches and Fabien Garcia was the only player to start 30 matches. This unpredictable approach made game planning against San Antonio difficult but I am sure it did not make it easy on the team to try to build some consistency in the group. Injuries played a significant part in this but the struggle for a consistent eleven extended beyond the treatment table.

This year, there have now been announcements but perhaps not in the outward way SAFC fans would have wanted. When the club announced the departure of Justin Dhillon to Texas rivals El Paso Locomotive, they had not made a single announcement regarding player retention. When they later announced the signing of Mohamed Omar from Halifax Wanderers in the Canadian Premier League, the players they had retained from last year were at the bottom of that article.

The names on the list included at least one surprise. Jordan Farr, who had been effectively replaced midseason by Nick Marsman is returning to the side despite his late season benching. Garcia, Carter Manley and Mitch Taintor return to form the rest of a solid backline but Mohammed Abu, Jorge Hernandez and Santi Patino are the only players forward of the defense that return. It was also announced that Connor Maloney would be retiring after four years in San Antonio and at the relatively young age of 28. That means that only 16 of the 63 goals scored by the club last year will return. To be fair, SAFC went to their past to find a solution.

Former USLC Defender of the Year Mitchell Taintor returns to anchor the SAFC defense. *Image courtesy of Mitchell Taintor*

With the departure of Dhillon, it was announced that SAFC had signed Lucho Solignac from El Paso Locomotive. This will be Lucho’s second stint in Central Texas and he will be joined, it was just announced, by Juan Agudelo from Birmingham Legion. With these additions, they have added one of the best pure number 9s in the League and a dynamic attacker who can play across the front line. Solignac comes in as El Paso’s top goalscorer in their history, registering 36 goals across 82 appearances. Agudelo has not been as prolific but he has been more balanced in assisting and scoring and brings in an established pedigree that has relied on a bit of a revolving door up front to get the job done.

Whatever Marcina plans to do in SA, you imagine that he and the fans will all feel a bit better if the deals get done early and the team has the whole offseason to begin that process of building themselves up for another run at a title.

Louisville City

Lou City had by far their most disappointing regular season in recent memory in 2023. They finished fifth in the Eastern Conference, their lowest finish in club history. They had a negative goal difference. The next lowest goal difference they have ever recorded in a non-COVID season? +17! This truly was new territory for a Lou City club that has truly never experienced hardship and continually handles business out East. Even with all of that, manager Danny Cruz and company still made the Eastern Conference Finals.

Nine. Straight.

It is honestly to the point of parody. Even the weakest squad in their history by practically every measure still managed to make it within 90 minutes of a USL Championship Final. There are probably a handful of people who would say that such a run papers over the cracks of a squad that struggled for any sort of rhythm in 2023. They never won more than two matches in a row the entire season and struggled just as much at home as away from Lynn Family Stadium, suffering six home defeats. This is only one less defeat than Lou City fans had watched in the first three seasons in Lynn since it opened in 2020. And despite returning a healthy core from last year, they certainly are not sitting back this offseason.

Louisville announced an initial 13 returning players with Oliver Semmle back in net, Amadou Dia and Sean Totsch reupping in defense, Niall McCabe and Elijah Wynder back for midfield duty and Brian Ownby up top. They quickly announced that Kyle Adams, Wes Charpie and Wilson Harris had also re-signed. Then they raided the reigning Players’ Shield Winners, Pittsburgh Riverhounds. Arturo Ordonez, who was the USL Defender of the Year last year, joined. Then a few days later they announced that Tola Showunmi would be joining the Purps. He played more of a squad role last year but still contributed four goals and three assists. Despite playing across the front line in 2023, Cruz specifically mentioned Showunmi’s ability as a striker as what they liked about the signing. Adding him to a frontline that failed to return star striker Cameron Lancaster suggests that pairing the dynamism of Showunmi with Ownby and Wilson Harris was how Lou will overcome their goalscoring woes from last year. Throw Adrien Perez into the mix from San Diego, who himself hit 10 goals last year from the right wing, and Louisville certainly start to feel like they’ll improve on their 41 goal total for last season.

The addition of Ordonez, the reigning Defender of the Year, will do wonders for the Louisville backline. *Image courtesy of Pittsburgh Riverhounds*

The early business done by Lou City would certainly suggest that the club is not content to let their fifth placed finish last year become the norm. Look for further additions in midfield from Lou and we could be talking about a team that is not just in with a shout of an unbelievable tenth straight Conference Final but are actually favorites to make that a reality.

Colorado Springs Switchbacks

It is not how you start, it is how you finish. So the saying goes and that much was true for Colorado Springs Switchbacks. They won five of their last seven matches to lock up fifth place in the West despite only winning four of their first 13 matches and looking off the pace early on. They rode the goalscoring form of Romario Williams, who took that saying to heart and finished 15 League goals for the team, more than double the next closest goalscorer and the only player to contribute to double digit goals.

This lone focal point will have not been the plan so to speak from manager Stephen Hogan but in finishing with a +7 goal difference, they inadvertently matched the return of Orange County SC who also suffered from “lone goal scorer syndrome.” They were able in the end to capitalize on their home form, where they got results in all but 4 home matches. The thin air at Weidner provided an environmental advantage, with the club scoring a number of goals after the 80th minute when the opposition had tired.

