The first weekend of the playoffs were wild. Three of the top four seeds were eliminated. 4 road teams won in total. 11 teams kept clean sheets. Just 6 goals were scored across all 8 games. Three games, all ending scoreless, were decided in penalty shootouts. Two games ended 10v10, with a red card total for the week of 5.
As a result, the playoffs are now wide open. All four games this weekend are on Saturday. Here’s our rundown of what’s coming up:
North Carolina FC v. Rhode Island FC (6:00pm, ESPN+). After beating Loudoun United 1-0 on a 6th-minute Oalex Anderson goal, NCFC find themselves the top seed in the East. They face Rhode Island who held off the Charleston Battery 0-0 and won 5-3 on PKs. The visitors will be without Jojea Kwizera who was sent off with a double-yellow for arguing. North Carolina’s playoff run is however marred by the news this week that the team wil be going on hiatus at season’s end, hopefully to return when the USL launches its Division I league.
Pittsburgh Riverhounds v. Detroit City (6:30pm, ESPN+). The Pittsburgh Riverhounds squeaked into the second round on a 4-2 PK win, having played Hartford Athletic to a 0-0 draw. They managed just 1 shot on target in 120 minutes despite 63.2% possession. not a glorious outing. Detroit pulled off what no other team did all season: they beat Louisville City at their stadium. The biggest upset of the week by far. They were outshot 19-3 overall and 3-1 on target. They are the lowest remaining seed so if last week’s heroics are to continue they will all be on the road.
FC Tulsa v. Phoenix Rising (7:00pm, ESPN+). With the top 2 in the East now out, Tulsa now has a clear run to host the Championship game. They just barely got by the Colorado Springs Switchbacks 1-0, scoring 2 minutes into extra time last week. That was apparently enough for the Switchbacks to fire their head and assistant coaches. The Rising were also 1-0 winners over El Paso Locomotive in a surprisingly low-scoring affair for those two sides. This was another squeaker: they needed a late Charlie Dennis penalty for the win despite playing against 10 men after 73 minutes.
New Mexico United v. Orange County SC (8:00pm, ESPN+). New Mexico were the only team to score more than once, thoroughly dominating San Antonio FC for a 2-0 win. That was probably the only game of the week that went more or less to form. Orange County were the last team to progress, playing the late Sunday game and needing 120 minutes of scoreless play against the Sacramento Republic and a 5-4 shootout win. They will be without Christopher Hegardt, ejected for a 105th-minute fight with SacRep’s Rodrigo Lopez, who was also shown the red card. Lopez had announced his retirement last week, going out literally with a bang.
