After Round One of the USL Championship Playoffs, we saw a handful of memorable performances, some disappointing results and a pair of upsets:

The Tampa Bay Rowdies dominated Miami FC and got the home win 3-1 with a brace from Sebastian Guenzatti and a cherry on top from Nicky Law. Joaquin Rivas scored a 55’ goal for Miami but it was never going to be enough.
Detroit City FC made a year-one playoff debut and Yazeed Matthews gave them a goal for their efforts - but Memphis 901, the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference, were too strong at home and move on with goals from Chris Allan, Graham Smith, and Phillip Goodrum.
RGV Toros FC dominated possession, out-passed, and out-fouled home side Colorado Springs Switchbacks but couldn’t find the back of the net. The Switchbacks did, however, three times in the last 6 minutes of the game - one from Jairo Henriquez and a 90+ brace from Aaron Wheeler.
Maalique Foster and Keko scored a pair of second-half goals and Danny Vitielo put up a shutout to help Sacramento Republic make the most of their home field advantage over New Mexico United.
Pittsburgh Riverhound’s Edward Kizza, who subbed-in in the 89’, scored an equalizer in the 90’ to take the Birmingham Legion to extra time. Bruno Lapa struck first for the home side, but Kizza got his unlikely brace in the 116’ to take the game to penalties. It was Kizza again, who slotted home the last peno of the set to give the away side the win.
Charlie Dennis, Lindo Mfeka, and Matias Fissore all scored for the Roots in their no-nonsense 3-0 beatdown of #2 Seed San Diego Loyal. While the Loyal dominated possession and passing they also earned themselves 3 red cards from three double-yellow meltdowns by Amang, Stoneman, and Guido.

All USL Championship playoff matches this coming weekend can be viewed on ESPN+ and here are links to get tickets, if you’re lucky enough to be close enough to get there!

Oakland Roots’ Lindokuhle Mfeka is another former MLS Draft Pick, who has since spent time with Reno 1868 and signed permanently with Oakland. While he’s only contributed with 2 goals, 1 assist, 10 shots, and 10 chances created from 21 appearances this year, Lindo helped the Roots upturn the playoff applecart on Sunday by scoring in a 3-0 away win to #2 seed San Diego Loyal.

Western Conference - #1 San Antonio FC vs #7 Oakland Roots
Friday, October 28th - 5:30pm (PST) / 8:30pm (EST) at Toyota Field.
Tickets: https://www.sanantoniofc.com/tickets/

Western Conference - #3 Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC vs #4 Sacramento Republic
Saturday, October 29th - 5:00pm (PST) / 8:00pm (EST) at Weidner Field
Tickets: https://www.switchbacksfc.com/tickets/

Kyle Morton, the 28 year-old keeper, has stood between the pipes 28 times for Louisville City this season, bringing his total club career appearances to an impressive 95. Having spent time for numerous other teams in his decade plus of goal-keeping, including OKC Energy, Rochester Rhinos, and the Houston Dynamo - Morton has 13 clean sheets and 52 saves this season for Louisville City.

Eastern Conference - #1 Louisville City FC vs #5 Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Saturday, October 29th - 4:30pm (PST) / 7:30pm (EST) at Lynn Family Stadium.
Tickets: https://www.loucity.com/tickets/

Eastern Conference - #2 Memphis 901 vs #3 Tampa Bay Rowdies
Saturday, October 29th - 5:30pm (PST) / 8:30pm (EST) at AutoZone Park.
Tickets: https://www.memphis901fc.com/tickets/