While FC Wichita’s players were on the field playing NTX Rayados in the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday, someone broke into the locker room and robbed the team. Phones, wallets, passports and other valuables were stolen. The latest value estimate is $20,000.

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FC Wichita is an amateur team, and some of these players are college students, making this loss even rougher for the team and players. Therefore, the FC Wichita supporters’ group Air Capital Firm has started a GoFundMe to help the team recover.

Click here to visit the GoFundMe.

NTX Rayados won the match 3-2 to advance to face the Houston Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium on June 6 in the fourth round of the Open Cup.

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We’re now roughly one-quarter through the 34-game USL season, meaning most teams have played somewhere between 7 and 10 games each. As of right now, 147 of 561 matches have been played, which is 26.2 percent of the season completed. This is close enough to 25 percent for me, and I assume it’s close enough for you as well.

Quick aside, USL teams have added two games per season, taking them from 32 to 34. While generally speaking, I like having more soccer and having more games played, the number 34 is so much less satisfying than 32. Thirty-two is a power of two number, so it’s easy to divide up as much as one pleases. Thirty-four, however, is a semiprime, which means that it’s the multiple of two prime factors, 17 and two. This displeases me greatly, perhaps more so than the benefit I derive from two additional games per team.

Now back to your irregularly scheduled rambling.

For the season preview, I listed attendance and the 2017 record. Since directly comparing records gets weird when teams haven’t played the same number of games, I’m not going to do that here. We’ll be looking at points per game, which makes more direct comparisons possible. For attendance, I’ll be borrowing from Mike Pendleton’s lovely attendance tracking graphics, because I can’t be bothered to make a fourth spreadsheet for this story. Oh, and we’ll be going alphabetically through the teams, mirroring the layout from my season preview. And with that, let’s begin our USL Western Conference Q1 progress report.

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Colorado Springs Switchbacks

• Points per Game: 1.273, 10th in West (-.102 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 3,108, 22nd in USL (-8.3% from 2017)

In my preview, I mentioned two specific things: continuously rising attendance, and a potential return to 2016 form. So far, the opposite has happened. The team is currently on its slowest points pace in the past three seasons, and attendance has dipped slightly. However, it was really, really cold in Colorado Springs through March and April, and they still managed to keep crowds north of 2,500. More importantly, their two most recent games drew crowds of 3,830 and 4,039. So really, not much to worry about at the moment. If summer weather can bring with it bigger crowds and better results, they’ll be fine and likely competing for the bottom two playoff spots.

Fresno FC

• Points per Game: 1.091, 12th in West
• Average Attendance: 5,361, 11th in USL

Fresno is very quietly getting things together in all the right ways. The team is starting to mesh better, results are coming gradually and support is solid. While they’ve only won two games, they lead the league in draws with six, and they’ve yet to lose a game by more than one goal. I don’t think they’re playoff bound just yet, but they’re moving in the right direction for an expansion team. They also have one of the best logos I’ve seen in years as their secondary logo. I strongly encourage them to adopt that as their primary crest.

#FresnoFC releases mascot & alternate logo for upcoming season. The Fox will also be referred to as “The Foxes & Los Zorros” (via @FresnoFC2018) pic.twitter.com/Tyd8ySJfaH

— Tommy Tran (@TommyTranTV) November 7, 2017

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LA Galaxy II

• Points per Game: 0.667, 15th in West (-.240 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 1,087, 31st in USL (-10.5% from 2017)

Conceding nearly two goals per game? Check. Sitting near the bottom of the Western Conference? Check. Barely anyone there to see it? Check. It’s business as usual for Los Dos, except that the offense is looking much better. Fifteen-year-old Efrain Alvarez and teammate Ethan Zubak both scored hat tricks against Saint Louis FC, and the constant roster rotation isn’t disrupting their attacking play as much as expected. But really, the point of this team isn’t to win games or trophies, it’s to develop players. So, whatever, I guess.

Las Vegas Lights FC

• Points per Game: 1.250, 11th in West
• Average Attendance: 8,175, 5th in USL
• Meme Game: Even Danker

Y’all. This team. Where do I even begin? The mascot is an Elvis impersonator, they have live llamas at most events, Chelis got himself ejected and suspended for referee abuse, and the fans absolutely love it. Even when the team is losing, they’re still one of the most exciting, genuinely fun to watch teams in the league, and I’m loving every moment of it. Just as I said in my preview, keep doing exactly what you’re doing, my dudes.

OKC Energy FC

• Points per Game: 0.333, 17th in West (-1.198 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 3,863, 16th in USL (-8.6% from 2017)

A month ago, I wrote an article entitled “What’s going on with Energy FC?” I think we’re due for a sequel. Back then, the team had lost four games in a row. It has since extended to eight games. Eight. The team has only scored three goals all season, and hasn’t scored at all since March. That’s 519 minutes since their last goal and counting. This is the worst streak in the club’s history. Only two teams in modern USL history have lost eight or more consecutive games: FC Montreal in 2016 and Antigua Barracuda in 2012-13. These are two teams you never want to be compared to. Even last year’s Timbers 2 had a better start to the season, with a win, draw and five total goals through nine games. Yes, that Timbers 2 that I called “the hottest garbage I’ve ever seen in USL history.” This week, they play twice, once in the Open Cup against NTX Rayados in Dallas and once at home against Colorado Springs. They desperately need to win these two to turn their season around.

Orange County SC

• Points per Game: 1.700, 4th in West (+.356 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 3,074, 23rd in USL (+19.6% from 2017)

Here’s something I find unusual: I completely forgot to write a segment on Orange County SC in my preview piece and literally no one noticed (or at least no one mentioned anything to me). I added one later after the piece had been live for over a day when I finally realized my mistake. Anyway, this team has turned things completely around from last year. Thomas Enevoldsen is looking like he just might be the best attacking player on the team, and Andre Rawls has been an absolute beast, tied for the league lead in saves and clean sheets. Braeden Cloutier is proving himself as a head coach and is almost certainly drawing the attention of a few MLS teams by now. Off the field, the average attendance is growing at a fantastic pace, already triple their average from 2016. By just about every metric, they’re already on pace for their best ever season. Excellent, excellent work.

Phoenix Rising FC

• Points per Game: 2.100, 2nd in West (+.288 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 6,566, 8th in USL (+7.2% from 2017)

Phoenix might just be the one team in the West capable of overtaking the Butterflies. Their offense is the best in the league so far, even without Didier Drogba’s four goals in four games. Solomon Asante is proving himself as a constant threat and both keepers are putting up consistent numbers. Off the field, attendance is still growing, averaging 366 “above capacity.” They even pulled a crowd of 7,332 for their most recent home game. Everything is going exactly as they hoped.

Portland Timbers 2

• Points per Game: 1.700, tied 4th in West (+1.231 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 1,840, 27th in USL (-27.1% from 2017)

T2 has already guaranteed a better record than last year, simply by winning five games. Simply in terms of change in points per game, they’re the single most improved team in USL by a substantial margin. For me, the single biggest catalyst for improvement is new head coach Cameron Knowles. Loads of players were re-signed, and yet they’re consistently looking good. Not only that, but they’re getting results on the road. T2 are probably going to make the playoffs, but more importantly, their players are playing in a positive environment. Now they have time to focus on proper branding.

Real Monarchs SLC

• Points per Game: 2.444, 1st in West (+.351 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 2,111, 26th in USL (-18.1% from 2017)

In my USL preview, I said to expect more good things from the Monarchs, and they’ve certainly provided. They’re the first team to hit 7 wins this season and they’ve been consistently strong against any opposition. Furthermore, no single player has been a vital component without whom the team struggles. They’re managing heavy squad rotation with ease. Also, that new venue is open, it looks absolutely fantastic and the team has more professional facilities dedicated to it than most of the top independent teams. This is how you run an MLS reserve team in the USL. The only thing I don’t understand is why people aren’t showing up to their games.

Reno 1868 FC

• Points per Game: 1.300, 9th in West (-.544 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 3,891, 15h in USL (-30.0% from 2017)

Reno started the season with a bit of a sophomore slump, going winless through their first four games. But since then, the team has found the same sort of form they had last year with three consecutive shutouts and a win against Sacramento. Antoine Hoppenot has continued to do his thing, and the team is still finding the back of the net consistently despite the loss of Dane Kelly. While the attendance isn’t looking great, those early season games were colder than expected and attendance is already trending upward. Reno is almost certainly going to be just fine this year.

Rio Grande Valley FC Toros

• Points per Game: 0.889, 13th in West (-.205 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 5,657, 10th in USL (-20.0% from 2017)

RGV has been rather unlucky so far this year. All three losses have been by a single goal, and they went winless through the first five games. They’ve only been shutout twice. If they can stop conceding late goals and fix their own goal problems, they’ll be alright. Maybe not a playoff team, but definitely capable of making things interesting come September. Attendance might be down, but they’re still north of 5,000 so I’m not too worried.

Sacramento Republic FC

• Points per Game: 1.800, 3rd in West (+.363 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 11,569, 3rd in USL (+0.0% from 2017)

Sacramento is off to a great start in 2018. They’re third in the Western Conference, third in points per game in the West and third in league attendance as they continue their sellout streak from last year. They’ve had a bit of luck go their way, but still have a problem keeping games under control in the final half hour or so. A bit of defensive stability could take them to the championship game. But really, they’re gonna be fine as is. The two new hires in Todd Dunivant and Simon Elliott have both looked like great additions already, and the team continues to show everyone how it’s done.

Saint Louis FC

• Points per Game: 1.400, 8th in West (+.275 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 3,941, 14th in USL (-13.8% from 2017)

I wondered back in March whether Anthony Pulis inherited his father’s ability to eke out results, and so far, it’s looking pretty good. Saint Louis have managed to turn losses into draws late in the game on several occasions already. They’re not playing a high-scoring, free-flowing, beautiful brand of soccer, but they’re getting it done one 1-0 win and 1-1 draw at a time. The only real outlier was that chaotic howler in Los Angeles, where two children scored hat tricks for Los Dos. Anyway. Things are working as anticipated and I’m expecting them to finally make the playoffs.

