Despite a postponement, 3 byes and 4 teams playing USL Cup games, there were still 12 Championship games this week. In those games 32 goals were scored. 19 of those were in just 3 games. A lot to unpack. This week will be radically different, as there are only 3 games being played, all of them Wednesday night. There will be 13 games over the July 4th weekend. Only one team has a double-game schedule though. One guess who that might be. The Week 17 games will be included with Week 18.
| Rank | Team | Previous | Change | Record | Last 5 | Forge Factor | Note | Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charleston Battery | 1 | 0 | 7-4-2 | LWTWW | 23.380 | Charleston’s 5-2 win over JAX follows a 5-1 win over Tulsa. They are only the 5th club in the USL to score 5 in back-to-back games and only the 4th since Division II sanctioning. | v. Loudoun |
| 2 | Lexington SC | 2 | 0 | 4-5-3 | LWLWW | 17.945 | Lexington played Indy Eleven in the USL Cup, drawing 0-0 and losing 6-7 on penalties. | Bye |
| 3 | Rhode Island FC | 4 | +1 | 4-4-3 | LTWLW | 16.534 | Rhode Island FC were on a bye this week. | Bye |
| 4 | New Mexico United | 8 | +4 | 5-4-3 | LWTTW | 16.501 | Kris Shakes made 4 big saves to deny SacRep in the 1-0 win. The early struggles are long past and United are steadily climbing in the Western standings. | Bye |
| 5 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 3 | -2 | 9-1-4 | WWTLW | 16.356 | The Rowdies got over their first loss last week with a 2-0 decision over Brooklyn. The game was closer than the score suggests, which included a very soft PK. | Bye |
| 6 | Orange County | 13 | +7 | 6-2-5 | LTWTW | 16.200 | Orange County and Las Vegas played an entertaining and extremely tight game, with OC getting the upper edge 3-2. They take the West lead by 2 points with a game in hand. | @ Miami |
| 7 | Hartford Athletic | 10 | +3 | 4-2-6 | WLTWT | 14.908 | Hartford followed up a big win over the Rowdies with a thoroughly uninspiring 0-0 draw with Pittsburgh. Still climbing in the rankings though. | Bye |
| 8 | Indy Eleven | 7 | -1 | 5-3-3 | LWWWL | 14.635 | Indy Eleven played Lexington in the USL Cup, drawing 0-0 and winning 7-6 on penalties. The scheduled league game with Brooklyn FC was postponed due to weather. | Bye |
| 9 | Colorado Springs Switchbacks | 18 | +9 | 4-4-4 | TLWLW | 14.253 | The Switchbacks had just 2 shots on target but that’s all they needed to beat Tulsa 2-1. Below the playoff line but only on tiebreakers. | v. San Antonio |
| 10 | Pittsburgh Riverhounds | 5 | -5 | 6-4-2 | LWWWT | 13.042 | Pittsburgh and Hartford went 52 minutes without a shot on goal and only 5 thereafter. A totally boring 0-0 draw that had to please every other team in the Eastern Conference. | Bye |
| 11 | Las Vegas Lights | 6 | -5 | 4-6-3 | LWTWL | 12.788 | Las Vegas did as much as they possibly could in the 2-3 loss to Orange County but couldn’t find an equalizer to offset a huge error by GK Mason Stajduhar. | Bye |
| 12 | Detroit City | 11 | -1 | 6-4-3 | WTLTW | 11.925 | Detroit City played Louisville City in the USL Cup, drawing 0-0 and losing 3-4 on penalties. | Bye |
| 13 | Louisville City | 12 | -1 | 6-5-3 | LLTWT | 11.466 | Louisville City played Detroit City in the USL Cup, drawing 0-0 and winning 4-3 on penalties. | Bye |
| 14 | Monterey Bay FC | 9 | –5 | 4-8-2 | WWWLW | 11.290 | Monterey Bay’s 3-game win streak came to an end in a poor 0-2 loss in Tulsa. They immediately got back on track with a dominant 1-0 win over El Paso despite needing a 91st-minute goal. | Bye |
| 15 | Oakland Roots | 20 | +5 | 5-3-6 | LLTTW | 10.807 | The Roots struggled to penetrate the tough Legion defense for a 1-1 draw then scored often against Phoenix in a 4-3 thriller. | Bye |
| 16 | The Miami FC | 17 | +1 | 4-4-5 | TLWLT | 8.774 | The Miami FC were on a bye this week. | v. Orange County |
| 17 | Sacramento Republic | 16 | -1 | 4-4-4 | WLLWL | 7.554 | Danny Vitiello was inexplicably 15 yards outside his box, allowing New Mexico’s Dayonn Harris the only goal of the game. Slipping dangerously close to the playoff line. | Bye |
| 18 | San Antonio FC | 19 | +1 | 5-2-6 | TTWTL | 6.021 | San Antonio FC were on a bye this week. | @ Colorado Springs |
| 19 | Phoenix Rising | 15 | -4 | 4-5-5 | LWLTL | 5.951 | Phoenix and Oakland played a scoreless first half but bagged 7 in the second. The 3-4 loss was not quite that close: Phoenix was awarded an iffy PK. | Bye |
| 20 | FC Tulsa | 14 | -6 | 5-4-4 | WTLWL | 5.650 | Tulsa had just 35.9% possession but never looked threatened in the 2-0 win over Monterey Bay. They were far less impressive in the 1-2 loss to Colorado Springs. Barely holding on to a home playoff spot. | Bye |
| 21 | Birmingham Legion | 22 | +1 | 2-4-7 | LTLTT | 4.899 | Legion played 2 mirror-image games: a defensive showing in Oakland giving up a late 1-1 equalizer and an attacking outing at home against Loudoun scoring a late equalizer for a 1-1 draw. 6 games winless though. | Bye |
| 22 | El Paso Locomotive | 21 | –1 | 4-5-4 | LLTTL | 4.023 | 3 big saves by Sebastain More-More made the 0-1 loss to Monterey Bay look a lot better than it really was. 9 points and no wins in the last 9 games. | Bye |
| 23 | Brooklyn FC | 24 | +1 | 2-8-3 | LLTTL | 2.984 | Brooklyn had a wasted midweek trip to Indy for a weather postponement. They then lost to Tampa Bay 0-2 in a fairly even contest. Winless since April 11th. | Bye |
| 24 | Loudoun United | 23 | -1 | 1-4-7 | WTLLT | 0.350 | Loudoun’s Abdellatif Aboukoura scored a banger that was equalled by Sebastian Tregarthen, both up for Goal of the Week in the 1-1 draw. But keeper Ethan Bandré was the real hero with 5 saves. | @ Charleston |
| 25 | Sporting JAX | 25 | 0 | 0-11-3 | TTLLL | -2.328 | The good news: JAX has scored 2 goals in back-to-back games. The bad news: they’ve allowed 11 goals in those games. The 2-5 loss to Charleston extends the record winless streak to 131The USL record is 26 games by the Antigua Barracudas in 2013 but that was Division III.). | Bye |