So how do the Switchbacks move from the middle of the Western Conference pack to the top? They are returning twelve players from last year as of the time of writing with Maalique Foster, Devon Williams, Duke LaCroix, James Musa, Jairo Henriquez and others signed back on. Despite Drew Skundrich heading the other way, they were able to snag Koa Santos and Aidan Rocha from Loudoun, who could provide some added quality in the spine of the team. Wahab Ackwei (formerly of Loudoun United) is on his way in from RGV Toros (RIP) to add another option in central defense while Joe Rice (formerly of Loudoun United) will add competition at keeper for Christian Herrera. (The Loudoun pipeline in Colorado Springs is real)

I feel a bit like a broken record but CS is yet another team looking desperately to replace a big time goalscorer. Romario Williams is an unanswered question hanging out there. His last Instagram post on October 27th could only be described as a highlight reel surely meant to grab the attention of clubs or sporting directors shopping for a striker. With the pieces they have added so far, it is no surprise that the player who scored a third of the team’s goals will be the biggest to try and replace. Or who knows, maybe they can finish a deal.

FC Tulsa

FC Tulsa feels like a team of annual expectation. There has been so much hype and latent potential at the club since it rebranded from Tulsa Roughnecks (are we sure we shouldn’t revisit that?) in 2020. Lots of big names, lots of exciting rosters and coaches but it has never come together to be the sort of powerhouse that many expected early on. The club also unceremoniously shipped off a club legend in Rodrigo Da Costa for Phillip Goodrum midseason. In the end, Blair Gavin’s squad was not able to put it together into a playoff season. Their five wins in a row from June 30th over Detroit City to July 21st over RGV constituted the only time they won consecutive matches the entire season. They won just two of their first 17 matches and then lost eight of their last 13.

While the 43 goals they scored was not great, it was not terrible by any stretch, but the 55 goals they allowed meant they were allowing just over a goal and a half per match. They kept 8 clean sheets and only converted four of them to wins. So when they were scoring they were outscored and even when they weren’t allowing goals they were failing to capitalize half the time. Goodrum led the line with Marcus Epps the most influential with 16 goal contributions total. Epps is now off to Hartford Athletic while Goodrum’s future remains uncertain. Eric Bird, who had spent the last four years in Tulsa, had his option declined for this year while Tommy McCabe (Loudoun) and Collin Fernandez are also out. They are not completely burning down the project, with winger Milo Yosef (8 goal contributions), youngster Nate Worth (seriously he’s 16,) center back Ruxi returning and Rashid Tetteh reportedly in talks to return as well.

That being said, it does feel that change is on the cards at Tulsa. Club President Sam Doerr is on his way to the USL offices in Tampa but it was said in the announcement that he had “finalized the 2024 roster build.” This would suggest that Tulsa have already done all of the business they intend to and we are just waiting on the announcements. So far, they have been pretty good.

Justin Portillo joins from New Mexico having been a fixture in midfield and feels like the natural Bird replacement. Five goals and a further five assists while primarily playing in defensive midfield is a more than solid return and he adds a different dimension for them in midfield. They did not stop there with creative players though, as they added Arthur Rogers from Northern Colorado Hailstorm of USL League One. His eleven assists from right back made him a very hot commodity this offseason and Tulsa have done extremely well to snatch him up. It is important to remember though that Rogers was providing service for Trevor Amann, USL1’s Golden Boot winner last year. If Goodrum is on the end of Rogers’ passes this year, they should be in fine shape.

That being said, there is a lot of work that will need to be done to the spine of this team to make sure they are not leaking goals like they did in 2023. A top class keeper and some more depth in defense and midfield should be the priority in 2024. Oh and maybe give that Goodrum fella a ring.

Oakland Roots

Roots had probably the most brutal ending to a season you can have, missing out on the playoffs through a home loss on the final day of the regular season. Absolute heartbreak for the Boys from the Bay but in the end their problems were that Noah Delgado simply could not get them firing with the consistency that they sometimes seemed to be just on the cusp of. A relatively strong start to the year where they looked good value for a playoff spot, and were playing some unbelievably entertaining soccer while doing so, was undone by an absolutely diabolical run of no wins in their final nine matches, losing seven of those.

Johnny Rodriguez felt like a great encapsulation of Roots’ form overall. He felt like he was just about to break out at any point in the season. He was coming off the bench early on and adding goals, then got chances from the start and cooled a bit. Then he went through a spell where it seemed like everything he touched went in. Then his season ended with him logging just three goals in the final 10 matches of the season, none of which were capable of claiming three points for Oakland. The entire squad seemed to suffer from this same issue of feeling just on the crest of putting it together but they were never able to get to the summit of that particular hill.

Can Rodriguez rediscover his early form? *Image courtesy of Oakland Roots*

Their offseason business so far has been steady, returning 15 of the players that turned out for them last season. Paul Blanchette, Memo Diaz, Lindo Mfeka, Napo Matsoso and Rodriguez make up the most significant members of the returning core. They have gone and found some quality elsewhere, with Miche-Naider Chery, who scored twice in the CONCACAF Champions League against Austin FC, joining from Violette Athletic Club. Camden Riley from San Diego Loyal joins as well, adding a central defensive option.

Will Roots look to do a lot of business this offseason? I suspect with 18 players already signed the odds they have too many tricks up their sleeve are slim but that leaves about four spots for them to add quality. Delgado often got more out of this team last year so a couple key pieces, especially to support Rodriguez up top and through midfield, could be the difference between a secure playoff spot and final day heartbreak again next year.

- Phil Baki