San Antonio FC

• Points per Game: 1.444, 7th in West (-.493 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 6,998, 7th in USL (-2.2% from 2017)

San Antonio haven’t replicated their season-opening form from last year, but they’re not looking all that bad either. They’ve been a low-scoring, get-it-done style of team since their debut, and it’s really business as usual in 2018. They’ve only lost twice and they’re riding a four-game unbeaten streak. Attendance-wise, San Antonio continues to do great, and that tiny dip will have disappeared by midsummer. They also have the benefit of a three-game home stand in June to help them move up the table. I don’t think this team will finish as high as last year, but they’re gonna make the playoffs and hopefully make some noise in October.

Seattle Sounders FC 2

• Points per Game: 0.778, 14th in USL (-.191 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 3,513, 20th in USL (+240.0% from 2017)

S2 is a team with two different stories on and off the field. Results wise, they’re losing a lot. They lost a lot last year, they lost a lot in 2016 and they’ve already lost six games this season. But they’re a reserve team and they’re actually not playing half bad. One particular bright spot is Felix Chenkam, already sitting on four goals and looking better and better each game. John Hutchinson is doing his best with the constant player rotation and call-ups to MLS, and I don’t think this team will struggle all season. That said, I don’t think they’re making the playoffs. Off the field though, the move to Tacoma is paying off in spades. Attendance is way, way up, ahead of six independent teams and behind only one other MLS reserve side. If they get their own stadium and Tacoma-specific branding soon, they’ll be north of 5K easily.

Swope Park Rangers

• Points per Game: 1.667, 6th in West (-.146 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 924, 32nd in USL (-9.0% from 2017)

The increasingly inaccurately named Swope Park Rangers are pretty good. Kharlton Belmar leads the USL in scoring with eight goals so far, Hadji Barry is tied for the lead in assists with four and the team has only lost twice. Any team that can go to Phoenix and leave with a point is at minimum a pretty good team. Statistically speaking, they’re not quite as good as last year, but they’re in the top eight and will likely stay there all season. Attendance-wise, the move to suburbia has lowered their already paltry attendance even further, which is unfortunate but also expected.

Tulsa Roughnecks FC

• Points per Game: 0.556,16th in West (-.882 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 3,318, 21st in USL (-13.8% from 2017)

Tulsa is in for a long, looooong season. Their defense allows the most shots and goals in the Western Conference, their offense has been the second worst in the West and Fabian Cerda is not superhuman enough to compensate. He actually leads the league in saves — tied with Andre Rawls in Orange County — simply because he’s faced so many shots already. The team as a whole leads the league in red cards with four already. Whenever a team loses a number of starting players, it hurts, and Tulsa is hurting badly. It’s not going to get much better over their remaining 25 games, either.

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So, that’s the USL Western Conference at roughly one-quarter completion. I hope you enjoyed this mess and I hope you’re enjoying the USL. It’s already been a lot of fun and there are still hundreds more games left to be played.

Follow John on Twitter: @JohnMLTX.

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We’re now roughly one-quarter through the 34-game USL season, meaning most teams have played somewhere between 7 and 10 games each. As of right now, 147 of 561 matches have been played, which is 26.2 percent of the season completed. This is close enough to 25 percent for me, and I assume it’s close enough for you as well.

Quick aside, USL teams have added two games per season, taking them from 32 to 34. While generally speaking, I like having more soccer and having more games played, the number 34 is so much less satisfying than 32. Thirty-two is a power of two number, so it’s easy to divide up as much as one pleases. Thirty-four, however, is a semiprime, which means that it’s the multiple of two prime factors, 17 and two. This displeases me greatly, perhaps more so than the benefit I derive from two additional games per team.

Now back to your irregularly scheduled rambling.

For the season preview, I listed attendance and the 2017 record. Since directly comparing records gets weird when teams haven’t played the same number of games, I’m not going to do that here. We’ll be looking at points per game, which makes more direct comparisons possible. For attendance, I’ll be borrowing from Mike Pendleton’s lovely attendance tracking graphics, because I can’t be bothered to make a fourth spreadsheet for this story. Oh, and we’ll be going alphabetically through the teams, mirroring the layout from my season preview. And with that, let’s begin our USL Eastern Conference Q1 progress report.

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Atlanta United 2

• Points per Game: 0.750, 15th in East
• Average Attendance: 3,665, 18th in USL

Atlanta Twonited won their first game against the Baby Bulls and I thought, “Maybe this team will be better than I expected.” Then they conceded late against Charlotte to begin a three-game streak of drawn games and I felt less confident. And since then, they’ve lost four in a row by a combined score of 10-2. They’re new to the USL, their roster is young and they have call-ups to deal with. The offense generally looks alright and they already have nine goals in eight games, but their defense is the worst in the conference and none of their keepers look particularly fantastic at the moment. I don’t know how to feel about this team yet.

Bethlehem Steel FC

• Points per Game: 1.000, 13th in East (-.375 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 2,133, 25th in USL (-30.1% from 2017)

Bethlehem have had a slow start to the season, much as they did last year. They currently have a goal differential of zero, only a single goal worse than last season. If they pick up steam soon just like a year ago, they’ll be able to push themselves up the standings pretty easily, and as the weather gets warmer the attendance should also improve. Things aren’t looking particularly great at the moment, but I’m not worried. There’s nothing unusual or anomalous to be found.

Charleston Battery

• Points per Game: 1.889, Tied 3rd in East (+.201 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 3,594, 19th in USL (+13.5% from 2017)

Charleston lost their third game of the season 5-2 against the Baby Bulls. I’m assuming that after that game, head coach Mike Anhaeuser went and gave them all some sort of pep talk, because they’re undefeated in the six games since and are on a four-game winning streak. It’s their best run of form in years and the fans are responding in turn. Things are trending upward for the Battery, and they’re in for another solid season.

Charlotte Independence

• Points per Game: 1.375, 8th in East (-.125 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 1,687, 28th in USL (+4.4% from 2017)

Charlotte has already had two big wins this season, beating both Ottawa and Cincinnati 4-1. While they did go through a four-game scoring dry spell, they seem to have shed those demons. Jorge Herrera and Cordell Cato are both looking strong, my homeboy Eamon Zayed already has a goal with his new team, and most importantly, they’re selling out games. Now that they’re (almost certainly) going to renovate and occupy American Legion Memorial Stadium, things are looking really solid off the field for the organization. I hope we get to see some massive crowds for Charlotte vs. Charleston or Charlotte vs. North Carolina FC.

FC Cincinnati

• Points per Game: 1.889, Tied 3rd in East (+.451 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 24,235, 1st in USL (+14.3% in USL)

Carrying on with my policy of “no dead horse topics,” let’s talk about some fun things. First up, Cincinnati finally beat Charleston in their opening game of 2018. That leaves only two teams in the Eastern Conference that Cincinnati hasn’t beaten: Nashville (because they’re brand new) and Tampa Bay. Cincinnati will actually play those two teams back-to-back in July. Emmanuel Ledesma is tied for the assists lead with four, the team is tied with the Baby Bulls for the best offense in the Eastern Conference and has only lost twice. Interestingly, two FCC players are tied for first and second in the yellow card standings. Forrest Lasso has five and Dekel Keinan has four. And on a final note, that one guy they said was not healthy enough to play for their team already has three goals for Penn FC. Anyway, Cincinnati is really good, but what else is new?

Indy Eleven

• Points per Game: 1.750, 5th in East (+.719 from 2017 NASL)
• Average Attendance: 11,203, 4th in USL (+33.4% from 2017 NASL)

Indy has arrived in the USL by winning games, making noise and selling lots of tickets. They’re also ridiculously efficient. Forty percent of their shots have been on target and 25 percent of their shots on target have led to goals. They have twice as many points in the standings as goals scored. And strangely, they’ve been undefeated on the road. Owain Fon Williams is doing great, but we must point out that he’s only faced 18 shots. That’s some incredible defending. Indy is doing everything right, as expected.

Louisville City FC

• Points per Game: 2.000, Tied 1st in East (+.063 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 7,039, 6th in USL (-18.3% from 2017)

Louisville is still really, really good, to absolutely no one’s surprise. Cameron Lancaster has four goals in six games, Greg Ranjitsingh is still excellent and all of those guys who were starting and playing consistently well last year are still starting and playing consistently well. They’re in a minor slump after going undefeated through six to start the season, but it doesn’t seem like anything serious or concerning. They’ve still won all four home games in front of big crowds and they’re probably going to win the East again.

Nashville City SC

• Points per Game: 1.500, 7th in East
• Average Attendance: 11,673, 2nd in USL

Nashville is quietly one of the strongest expansion teams in USL history. Through eight games, they’ve posted five shutouts thanks to Matt Pickens and sit just inside the top eight. We definitely don’t have enough data yet to determine where this team might finish, but they could find themselves in the playoffs as a rookie club. They’re also one of the few teams who have yet to receive a red card. Attendance wise, things are superb. Even excluding their home opener that was moved to Nissan Stadium, they’re still in the top five. Way to go, Nashville.

New York Red Bulls II

• Points per Game: 1.556, 6th in East (+.181 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 775, 33rd in USL (+22.5% from 2017)

The Baby Bulls have only lost once, eight different players have scored a goal, 10 different players have recorded an assist and the team is on a seven-game unbeaten run. And yet, no one is watching. I mean, not no one — their attendance is up considerably — but it’s still terrible. I will give them credit for this: Their lowest crowd this year is still higher than their 2017 average. But they still haven’t cracked 1,000 for any game. The lack of marketing for this team makes me cross. And yet they’re still going to make a playoffs run, as usual.

North Carolina FC

• Points per Game: 1.143, 11th in East (-.263 from 2017 NASL)
• Average Attendance: 3,379, 17th in USL (-15.5% from 2017 NASL)

I’m going to make a potentially controversial statement here: The USL was stronger than the NASL in 2017. I point to NCFC as evidence for this claim. A number of starters from their final NASL season were kept for the move to the USL, and yet the team is not performing as well as they did last year. While the USL has gotten better in 2018, it’s not by a significant margin. Anyway. Daniel Rios has been great, Kyle Bekker is still good and Austin da Luz is one of the few NASL veterans that’s adjusted to the USL. I’m not entirely sold on Alex Tambakis in goal just yet, but a few more good performances could easily change that. The only thing that actively concerns me is the attendance, but not that much. They’ll probably figure it out.

