USL League One Week 16: Five Questions
Five Saturday matches, five questions surrounding each one.
We’re nearing the midway point of the 2025 season as we head into week 16 of the regular USL League One season. There are five matches this weekend, so we have five questions surrounding them.
What will it take for Greenville to get out of its slump?
Sure, we’re about halfway through the season and Greenville is in a major slump. But despite eight matches without a win, five of which have been losses, they’re still only two points out of the playoff bubble. A home playoff match might be all but out of the question at this point, but playoffs are still well within reach.
But what will it take to turn things around?
For one, the offense needs a jump-start. Greenville has only one goal in its last four matches. And while 36 year old striker Leo Castro is in the running for Golden Boot with six regular season goals, secondary support has been sparse. Ropapa Mensah has yet to score, and then disappeared from the roster with a hamstring injury after June 7th. While it appears he’ll be available this weekend, the team desperately needs his scoring threat to materialize.
Other expected goal-scorers who are underperforming include Michael Gonzalez with no goals through 160 minutes; Chevone Marsh, with no goals through 468 minutes; and then there’s the issue of Rodrigo Robles’ promising second season being cut short by an ankle injury.
The defense hasn’t been perfect, but has settled down a bit over the last month, conceding only one goal per match over the last four. But when the result has been three 1-0 losses and a 1-1 draw, they’re only spinning their wheels.
Greenville will host Chattanooga Red Wolves this weekend, a team on a hot streak and with a 1-0 win over Greenville earlier this season.
Are Knoxville’s Pitch Woes Going to be Fixed?
It’s been a rough week in Knoxville after last Friday’s match against Richmond had to be postponed about 20 minutes in after the goalpost broke. But it was already a dangerous situation, with the turf around the baseball diamond in clearly bad shape according to numerous witnesses both on and off the pitch. After a thunderstorm blew in on top of it all, it was in everyone’s best interest to call this one.
In the meantime, the women’s team moved all matches to Maryville College while the Knoxville Smokies baseball team has been away on a two-week road trip. It’s presumed that the Smokies and One Knox are working on fixing the poor field conditions in the meantime. We’ll find out on Saturday when One Knox hosts South Georgia Tormenta.
Can Anyone Stop Spokane’s Momentum?
Spokane Velocity rolls into Richmond this weekend on a ten match regular season lossless streak, seven of which have been wins. They’ll be visiting a team that has never won a regular season matchup against them; the only win Richmond has against Spokane was a meaningless, late-season Jägermeister Cup match last August.
Worse for Richmond, we’re hearing leading goal-scorer Darwin Espinal will be missing a few matches due to an injury received in the early part of last Friday’s washout match against Knoxville. And while there’s a bit of counter-hope in last weeks’ return of Adrian Billhardt, Chandler O’Dwyer and Emiliano Terzaghi, there’s no downplaying the impact Espinal has had over the first half of the season.
Richmond has had a long week to regroup after the disastrous trip to Knoxville, and it’s a long trip from Spokane to Richmond. But despite these nominal advantages, Richmond may not be set up to be the ones who can halt Spokane’s momentum.
Can Texoma Pass the Charlotte Test?
Remember when Texoma started the year winless through its first six regular season matches? It’s difficult to fathom today, because since that sixth match, they’ve gone on a five match lossless streak with notable wins over Omaha, Greenville and Richmond.
In fact, the last time Texoma lost was a stoppage time heartbreaker at home to Charlotte Independence, the team visiting this weekend for a rematch. In that one, Texoma equalized on a brace from Ajmeer Spengler in the 84th minute, only to concede a penalty five minutes into stoppage time.
It’s safe to say that Texoma already has a good idea on how to break down Charlotte’s defense. They remain the only team this season to score three goals against the Jacks. Can they build on those lessons to do it again? Can they maintain their improved defensive structure as well? Or will Charlotte take their own lessons into this match and tamp down?
AV Alta vs. Portland Hearts of Pine: Who’s the Real Contender?
With FC Naples settled into a top four spot in the table, several other expansion sides are playing some quality football lately. This includes AV Alta, a squad that hasn’t seen a regular season loss in its last five; and Portland Hearts of Pine, who exploded for a decisive win over defending champs Union Omaha last weekend.
AV Alta and Portland will meet for their first ever match on Saturday in Lancaster, CA for some League One After Dark action. AV Alta is coming off a dominating 5-2 road win over Westchester, and was propelled to 5th in the table. They’re a much more well-rounded squad, with regular season goals coming from nine different players. Alexis Cerritos, Jimmie Villalobos and Eduardo Blancas have three a piece in this difficult to defend setup.
Portland started the season slow, scoring only two in its first four regular season matches, and not scoring more than two until this past weekend. Winger Ollie Wright had been held scoreless in regular season play until his hat trick in that 3-1 win over Union Omaha.
We’re still leaning towards AV Alta being the sustainable playoff contender here, but this may end up a high-scoring, back and forth thriller, worth staying up late to watch.