Ottawa Fury FC

• Points per Game: 1.000, 14th in East (-.188 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 5,326, 12th in USL (-1.9% from 2017)

Ottawa opened their season with a three-game road trip and lost all three. Two of those were blowouts. They’re looking like they might have rallied, and have played noticeably better the past three games. Alarmingly, they’ve scored only five goals so far, and three of those were in the previous two games. They need to find some offense quickly if my prediction of playoffs for Ottawa is to come to fruition. Goalkeeper-wise, Callum Irving faced 16 shots in the two games he played, and saved only seven. He’s been benched in favor of Maxime Crepeau, who has been substantially better. Assuming he keeps up his current performance, Ottawa should be alright.

Penn FC

• Points per Game: 1.111, 12th in East (-.045 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 1,335, 29th in USL (-45.0% from 2017, missing 1 game)

This team confuses me. There’s new ownership and branding, plus the weather has been cooperative, yet attendance is terrible. Losing half the fans from last season is terrible — so terrible that it wasn’t even reported for their most recent game against Ottawa. Watching that replay, I noticed the stands we got a glimpse of were almost completely empty and it was unusually, weirdly quiet. Not a good sign at all. I will say that since it was a Monday night game, a bit of a dip can be forgiven. But looking at the box score for the minor league baseball team, who are the primary tenant of the stadium, they drew 2,946. On a Thursday night. The Harrisburg Senators are averaging north of 3,500 in the same exact venue. Penn FC ranks dead last among independent teams and below five MLS reserve sides. Something desperately needs to change.

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

• Points per Game: 2.000, Tied 1st in East (+.875 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 2,238, 24th in USL (-15.2% from 2017)

Pittsburgh are the only remaining undefeated team in the USL. Let that sink in. They are already on pace to surpass last season’s points total by midseason. Including their eight preseason games, they’ve played 16 straight without a loss. This is what happens when you make a big push to rebuild. By points per game, they’re the most improved team in the Eastern Conference. And while the attendance might look bad at first glance, their most recent home game drew 3,123. I blame the Penguins. If they keep up their results on the field, those numbers should rise off the field. Everybody go watch this team, they’re excellent.

Richmond Kickers

• Points per Game: 1.250, 10th in East(+.250 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 4,066, 13th in USL (-12.8% from 2017)

Richmond has been highly inconsistent so far. After losing two to start the year, they went two undefeated. Since then: loss, win, loss, win. And yet they’re still performing better in terms of points per game than last year. They look like two different teams when they’re at home vs. on the road. Fortunately, they’re about to start a three-game home stand which could bump them into the top eight. Attendance wise, they’re down but not by all that much, and their last game drew 5,860. If they can figure out how to win on the road, they could make the playoffs. Could.

Tampa Bay Rowdies

• Points per Game: 1.333, 9th in East (-.323 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 6,151, 9th in USL (+4.4% from 2017)

Tampa Bay is the only team in the East that hasn’t drawn a game this year. Considering that three of their five losses were by a single goal — they’ve won the three games they’ve played at home and spent the past three games on the road — I’ll chalk that up to luck and random chance. Getting blown out by the Baby Bulls and Penn FC sucks, but blowouts happen to the best of us. If they take advantage of their upcoming home games, they’ll be fine. Attendance is still growing steadily, so all good there. Update: Rowdies defender Neill Collins is retiring and immediately taking over as head coach, replacing just-departed Stuart Campbell.

Toronto FC II

• Points per Game: 0.250, 16th in East (-.531 from 2017)
• Average Attendance: 1,236, 30th in USL (+13.5% from 2017)

Because Toronto FC made a deep Champions League run, a lot of TFCII players were called up to the first team. That left a shell team of reserves to try and handle some strong teams. Spoiler alert: They couldn’t handle them. TFCII sits at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with two points, three goals and a -10 goal differential. They’re also playing a handful of games across the border in Rochester, N.Y., the first of which they lost to Pittsburgh. As bad as they were in 2016 and 2017, they’re somehow worse this year. Yikes.

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So, that’s the USL Eastern Conference at roughly one-quarter completion. I hope you enjoyed this mess and I hope you’re enjoying the USL. It’s already been a lot of fun and there are still hundreds more games left to be played.

Follow John on Twitter: @JohnMLTX.

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Recently on Twitter, my friend and former colleague Chad Irvine pinged me to ask if I might hop on my soapbox and write (complain) about the region designations for the 2018 U.S. Open Cup.

If you’re unfamiliar, the tournament in the early rounds splits the bracket into regional groupings. This helps keep travel distances down, promotes local and regional rivalries, and generally makes a lot of sense.

The Open Cup regions were announced as part of the second round pairings recently, and at first glance, everything seems pretty typical. The teams along the West Coast and in Arizona are grouped together, the Midwest down to Texas is grouped together and the teams along the Gulf Coast are grouped together. For the most part, it all makes sense.

But when you look a little closer, things start to get a little off.

The Indy Eleven are lumped in with the Southeast region, while both North Carolina teams are lumped in with the Northeast region. Let’s just check that out on a map.

Now, I might be looking at this all wrong, but it seems to me that Indianapolis is not exactly anywhere remotely near the Southeastern United States. In fact, Indy is hundreds of miles north of Charlotte.

That means FC Cincinnati could end up traveling all the way south to Cary, which Google Maps lists as 514 miles, instead of the far closer, much more sensible destination of Indianapolis — literally one fifth of the distance.

9⃣4⃣ Teams
8⃣ Rounds
5⃣ Months
1⃣ Dream

With the First Round Pairings made, take a Round-by-Round view at #USOC2018 https://t.co/WtaGEevfi2#UpForTheCup pic.twitter.com/qdRMlNY7TR

— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) April 5, 2018

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And because this is my article and I’m complaining about things, I decided to go for broke. Let’s say the following scenario happens: The “The Miami FC” Miami FC B, the B team of the recent NASL competitor, the The “The Miami FC” Miami FC, wins its play-in whatever and its next few games, and the Indy Eleven win their first few games as well. In the bracket, they end up playing each other. I don’t currently know the scheduling rules well enough to say for certain if this is possible, but for the sake of this grievance, let’s assume it can. They end up playing each other, and the team elects to travel by bus.

That right there, the distance from their respective stadia, is a whopping 1,203 miles. Google Maps estimates 17 hours and 13 minutes if they take toll roads, and 18 hours and one minute if they don’t.

Now, doing the math here, we end up with a result that is a goddamn eternity on a bus. Yeah, they might could fly and probably might would, but that’s not the point. The point is that Indianapolis is not in the southeast of anything, except maybe like really far southeast Chicago. And even that’s a stretch.

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Since beating Tulsa 1-0 to open the season, the Energy have lost four games in a row. This is their longest losing streak since their inaugural season, back in 2014. They have scored a grand total of three goals all season, and have conceded 10.

That’s bad. Really, really bad.

So, why are they struggling? On paper, their lineup is pretty solid and they have some talented kids on loan from FC Dallas. They’re using the same 4-2-3-1 formation that worked effectively last year. Looking at the heat maps, touch charts and average position diagrams from their last three games from the 2017 regular season along with the first game of this year, everything seems pretty consistent. We can’t blame red cards either, as they haven’t received any. And only one red card has been issued to an opponent, near the end of the opening game against Tulsa.

But compare some of the statistics from those four good games to their four most recent, and we see some highly troubling patterns.

The Energy tend to bury their opponent in shots. For the four good games, they averaged a total of 18.25 shots, with 8.25 on target. That’s a shooting accuracy of 45.2 percent, meaning nearly half of their shots were on target and proper goal scoring chances. The four bad games? Just 7.75 shots per game, with 1.5 on target. In the most recent game against Timbers 2, Energy FC did not put a single shot on target.

But on the other hand, their distribution numbers look alright. Good passing accuracy, good passing accuracy in the opponents’ half and they’ve led possession in three of the four losses. The defensive numbers are also looking fine, if a bit skewed against them, but that’s to be expected for a team that’s playing from behind.

This is one of those curious things about soccer. Maybe it’s luck, maybe it’s coaching, maybe it’s a new lineup still getting used to each other.

But it’s not good.

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“Is John back on his rant soapbox again?”

Yes, yes he is.

“Well, what is it this time?”

It’s simple. There is still no Women’s Open Cup.

You see, the U.S. Open Cup is kind of the greatest thing in American sports. Every single year, teams from all over the country compete to win one of the oldest sports championships in our country. Teams ranging from the giants of MLS all the way down to our favorite #BullshitPubTeam, Harpo’s FC. Nowhere else in America will you find a World Cup veteran making millions of dollars a year playing against a group of guys who work together and play in the local league for fun on Sundays. And sometimes that group of guys beats the millionaire. It’s the best.

And that leads me right to my main point. Why is there no Women’s Open Cup?

We definitely have enough teams to make a full tournament pool. Just looking at NWSL, UWS and WPSL, there are 136 teams in the top two divisions of American women’s soccer. Even if we do something wherein each regional/conference champion of the UWS and WPSL compete alongside the nine NWSL teams, that’s still a 29-team tournament that would be loads of fun.

The closest thing we currently have is the (possibly defunct) USASA National Women’s Open, which I can’t find any current information on. The most recent results I have are from the 2016 edition, which featured all of four teams playing a total of six games. Not good enough.

I want to use the format of the men’s Open Cup, but for women’s teams. Is that too much to ask for? Seriously.

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Dustin Hooker is no stranger to the Oklahoma City soccer scene, nor to us here at Soc Takes. He sat down for an interview with Nipun Chopra last May to discuss his new team, then known as the Imps. They had been in discussion to join the NPSL, but will instead make their debut this May as part of the UPSL’s new Central Conference.

The vision began a few years ago when he organized a handful of summer games for the local guys who weren’t playing for any teams within the pyramid, but didn’t want to stop playing — players with experience at the collegiate and semi-pro level who still lived and worked in the community. This led him to start discussing opportunities to join a league and have something to play for.

He wound up turning this team, the Pulse, into the Energy FC U23 team in the PDL. However, after running the PDL team for a season, it just wasn’t the right fit for his vision. The PDL, he said, is really focused on player development and making a pathway to pro soccer. There’s certainly a local community element to it, but as a whole, his goals for soccer didn’t line up with what he experienced.

That was when we last spoke with him. Since then, the club has a new name and a new league, but the same goals as ever.

His mission for OKC 1889 is simple: Provide a serious, professionally run team by the community, for the community. He’s been working with many of these players for years now. The coaching staff are all familiar faces among the local youth soccer scene. The sponsors are familiar local businesses.

And when the UPSL got in touch, he found like-minded individuals with similar motivations. They joined the brand new Central Conference, playing in the North Division. Joining OKC 1889 FC are four teams based in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

With the team, the goal is to be relatable. As Hooker put it during our conversation on Monday, “if your friend told you ‘hey, my soccer team is playing a game tonight, and tickets are only five bucks,’ you’d go buy a ticket and watch your friend play.”

That goal drew 750 fans at their final game last year. But they aren’t stopping there. Hooker has big aspirations for the team. Maybe some day they could become one of the signature teams in the UPSL, he thinks. It’s a relatively young and rapidly growing league, and no one as of yet is standing out.

“You don’t need to be a professional team to do things professionally,” he said, and he’s already working hard to do just that. The team has an excellent facility in Norman, Okla., a partnership with the local Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center, and a proven head coach in Adam Kay. Kay also coaches for the Oklahoma Celtic youth club as well as for Mid-America Christian University, and holds USSF and UEFA B licenses. “One of the best unknown coaches in the country,” as Hooker put it.

Even before they had a league, these players and coaches made a name for themselves in their community both on and off the field. They’ve held their own against FC Dallas’s top academy teams, won five of seven games played last summer and built a growing fan base. Now that they have a league to call their own, things are looking pretty good.

OKC 1889 FC will begin its 2018 season with a pair of home and away friendlies against the Little Rock Rangers in May, and will kick off its inaugural UPSL campaign at home on May 19 against fellow newcomer Inocentes FC.

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In 2018, the state of American women’s soccer is in an unusual position of stability. The NWSL has survived five seasons, and is entering its sixth in pretty good shape, United Women’s Soccer is growing at a healthy pace, and the WPSL has made a lot of changes to fix some of the biggest problems in recent years. You may have heard about some of that during the podcast we recorded with associate commissioner Matt Homonoff. Contrast this with the chaos we dealt with over the past five or so years, and you’ll see just how remarkable the lack of drama has been.

So, where are we now, and what does 2018 hold for the women’s game in the USA? Whether you’re new to the world of women’s soccer, or just looking to get up to speed with the latest, I hope you’ll find what you’re looking for here.

First things first, let’s talk NWSL. The National Women’s Soccer League, the top division of women’s soccer in America and Canada, is entering its sixth season. This is a new record for professional women’s leagues, as the two previous attempts at professional leagues both folded after their third seasons. The league currently comprises nine teams across the United States — I’ll go into them in more detail later. It’s also the best attended women’s league in the world, and home to a number of full international players.

Three significant things happened over the offseason. Most significantly, the salary rules have changed once again. The total salary cap, excluding American and Canadian international players, has risen to $350,000, with a minimum salary of $15,750 and a maximum of $44,000. It might not seem like much, but compared to just two years ago, when the minimum salary was only $7,200(!), it’s a dramatic improvement and continues the trend set a year ago. It’s not quite at the level where I would like it, but for the players, it’s definitely appreciated.

We also lost two of the 10 teams that contested the previous season. FC Kansas City, the two-time champions, have “folded” in a really unusual way. The team was purchased by a group based in Minneapolis in January 2017, but by the end of the season the team had completely fallen apart. Enter Real Salt Lake owner Dell Loy Hansen. Rather than a relocation or buyout, a new team was created in the Utah Royals FC, and the existing player contracts were transferred from FCKC to the new team.

The Boston Breakers are another story entirely. The team had been in preparation for the 2018 season, including participating in the NWSL draft, signing players and all, when things abruptly came to a halt. After months of courting new ownership failed, the team folded two months before the season began. Players were distributed to the remaining nine teams in a dispersal draft, and the schedule was restructured to account for the loss of the team.

That then leaves us with the following 9 teams:

• Chicago Red Stars
• Houston Dash (owned by Houston Dynamo)
• North Carolina Courage (owned by North Carolina FC)
• Orlando Pride (owned by Orlando City SC)
• Portland Thorns (owned by Portland Timbers)
• Seattle Reign
• Sky Blue FC
• Utah Royals FC (owned by Real Salt Lake)
• Washington Spirit

Last season was all about the North Carolina Courage and Portland Thorns, who finished first and second in the regular season and played in the 2017 NWSL Championship game won by Portland. While we can expect both teams to continue to perform well this year, don’t count anyone out. The Courage only won the shield by two points, and only nine points separated third place from seventh. It’s a very, very competitive league and ranks among the world’s best.

It’s also an absolute blast from start to finish. The season began on March 24 and will run through Sept. 9, with each team playing 24 games. The playoffs will begin on Sept. 14 and end with the championship game on Sept. 22. One game per week is broadcast on Lifetime, with the remainder streamed through go90.

Onto the next tier.

The “second tier” of women’s soccer isn’t officially designated by the federation, but is generally agreed to feature two leagues: United Women’s Soccer and the Women’s Premier Soccer League. Compare this to the “fourth tier” of the men’s pyramid, as both are affiliated through USASA.

United Women’s Soccer is the younger of the two, and the youngest league in the pyramid. It was formed in 2015 due to issues teams had with the WPSL and the folding of the USL W-League, and began its first season the following spring. The league currently comprises 22 teams, including a mixture of former W-League and WPSL sides, two MLS-affiliated clubs and one former NWSL team, the Western New York Flash.

The league is classified as pro-am, meaning that some teams have paid players and some do not. And for NCAA eligibility rules, any team with NCAA players is fully amateur. The 22 teams are distributed into three conferences with nine in the East, seven in the Central and six in the West. The season is set to begin on May 8 and end July 15, with each team playing 10 games. Playoffs will occur sometime in July and will be announced as we get closer. 2018 will be the third season for the league and they’re already doing pretty well.

The other second division league is the Women’s Premier Soccer League. This league has been around since 1997 and currently features 108 teams. That makes it the largest single women’s soccer league in the world. It also once spawned a men’s league which has since become the National Premier Soccer League.

The WPSL’s teams are organized into four regions: East, South, West and Central, and are further divided into 17 divisions — four in each of the East, South and Central, and five in the West. Divisions have as few as four teams and as many as nine, meaning that the divisions don’t all play the same number of games. It’s a bit confusing, yes, but the important thing is that every team will play at least six games and the league has a truly national footprint.

They (quite justifiably) brag about their massive footprint which covers 33 states and 38 of the top 39 metro areas, with a club each in Puerto Rico and Canada. The league is also under new management, with the group that runs Oklahoma City FC taking ownership and control of the league last fall. They’ve emphasized stricter standards for every team and a focus on professionalism in the league, with an aim on fixing the issues that have plagued the league in the past (see: UWS, which was founded due to these frustrations). They’re also planning a league-wide streaming solution that will be rolled out at some point in the future.

Anyway, that’s the state of American women’s soccer in a nutshell.

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In the 2018 USL season, we have nine teams playing in minor league baseball stadiums. This is a uniquely American phenomenon, and not just at the USL level. The Kansas City Wizards, before they became Sporting KC, played in a ballpark for three seasons, the New York Cosmos play(ed) at MCU Park in Brooklyn and New York City FC will be playing at Yankee Stadium for the foreseeable future.

This gives us the opportunity for an interesting comparison. In these venues used for both soccer and baseball, which sport has the better average attendance?

I’ll be tracking this over the 2018 season, as the various minor leagues aren’t due to start for a few weeks, but we do have the data from 2017 to take a look at today.

From 2017, we have five stadiums to examine: FNB Field in Harrisburg, Pa., Louisville Slugger Field in Louisville, Ky., Greater Nevada Field in Reno, Nev., ONEOK Field in Tulsa, Okla., and MCU Park in Brooklyn, N.Y. Yeah, I’m choosing to include the Cosmos in this, mainly because it makes the article longer and a bit more interesting. It also helps examine the claim made by a handful of people that New York sports fans don’t support minor league teams.

For the purposes of this article, we’re comparing average attendance as our key metric. It’s likely the fairest direct comparison that can be made, simply due to the immense number of home games in a baseball season. Total attendance would skew the measurements dramatically in favor of the baseball teams.

As a quick example, we’ll look at the Frisco RoughRiders, the AA affiliate of the Texas Rangers that play a few miles away from FC Dallas. Their average attendance in 2017 was 6,812, which was the highest at the AA level and roughly halfway between the average attendances for the two AAA level leagues in the USA. Compared to FC Dallas’ average of 15,222, the baseball team only averaged 45 percent of what the nearby MLS team did. In total attendance, however, the RoughRiders drew 470,003 fans in 2017, which is only two less than Toronto FC. It’s all down to sample size, and the disproportionate size of a baseball schedule. Hence, average attendance as our metric.

With that, let’s begin.

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FNB Field – Harrisburg, Pa.

• Capacity: 6,187
• MiLB: 3,983
• USL: 2,429

This ballpark is home to both the Harrisburg Senators of the AA Eastern League, and Penn FC (formerly known as the Harrisburg City Islanders). In Harrisburg, baseball wins, outdrawing soccer by 64 percent.

Baseball 1-0 Soccer

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Louisville Slugger Field – Louisville, Ky.

• Capacity: 13,131
• MiLB: 6,868
• USL: 8,613

This ballpark is home to the AAA International League’s Louisville Bats and Louisville City FC. This time, soccer wins, with Louisville City outdrawing by 25 percent. Additionally, this venue’s all-time attendance record is the 2017 USL Cup Final, with 14,456 in attendance.

Baseball 1-1 Soccer

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Greater Nevada Field – Reno, Nev.

• Capacity: 9,013
• MiLB: 4,894
• USL:  5,559

This ballpark is home to the AAA Pacific Coast League’s Reno Aces as well as Reno 1868 FC. Soccer wins again by 14 percent.

Baseball 1-2 Soccer

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ONEOK Field – Tulsa, Okla.

• Capacity: 7,833
• MiLB: 5,597
• USL: 3,851

This ballpark is home to the AA Texas League’s Tulsa Drillers as well as the Tulsa Roughnecks. Baseball pulls one back on soccer, drawing 45 percent better than soccer.

Baseball 2-2 Soccer

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MCU Park – Brooklyn, N.Y.

• Capacity: 7,000
• MiLB: 5,190
• NASL: 4,891

MCU Park is home to both the Short Season A level New York-Penn League’s Brooklyn Cyclones, and for the 2017 season was also home to the New York Cosmos in the NASL. By six percent, baseball beats soccer in Brooklyn.

Baseball 3-2 Soccer

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So, for 2017, baseball won. But with the massive growth of the USL, can it continue? I’ll be tracking this for 2018 and I’m curious to see the result.

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After a long, dramatic D2 offseason fraught with lawsuits, chaos and #HotTakes, we have finally emerged at the other side with the USL as our now and future D2 league. Last year’s season broke records on and off the field, and raised the bar for what we can expect from the lower divisions, and this year’s season will be the bigger and better yet. To get everybody ready for kickoff, here’s a big-huge preview covering everything you need to know for the 2018 season.

To begin, let’s look at the significant changes from 2017.

First up, the USL is now the official D2 soccer league for the United States, dropping the provisional status from last year. This will be re-examined annually by USSF with the goal of full compliance for the 2020 season. We followed the disputes between the two leagues at length, so there’s no need to get back into that here. Regardless of what our opinions about USSF’s decision are, this is what we have to work with for the year.

Second, USL has grown both in terms of the number of teams and the length of season. USL has been slowly increasing the schedule by two games per team since 2015, going from 28 to 30 to 32 last year. Now, they’re at 34 regular season games, same as MLS. Teams will play every other team in their conference once at home and once on the road, and will fill out their schedule with a third game against either two “regional rivals” for the Western Conference or four for the Eastern Conference. There will be no cross-conference play until the USL championship game.

In terms of team changes, the league has gained two former NASL teams, the Indy Eleven and North Carolina FC; and four new expansion sides, Atlanta United 2, Fresno FC, Las Vegas Lights FC, and Nashville FC. Orlando City B and the Rochester Rhinos have both taken a hiatus for the season, while the Vancouver Whitecaps 2 have been shut down. To balance out the conferences, Saint Louis FC have been moved to the Western Conference

The playoff format is unchanged from last year, with the top 8 teams in each conference making the postseason. I really enjoyed the USL playoffs last year, and they’ll be even better now that literally more than half of the league can’t make the postseason.

Before we jump into the team summaries, here’s a little primer on the USL. While this league technically only dates back to 2011, the United Soccer Leagues organization has operated a number of different leagues at the D2 and D3 levels dating back to 1995, and at the semi-pro level even further back. From 1996 through 2010, USL organized the entire professional pyramid below MLS, along with a de facto D4 league that eventually became the PDL. Four current MLS teams actually once played in the previous USL-operated A-League: Seattle, Montreal, Vancouver, and Portland . In 2010, things got crazy. Nike, who at the time owned a stake in the United Soccer Leagues company, decided to sell. The two primary bidders were an investment company called NuRock, and a group of team owners headed by AC St. Louis owner Jeff Cooper. Enter #SoccerWarz. I’m not going to get into that mess, which led to the creation of the NASL, primarily because my collegue here Kartik Krishnayer wrote an excellent book covering the entire fiasco. The end result was a USSF-operated one-off D2 league for 2010, the birth of the NASL at D2 for 2011 onward, and the organization of a single professional USL league at D3. That league, then called USL Pro, has become the current D2 USL.

This league is kind of insane, and it’s always a close fight to the finish. Last year, going into the final weeks of the season, 27 of the 30 teams were still in contention for a playoff spot. When everything was said and done, the last two playoff teams in both conferences were level on points, and only two points clear 9th place. In the playoffs, we saw the 1 and 3 seeds in the West and the 2 seed in the East knocked out in the first round. And all of this mayhem is streamed live all season long on YouTube for free. You just can’t beat that.

And now onto the team summaries, starting with the Western Conference.

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WESTERN CONFERENCE

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC – Colorado Springs, CO

• Founded: 2013
• First USL Season: 2014
• Home Stadium: Weidner Field (5,000)
• Head Coach: Steve Trittschuh
• 2017 Record: 12-8-12, +4 GD, 44pts, 9th in West
• 2017 Attendance: 3,389

The Switchbacks’ third season was their worst on the field yet, failing to make the playoffs after two consecutive third place finishes. They also lost their leading scorer from last year, Kevaughn Frater, to Phoenix in the offseason. However, their attendance continues to rise, and the team has added to their returning core with a handful of USL and NASL experienced signings. Coach Steve Trittschuh is also returning for a fourth season. I’m expecting 2018 to look more like 2016 for the Switchbacks.

Fresno FC – Fresno, CA

• Founded: 2017
• First USL Season: 2018
• Home Stadium: Chuckchansi Park (12,500)
• Head Coach: Adam Smith

The first of our expansion teams, Fresno have brought in Frank Yallop as general manager to build their team. They’ve brought in Smith, the former Sacramento assistant, and have already built up a respectable system by buying the PDL Fresno Fuego to serve as their U23 team. Yallop turned Phoenix Rising into a contender last year, but this will be Smith’s first season as a head coach. This team could make some noise this year, even if their jerseys are the most hideous kits in USL.

LA Galaxy II – Carson, CA

• Founded: 2014
• First USL Season: 2014
• Home Stadium: StubHub Center Track Stadium (2,000)
• Head Coach: Mike Muñoz
• 2017 Record: 8-5-19, -32 GD, 29 pts, 13th in West
• 2017 Attendance: 1,215
• Affiliate of: LA Galaxy (obviously)

Last year went almost as bad for the USL Galaxy as the mothership in MLS. After making the playoffs three years in a row, the team completely fell apart. Their top scorers only scored 6 goals each, and they conceded a league leading 64 goals. That’s two goals conceded per game. They were also the victims of Reno’s 9-0 demolition back in June. But, since they’re a reserve team, don’t expect AEG to pay too much attention to their results on or off the field. While it’s nice for Los Dos to win trophies, it’s not the ultimate goal of the team, and expect to see any standout players get poached for MLS action.

Las Vegas Lights FC – Las Vegas, NV

• Founded: 2017
• First USL Season: 2018
• Home Stadium: Cashman Field (9,334)
• Head Coach: José Luis “El Chelis” Sanchéz Solá
• Meme Game: Dank

When Las Vegas got a team, they had two real options for how to play things: either try and act like Vegas is a serious city and this is a serious professional team, or embrace the madness. They, rather correctly, chose the latter. Everything about this team is bonkers, from their neon color scheme to their ridankulous jerseys to signing Freddy goddamn Adu. On a serious note, they didn’t look half bad against DC and Vancouver in preseason, and they’re doing great work at engaging with fans and packing their stadium. They have Chivas USA legend Chelis at the helm, a roster filled with Liga MX and MLS vets, and I for one could not be happier. Keep doing exactly what you’re doing, my dudes.

OKC Energy FC – Oklahoma City, OK

• Founded: 2013
• First USL Season: 2014
• Home Stadium: Taft Stadium (7,500)
• Head Coach: Steve Cooke
• 2017 Record: 14-7-11, +5 GD, 49 pts, 6th in West, lost West Final to Swope Park Rangers
• 2017 Attendance: 4,293
• MLS Affiliate: FC Dallas

Last year was by all accounts a pretty good season for the Energy. They made the playoffs, drew solid crowds all season long, and took SPR to 10 rounds on penalty kicks in the conference final. Since then, they’ve retooled the roster, brought in a pair of 2018 draft picks from FC Dallas, and signed Steve Cooke as the new head coach. While you might remember him more for his interim stint as Rapids manager last year, he actually spent two years working with Oscar Pareja at the Rapids academy. Lots of very positive things have come out from both sides, and the Energy were absolutely brilliant in preseason. This team is desperate to make the championship game, and they’re definitely making the right moves to get there.

Phoenix Rising FC – Scottsdale, AZ

• Founded: 2014 (as Arizona United SC)
• First USL Season: 2014
• Home Stadium: Phoenix Rising FC Soccer Complex (6,200)
• Head Coach: Patrice Carteron
• 2017 Record: 17-7-8, +13 GD, 58 pts, 5th in West, Lost First Round to Swope Park Rangers
• 2017 Attendance: 6,127

In the aftermath of the 2016 season, the team went through a massive overhaul under their new ownership. A rebrand, a new stadium, and changes in the coaching staff took the team from among the worst in the Western Conference to one of the toughest teams in the league. Their attendance went up 317%,  and new coach Patrice Carteron immediately made an impact. This year sees even more investment with the goal of joining MLS in the future, and the use of FC Tucson in the PDL as an affiliate. It’s also Didier Drogba’s last season. This is gonna be fun.

Portland Timbers 2 – Portland, OR

• Founded: 2014
• First USL Season: 2015
• Home Stadium: Providence Park (21,144)
• Head Coach: Cameron Knowles
• 2017 Record: 3-6-23, -36 GD, 15 pts, 15th in West
• 2017 Attendance:  2,524
• MLS Affiliate: Portland Timbers (obviously)

Last year’s Timbers 2 side was the hottest garbage I’ve ever seen in USL history. The only team that has ever put up a worse season was the 2013 Antigua Barracuda team that had literally no money and played every single game on the road. T2 managed to lose an absurd 23 games, and had a thirteen game winless streak. Reno’s Dane Kelly alone scored 2/3s as many goals as the entire T2 team last season. The best thing that I can say about them is that at least some of the people on the season ticket waiting list got to see some soccer, if you can call it that. While I normally say that it doesn’t really matter for reserve teams to get results, this was so bad that it could actually hurt the development of those players. Andrew Gregor and Cameron Knowles have traded places, with Gregor returning to the MLS Timbers as an assistant and Knowles taking over the USL side. Hopefully it helps. And for real, T2 had no business playing some of the actual children they did last year. Y’all have a PDL team for that very purpose.

Real Monarchs SLC – Herriman, UT

• Founded: 2014
• First USL Season: 2015
• Home Stadium: Zions Bank Stadium (5,000)
• Head Coach: Mark Briggs
• 2017 Record: 20-7-5, +28 GD, 67 pts, 1st in West, Regular Season champs, Lost First Round to Sacramento Republic
• 2017 Attendance: 2,577
• MLS Affiliate: Real Salt Lake

We’ve seen the worst, now let’s talk about the best. Last year’s Monarchs put on one of the best USL performances in league history. Not only did they lead to Mike Petke getting a new job in MLS, they absolutely dominated the Western Conference complete with a 9 game winning streak (a USL record) and the USL regular season title. Unfortunately, the God of Penalty Kicks once again intervened and sent them packing in the first round. Whatever. This year, they’re continuing to sign promising young players both from their own academy and from other USL and MLS teams, and they’re set to open their absolutely gorgeous new training facility very soon. This massive complex also includes a 5,000 seat USL/Academy stadium, and it’s easily one of the nicest venues in the USL. Dell Loy Hansen is certainly walking the walk when it comes to investing in soccer development. This year, expect more good things from the Monarchs.

Reno 1868 FC – Reno, NV

• Founded: 2015
• First USL Season: 2017
• Home Stadium: Greater Nevada Field (9,013)
• Head Coach: Ian Russell
• 2017 Record: 17-8-7, +36 GD, 59 pts, 3rd in West, Lost First Round to OKC
• 2017 Attendance: 5,559
• MLS Affiliate: San Jose Earthquakes

Reno came into the USL last year with a point to prove, and they made it abundantly clear. This team broke the USL record for most goals in a season with 75, and shattered the single game record with a 9-0 destruction of LA Galaxy II. Dane Kelly had a fantastic season with 18 goals, and got himself signed by DC United last week. We’ve seen a fair bit of roster turnover as the Quakes have called up some players, and they’re now without their leading scorer so it’s a bit unknown as to how they’ll fare this season, but it’s clear that Ian Russell really, really wants to win. And before you go tweet at me saying that it totally doesn’t count because they’re controlled by the Earthquakes and they can’t even compete in the Open Cup, let me preemptively state that I really don’t care. When OKC played Reno last year, I got excited. Same sort of excitement I get when OKC plays the likes of Sacramento. Reno played a lot of really good soccer last year, so appreciate it, and hope they keep it up. Their fans certainly do, and there’s quite a lot of them.

Rio Grande Valley FC Toros – Edinburg, TX

• Founded: 2015
• First USL Season: 2016
• Home Stadium: H-E-B Park (9,735)
• Head Coach: Gerson Echeverry
• 2017 Record: 9-8-15, -13 GD, 35 pts, 11th in West
• 2017 Attendance: 7,067
• MLS Affiliate: Houston Dynamo
• Name: Clumsy and lengthy

In their two seasons of existence, the Toros have seen a season of great success on the field, and a season of stellar attendance. Unfortunately, they were not the same season. All of the good things they did in 2016 didn’t seem to carry over last year, and it became clear that Junior Gonzalez was not as good a head coach as Wilmer Cabrera (which should have been obvious). However, their new stadium is excellent, the fan support has been nothing short of exceptional, and they’ve reloaded their roster with a fresh batch of prospects. And objectively speaking, their season was not all that terrible, even leaving out T2. There’s room to grow and the right sorts of choices are being made. I”m just not sure how Gerson Echeverry will do in USL.

Sacramento Republic FC – Sacramento, CA

• Founded: 2012
• First USL Season: 2014
• Home Stadium: Papa Murphy’s Park (11,569)
• Head Coach: Simon Elliott
• 2017 Record: 13-7-12, +2 GD, 46 pts, 8th in West, lost West Semi-Final to Swope Park Rangers
• 2017 Attendance: 11,569

Sacramento had a bit of a down year on the field. Having finished 1st in the West the previous season, they likely expected to do better than sneaking into the playoffs as an 8th seed. While they did manage to knock out the top-seeded Monarchs from penalty kicks, they then had to deal with Swope Park Rangers and #WaterloggedFieldCausingPlayoffGamesToBeRelocatedFromSwopeParkGate and then, in peak USL fashion, the previous decision being overturned not long after. Either way, Swope Park won the game in their stadium 1-0. In the aftermath, the team parted ways with head coach Paul Buckle, a man most famously known for not being Preki. His replacement, Simon Elliott, comes from the team’s academy program, where he was named USSDA Western Conference U-15/16 Coach of the Year. It’s not a bad choice to promote from within, and part of the benefit of academy systems is their role in developing coaches. The team also brought in Todd Dunivant as general manager, the former San Francisco Deltas Director of Soccer Operations. All in all, lots of smart decisions being made. Oh, and off the field, they sold out every single game last season. Their lowest attendance, highest attendance, and average attendance are all the same number, and it’s the full capacity of their stadium. Incredible.

Saint Louis FC – Fenton, MO

• Founded: 2014
• First USL Season: 2015
• Home Stadium: Toyota Stadium (5,500)
• Head Coach: Anthony Pulis
• 2017 Record: 9-9-14, -13 GD, 36 pts, 12th in East
• 2017 Attendance: 4,571
• Number of Conference Changes: 3
• MLS Affiliate: Minnesota United

Welcome back to the Western Conference, Saint Louis! Yes, this team has now switched conferences after each of the past three seasons, which is frankly ludicrous. Anyway. Last year didn’t go to plan for Saint Louis. Preki was given a full year to prove himself, and it did not work. Replacing him is Anthony Pulis who spent two years in charge of Orlando City B (not to be confused with his father, Tony Pulis, currently managing Middlesbrough). He’s trimmed the roster a fair bit and brought in a number of USL and NASL vets, and hoping to make the playoffs, finally. Off the field, attendance remained solid despite a third year without a playoff appearance. On a mostly unrelated note, I attended the Saint Louis FC game against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds last August, and it was excellent. I really hope things improve up there. Maybe Pulis the Younger inherited his father’s gift for getting results on a budget.

San Antonio FC – San Antonio, TX

• Founded: 2016
• First USL Season: 2016
• Home Stadium: Toyota Field (8,400)
• Head Coach: Darren Powell
• 2017 Record: 17-11-4, +21 GD, 62 pts, 2nd in West, Lost West Semi-Final to OKC
• 2017 Attendance: 7,152
• MLS Affiliate: New York City FC

San Antonio did in 2017 what few other teams have ever done: they ran a proper rebuilding effort without changing coaches or management. Keeping the same front office from 2016, the team opened the season with a fourteen game unbeaten streak  and surged to second in the West. Diego Restrepo put up a league-leading twelve clean sheets, winning him goalkeeper of the year. He, along with much of last year’s core, are returning for this season. However, the team has lost the USL Defender of the Year Sebastian Ibeagha to NYCFC, leading scorer Billy Forbes to Phoenix, and captain Michael Reed to Nashville. They’ve definitely brought in some capable replacements with USL or better experience. We just need Darren Powell to work the same magic he worked last year. Off the field, the team managed to grow their average attendance by nearly 1,000, and were the second-best attended Western Conference team last year. Very, very well done.

Seattle Sounders 2 – Tacoma, WA

• Founded: 2014
• First USL Season: 2015
• Home Stadium: Cheney Stadium (6,500)
• Head Coach: John Hutchinson
• 2017 Record: 9-4-19, -19 GD, 31 pts, 12th in West
• 2017 Attendance: 1,033
• MLS Affiliate: Seattle Sounders

Sounders 2 have made some pretty significant offseason changes. First up, the team has moved southwest from Tukwila to Tacoma, now sharing the Chaney Stadium ballpark with the Tacoma Rainiers. They’re also expected to rebrand in the near future (hopefully) to something more Tacoma specific. They’ve also changed head coaches, with Ezra Hendrickson joining the LA Galaxy as an assistant. Enter John Hutchinson. While he hasn’t done much in the United States yet, he’s a legend in his native Australia, especially among supporters of the Central Coast Mariners. The team is also planning on building a new, 5,000 seat stadium just for S2 adjacent their new home. These are all great decisions to help expand the Sounders presence to Tacoma, and to run this team more like Bethlehem Steel than a typical MLS2 team.

Swope Park Rangers – Overland Park, KS

• Founded: 2015
• First USL Season: 2016
• Home Stadium: Shawnee Mission District Stadium (7,500)
• Head Coach: Paulo Nagamura
• 2017 Record: 17-7-8, +18 GD, 58 pts, 4th in West, Lost USL Cup to Louisville
• 2017 Attendance: 1,015
• MLS Affiliate: Sporting Kansas City

After making the championship final but losing twice, Swope Park have again signed a new coach. This time, former Sporting KC midfielder and last year’s SPR assistant Paulo Nagamura is in charge. The team has also left the stadium that gave the Swope Park Rangers their name for a stadium in the Kansas-side suburb of Overland Park. This stadium most recently played host to FC Kansas City during the inaugural NWSL season. The Rangers might not play in Swope Park any longer, but they’re almost certainly pushing for that USL championship. Only them and the former Harrisburg City Islanders (now Penn FC) have lost two championship games without a win.

Tulsa Roughnecks FC – Tulsa, OK

• Founded: 2013
• First USL Season: 2015
• Home Stadium: ONEOK Field (7,833)
• Head Coach: Dave Vaudreuil
• 2017 Record: 14-4-14, -3 GD, 46 pts, 7th in West, Lost First Round to San Antonio
• 2017 Attendance: 3,851
• MLS Affiliate: Chicago Fire

Tulsa finally made the playoffs last year, after a particularly disappointing last place finish in 2016. While a number of their standout players have departed, they’re bringing back star goalkeeper Fabian Cerda, the main coaching staff, and now have recently-retired Donovan Ricketts as goalkeeping coach. The one question I have for Tulsa in 2018 is offense, as their top  three goalscorers are gone. Losing just one of Svantesson, Caffam or Calistri would hurt. Those three combined for 29 of the team’s 46 goals, and that’s not going to be easy to replace. Maybe they’re hoping that a Ricketts-trained Fabian Cerda can simply keep 34 clean sheets.

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EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlanta United 2 – Lawrenceville, GA

• Founded: 2017
• First USL Season: 2018
• Home Stadium: Coolray Field (10,427)
• Head Coach: Scott Donnelly
• MLS Affiliate: Atlanta United
• Remaining Patience for MLS2 Branding: None

Hey, Atlanta Twonited. Who the hell is this Ray, and what makes him so cool? I need answers. Also, in the face of several MLS teams shutting down their owned-and-operated MLS2 sides in favor of partnering with independent USL teams or running hybrid systems, why did you choose to take this route? And why did you half-ass the branding? I guess I’m not all that surprised, considering how I feel about Atlanta United FC as a brand (spoiler alert: boring). But seriously, you could have called them Gwinnett County United or Lawrenceville something-or-other. In more immediately pressing concerns, their head coach has never coached at the professional level before, and has not been a head coach in an actual competitive game since 2008. That’s not necessarily a problem,  but it does stick out to me when reviewing his career history. But I guess it didn’t work out too bad for that retired lacrosse international who coached DC back in 1996.

Bethlehem Steel FC – Bethlehem, PA

• Founded: 2015
• First USL Season: 2016
• Home Stadium: Goodman Stadium (16,000)
• Head Coach: Brendan Burke
• 2017 Record: 12-8-12, +1 GD, 44 pts, 8th in East, Lost First Round to Louisville
• 2017 Attendance: 3,052
• MLS Affiliate: Philadelphia Union

If you’re looking for a great example of how to effectively use a MLS-owned USL team, this is it. Bethlehem Steel are my absolute favorite team in that category. Their logo is excellent, their name is an homage to one of the legendary early teams in American soccer, and they’re putting down roots of their own in the Lehigh Valley. Take note, every other MLS2 team. Last year was a pretty significant improvement for the Steel. Not only did they make the playoffs, they also grew their attendance by nearly 20%. Brendan Burke is making a name for himself as a competent coach, and was able to get results despite a constantly fluctuating roster. Don’t be surprised if he ends up replacing Union head coach Jim Curtin come June.

Charleston Battery – Charleston, SC

• Founded: 1993
• First USL Season: 1993
• Home Stadium: MUSC Health Stadium (5,100)
• Head Coach: Mike Anhaeuser
• 2017 Record: 15-9-8, +20 GD, 54 pts, 2nd in East, Lost First Round to NYRB2
• 2017 Attendance: 3,167

Another year, another solid season for Mike Anhaeuser and  the Battery. The team made the USL playoffs for the 10th season in a row, three players made the All-League Second Team, and attendance remained not bad at all. While the team will miss Romario Williams, who has returned to Atlanta, they’ve added Ian Svantesson from Tulsa, and really, you can never count out Mike Anhaeuser and the Battery. He’s easily the most consistent coach in the USL, and the Battery will likely continue to do what they do. However, I would like to see the team follow Pittsburgh and work on updating their brand and making a new marketing push. They could easily sell out every single game with a bit more effort.

Charlotte Independence – Matthews, NC

• Founded: 2014
• First USL Season: 2015
• Home Stadium: Sportsplex at Matthews (2,300)
• Head Coach: Mike Jeffries
• 2017 Record: 13-9-10, +12 GD, 48 pts, 5th in East, Lost First Round to Rochester
• 2017 Attendance: 1,615
• MLS Affiliate: Colorado Rapids

Charlotte had a pretty eventful offseason, including some wealthy new ownership. Former Nucor CEO Dan DiMicco has become the team’s majority owner, with Jim McPhilliamy remaining president and managing partner. This could potentially be the catalyst to finally move into Memorial Stadium. For now, though, the team will continue to play at the Sportsplex at Matthews. However, this venue is not currently viable as a long term division 2 stadium. The reason is simple: D2 stadiums must have a minimum seating capacity of 5,000. Memorial Stadium does fit the bill, and there have been talks on and off since the team was announced about its use for USL, but still nothing official. Soccer-wise, the team lost a number of key players, but with a handful of players on loan from the Rapids, their roster is far from worrying. They wil miss Enzo Martinez, though.

FC Cincinnati – Cincinnati, OH

• Founded: 2015
• First USL Season: 2016
• Home Stadium: Nippert Stadium
• Head Coach: Alan Kock
• 2017 Record: 12-10-10, -2 GD, 46 pts, 6th in East, Lost First Round to Tampa Bay
• 2017 Attendance: a lot

The online soccer media have discussed the two obvious FC Cincinnati topics to death, so I’m not going to bother with either of them. Instead, I’ll pose the following question: Why can’t Cincinnati beat the Tampa Bay Rowdies or the Charleston Battery? For the life of me, I can’t figure it out. Cincy first played the Rowdies in the 3rd Round of the 2016 Open Cup, and lost 1-0 on the road. In 2017, with the Rowdies joining USL, they were guaranteed at least two more games against them. They drew 1-1 at home and lost 2-0 on the road during the regular season, and then Tampa sent them packing in the first round of the playoffs. As for Charleston, they’re the team that welcomed Cincy to the USL with a road loss back in 2016, drew 1-1 in Cincinnati several months later, and then handed Cincinnati a playoff loss at home in the First Round in 2016. 2017 started in exactly the same fashion, with FC Cincinnati losing on the road in Charleston, and then settling for a draw when the Battery came to Ohio. I did a bit more research, and against every other Eastern Conference team from the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Cincinnati has at least one win. Except for these two. I don’t know what this means, but it’s highly intriguing. And to top it all off, for the third consecutive season, Cincinnati’s first game is on the road in Charleston. If history is any guide, my money’s on the Battery.

Indy Eleven – Indianapolis, IN

• Founded: 2013
• First USL Season: 2018
• Home Stadium: Lucas Oil Stadium (62,421)
• Head Coach: Martin Rennie
• 2017 Record: 7-12-13, -17 GD, 33 pts, 6th in NASL
• 2017 Attendance: 8,395

Welcome to the USL, Indianapolis! I’m so excited that the Eleven joined USL. They’ve been so much fun to watch over the past few years, and I’m eagerly anticipating their first games against Louisville and Cincinnati. They’ve also made some serious changes to go along with their new league, the biggest being a move to Lucas Oil Stadium. While that venue does technically seat 62,421 in the normal configuration, the team website indicates that they’ll be using something closer to around 15,000. Still, though, that’s so much nicer than Carroll Stadium, and might even see them break their season 1 attendance record. I’ve been on the field in Lucas Oil Stadium before, and it’s easily one of my favorite stadiums ever. Another significant change is the hiring of Martin Rennie as head coach. While he’s probably best known for two inconsistent seasons in Vancouver, he once led the Carolina Railhawks during their three most successful seasons from 2009 through 2011, and he recently built a brand new team in Seoul E-Park into a promotion contender in year one. It’s a pretty smart pick, and he’s already brought in some impressive names with NASL and MLS experience. Things are definitely looking up for Indy.

Louisville City FC – Louisville, KY

• Founded: 2014
• First USL Season: 2015
• Home Stadium: Louisville Slugger Field (8,000)
• Head Coach: James O’Connor
• 2017 Record: 18-8-6, +27 GD, 62 pts, 1st in East, Won USL Cup
• 2017 Attendance: 8,613

Last year could not have gone much better for Louisville. They were the undisputed best team in the Eastern Conference, finishing an absurd eight points clear of Charleston, made short work of Bethlehem and Rochester in the playoffs, finally got revenge on the Baby Bulls, and won the championship game in the dying moments. For 2018, the vast majority of the team has returned, including ten of the eleven starters from the championship game. The team also got approval from the Louisville Metro Council for their new 10,000 seat stadium, expandable to 25,000, which is scheduled to open for the 2020 season. There’s not much left to say about this team. If you’re looking for a preseason favorite to win it all, look no further.

Nashville SC – Nashville, TN

• Founded: 2016
• First USL Season: 2018
• Home Stadium: First Tennessee Park (8,500)
• Head Coach: Gary Smith

Nashville is a USL expansion team that’s been years in the making, dating back to the original plans of the NPSL Nashville FC. They’re finally here, but they might not be for long. That’s because Nashville was the first city selected by MLS for their next round of expansion, and the MLS bid owns this team. This is still speculative, but to me it looks like they’re using this team primarily to prepare for MLS in 2019 or 2020, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Nashville MLS team adopt the Nashville SC brand. They’ve picked a head coach with MLS experience, Gary Smith, who allegedly once won an MLS Cup. There’s already so much hype around this team that they’ve moved their home opener to Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans.

New York Red Bulls II – Montclair, NJ

• Founded: 2015
• First USL Season: 2015
• Home Stadium: MSU Soccer Park at Pittser Field  (5,000)
• Head Coach: John Wolyniec
• 2017 Record: 13-5-14, -3 GD, 44 pts, 7th in East, Lost East Final to Louisville
• 2017 Attendance: 632
• MLS Affiliate: New York Red Bulls

2017 was not going to be as dominant for the Baby Bulls as their record setting 2016 season, simply because a fair few of those players got promoted. And that’s the whole point of such a team. But even with some serious roster turnover, Wolyniec still managed to haul that team to the Eastern Conference Final. This year, the same sort of thing has once again happened, with leading scorer Stefano Bonomo among the four players promoted to the first team. And with those positive statements taken care of, here’s my primary grievance with this team. What the hell is going on with your attendance? A 632 average, even by MLS2 team standards, is pathetic, and that’s still a record high for NYRB2. To put things in perspective, Sacramento drew more fans per game than NYRB2 did in total all season long. NYRB2 drew less than 15% of the league average, and less than half of the lowest attended independent team (Charlotte). I did a bit of research, and fount that the independent baseball team in Montclair, the New Jersey Jackals, managed to average 1,652, and bring in a total of 91,892 fans last year. I get that there are ongoing renovations at that stadium, and I get that Red Bull is definitely wealthy enough to not need to make money on USL games, but at least act like you’re trying. There’s clearly a market for sports in Montclair. Maybe use that, and market to those people, and make some new soccer fans.

North Carolina FC – Cary, NC

• Founded: 2006
• First USL Season: 2018
• Home Stadium: Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park (10,000)
• Head Coach: Colin Clarke
• 2017 Record: 11-12-9, +9 GD, 45 pts, 3rd in NASL, lost Semi-Final to San Francisco
• 2017 Attendance: 4,471

Welcome back to the USL, RailHawks! I mean NCFC! This team was the only team to play in all seven NASL seasons. In a league known for instability among its clubs, they were remarkably stable. If you, yes you, dear reader, are one of the people who consider the team’s owner Stephen Malik a traitor against the NASL, let me be the first to cordially and respectfully invite you to stop talking. The man came in to save a team that, lest we forget, was very nearly a casualty of the Traffic Sports USA fiasco. Anyway. I’m not alone in my excitement from having NCFC joining USL. We now have three teams in the league from the Carolinas, which should hopefully make for some excellent rivalry games. Last season in the NASL went much better than the previous three, and Curt Johnson and Colin Clarke are building a pretty solid team for their second USL debut. If I have but one criticism to make, it’s that I still miss the RailHawks brand.

Ottawa Fury FC – Ottawa, ON

• Founded: 2011
• First USL Season: 2017
• Home Stadium: TD Place Stadium (24,000)
• Head Coach: Nikola Popovic
• 2017 Record: 8-14-10, +1 GD, 38 pts, 10th in East
• 2017 Attendance: 5,427
• MLS Affiliate: Montreal Impact

Ottawa’s first season in the USL was a bit of an odd one. The team spent the first third of the season near the bottom of their conference, followed by a not-half-bad summer that saw them sitting as high as fifth in June, and then six weeks later, head coach Paul Dalglish quit. Over the final twelve games under Julian de Guzman, the Fury won only one, drew 8, and lost 3. If 14 drawn games feels like a lot, that’s because it is. In fact, it’s a USL record. Off the field, former assistant/caretaker coach Julian de Guzman has become the team’s technical director, and Nikola Popovic is the new head coach. He’s fresh off a championship final loss at the helm of Swope Park, and it’s a pretty smart choice, even if he’s no Marc Dos Santos. In player news, the Fury have picked up a handful of guys from the NASL and MLS, and the roster remains rather quite Canadian. I’m expecting Ottawa to contend for the playoffs this year.

Penn FC – Harrisburg, PA

• Founded: 2003
• First USL Season: 2004
• Home Stadium: FNB Field (6,187)
• Head Coach: Raoul Voss
• 2017 Record: 10-7-15, -19 GD, 37 pts, 11th in East
• 2017 Attendance: 2,429

The Harrisburg City Islanders have been sold and rebranded as Penn FC. We covered the details a few months ago when this all unfolded. They’re now operated by Rush Soccer, one of the largest youth development programs in the country. They also have a new coach for the first time since their foundation. Longtime coach Bill Becher has become the technical advisor, with Raoul Voss named as his replacement. Voss spent the past five seasons as an assistant with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and Tampa Bay Rowdies. This is his first head coach appointment. The team has begun a new era under their new name by dramatically overhauling the roster, and I don’t blame them. Last year saw the team go through two lengthy winless stretches, and they finished with the second worst goal differential in their conference. A significant reason why Rush Soccer bought the team is to provide a professional opportunity for the strongest prospects in their system. Expect to see many young players make their professional debuts with this team over the coming seasons.

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC – Pittsburgh, PA

• Founded: 1998
• First USL Season: 1999
• Home Stadium: Highmark Stadium (5,000)
• Head Coach: Bob Lilley
• 2017 Record: 8-12-12, -9 GD, 36 pts, 13th in East
• 2017 Attendance: 2,686

Everybody, stop reading this and go look at Pittsburgh’s new logo and jerseys for a minute. I’ll wait. Seriously, go do it, it’s worth the time. Ok, you’re done? Great. Isn’t that logo so, so much nicer than anything they’ve had before? I’m very impressed with what they’ve done. And that’s not the only change. The team is also investing in some stadium expansion and renovations to bring them up to D2 standards, as well as improve the gameday experience. They’re also making a new push on marketing the team. All of this is excellent news. The team has also hired Bob Lilley, who won the 2015 championship with Rochester, and who brought along a number of former Rhinos to Pittsburgh. Through 8 preseason games this year, the team has 8 wins by a combined score of 20 to 6. Things are looking very promising for the modernized Hounds.

Richmond Kickers – Richmond, VA

• Founded: 1993
• First USL Season: 1993
• Home Stadium: City Stadium (9,000)
• Head Coach: Leigh Cowlishaw
• 2017 Record: 8-8-16, -12 GD, 32 pts, 14th in East
• 2017 Attendance: 4,665
• MLS Affiliate: DC United

Last season was great for Richmond everywhere but on the field. Their attendance grew another 17% to a new all time high for the club and they signed a deal to broadcast every single game on local OTA TV. On the field was a completely different story. The team scored only 24 goal all season, good for the worst season offensively since the moribund 2013 Antigua Barracuda. It was also the first season since 2003 that the Kickers failed to make the playoffs. They’ve responded by signing a trio of new forwards and retooling their roster around nearly a dozen new players. Considering just how far from the norm last season was, coupled with just how consistent Cowlishaw’s Kickers squads have been over the past decade and change, don’t expect a repeat of last year.

Tampa Bay Rowdies – St. Petersburg, FL

• Founded: 2008
• First USL Season: 2017
• Home Stadium: Al Lang Stadium (7,500)
• Head Coach: Stuart Campbell
• 2017 Record: 14-11-7, +15 GD, 53 pts, 3rd in East, Lost East Semi-Final to NYRB2
• 2017 Attendance: 5,894

The Rowdies had about as good of a USL debut as you could expect, finding some much needed consistency compared to their last few years in the NASL. Georgi Hristov had another fantastic season, and Marcel Schäfer finished second place in assists, tied with NYRB2’s Bezecourt with 11. Both of them, along with the majority of the team’s core, are back for 2018. The most notable departure is long time starting goalkeeper Matt Pickens, who has joined Nashville. While normally losing a player like that would hurt, they have a more than capable replacement in Cody Mizell, fresh off a solid season in Charlotte. Looking at their transfers, it seems that for each player they’ve lost, they’ve signed two or more replacements, and on paper, they have one of the strongest rosters in the Eastern Conference. I’m predicting they make some noise in the playoffs again.

Toronto FC II – Toronto, ON

• Founded: 2014
• First USL Season: 2015
• Home Stadiums: Lamport Stadium (9,600), BMO Field (30,000), Capelli Sport Stadium (13,768)
• Head Coach: Laurent Guyot
• 2017 Record: 6-7-19, -27 GD, 25 pts, 15th in East
• 2017 Attendance: 1,089
• MLS Affiliate: Toronto FC

TFC2 have been perennial losers in their three years in USL, and few players have worked their way up to the first team. This year, they’ve made some administrative changes that will hopefully fix some of their problems. Firstly, Jason Bent is out as head coach, with academy director Laurent Guyot taking over. As for venues, they’re spreading their 17 home games across three different stadiums. Their primary home, Lamport Stadium, is undergoing renovations and won’t be ready until the summer, moving the majority of games to BMO Field. Additionally, the team will play as the home team for four quasi-neutral-site games in Rochester at the normal home of the Rhinos. Why? Because if the Rhinos owners don’t hold at least some professional soccer games this season, they’re at risk of eviction. Fortunately, things seem to be headed in a positive direction between the Rhinos and the city of Rochester. But quite a few people aren’t thrilled about the arrangement.

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That’s every single one of the 33 teams playing in 2018. Now, let’s take a brief look at the three teams that aren’t returning.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2

Despite posting a not-too-shabby 2016 season that saw the ThunderCaps make the Western Conference Final, the team’s form and attendance plummeted last year, and the Whitecaps elected to instead affiliate with Fresno moving forward. This marks the second time an MLS team has folded their USL reserve side, following Montreal at the end of 2016.

Orlando City B

Orlando City B have elected to sit out the season while they “evaluate its options” for the future. I’m not entirely sure what they really mean by that. Speculation says they might join USLD3 next year, or might set up a hybrid team like Bethlehem or Reno that plays somewhere outside Orlando but still in Florida. My guess is that they may end up partnering with the Lakeland Tropics who are already working to join USLD3. If that’s the case, this is less of a hiatus and more of a very quiet folding.

Rochester Rhinos

The Rhinos have been a steadfast institution of lower division soccer since their founding back in 1996, and still remain the only professional team outside MLS to win the Open Cup. But things are not looking good up in Rochester right now. The problems began in January 2016 when the team was taken over by the league. Despite winning the USL championship only weeks earlier, the team was in financial disarray, and then-owner Rob Clark had been caught in battles with the city over unpaid rent. The league then began shopping for new ownership, and decided on the Dworkin family, minority owners of the Sacramento Kings. Unfortunately, they didn’t really have the resources to fix the problems, and following the end of the 2017 season, started looking for additional investment for 2018. That money never came, and they elected to take a season off. The USL in all of this has been as understanding as they possibly can be, and the Rhinos are still considered “in good standing” with the league office. The team is still planning to relaunch for 2019, hopefully with the additional investment they need, and potentially in the less expensive USLD3. The Dworkins have also reduced expenses with the Major League Lacrosse team they operated, the Rochester Rattlers, relocating to Frisco, TX, for 2018. In order to remain in compliance with their stadium lease, they’ll be hosting four USL games with Toronto FC II as the “home” team this season.

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OK, so that’s 36 USL teams more or less explained. The season begins tonight with two games: RGV vs. Saint Louis, and S2 vs. T2.

Follow John on Twitter: @JohnMLTX.

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