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Talking Points - Week 7

By ETHAN TRIEBSCH - ethan.triebsch@uslsoccer.com, 05/03/23, 1:00PM EDT

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North Carolina, Charlotte continue hot start to 2023 campaign

North Carolina FC are on fire early, Charlotte and Madison remain the league's lone undefeated sides, Chattanooga slip three goals past Lexington in the final 10 minutes, Omaha snap Northern Colorado's clean sheet streak, Players' Shield holders Richmond top defending champs South Georgia, and Knoxville earn a big three points in stoppage time against Central Valley.

Here are the biggest takeaways from each Week 7 League One match.

1. Best start for NCFC since 2011

North Carolina FC (4-1-1, 1st) pulled out a 2-1 victory at Paladin Stadium against Greenville Triumph SC (2-4-0, 8th) to wrap up an unbeaten April and secure its best start to a season since the 2011 NASL campaign. NCFC's second-ever win against Greenville meant the side topped the League One table for the first time since joining the league back in 2021.

A pair of tough penalty concessions from Triumph SC youngster Hassan Gabo saw the league's Golden Boot leader Rafa Mentzingen have a chance from the spot twice. Mentzingen's first attempt was saved before Louis Perez swooped in to finish the rebound, while Mentzingen later finished his second opportunity to secure the victory late in the first half.

Greenville got a goal back late through Daniel Wu's first professional score, but at that point, the match was secured by NCFC. The loss snapped a two-match win streak for Triumph SC.

"At the end of the day we have to be a team that really starts with the energy on the front foot," Greenville Head Coach John Harkes said following the loss. "We did it against Fuego FC and we saw the result, 3-0. We were capable of doing it again tonight and for some reason, we just weren’t firing on all cylinders."

2. Jacks, 'Mingos remain unbeaten

Now the lone undefeated teams remaining in the league, Forward Madison FC (1-0-3, 9th) and the Charlotte Independence (3-0-4, 2nd) played to a scoreless draw at Breese Stevens Field on Saturday afternoon.

The pair of strong starts to the season are nearing a pair of respective records; Madison is one unbeaten match shy of matching its club record of five to start a season, while Charlotte - already enjoying its longest unbeaten start to a season in club history - are one unbeaten match shy of tying Union Omaha's (2020) League One record of eight unbeaten matches to start a season.

"There were a lot of great efforts tonight. We blocked a lot of shots, we got in front of a lot of balls. We fought hard,” Charlotte Head Coach Mike Jeffries said. "We’re certainly not the biggest team and we’ve been fighting hard to manage crosses, and I think it’s a combination of great individual efforts, different guys stepping up on different plays and in different moments.” 

The match itself was controlled by the hosts, but a sensational, seven-save outing from Independence goalkeeper Austin Pack meant the pair of unbeaten sides settled for a scoreless draw.

"We showed a lot of mental toughness on the road against another strong team," Pack said. "It’s been a long stretch of games, but everyone stepped up tonight to get a good point on the road."

"Charlotte’s was the first-place team so we knew it was going to be a difficult match," FMFC Head Coach Matt Glaeser said. "It’s just one of those days where you look at the numbers, how the game went, and we have to be winning these and capitalize on the opportunities."

3. Three goals in 10 minutes secures three points for Red Wolves

After struggling out of the gate, Chattanooga Red Wolves SC (2-2-1, 6th) claimed a much-needed 3-1 victory over visiting Lexington SC (1-4-1, 11th) on Saturday evening at CHI Memorial Stadium.

A fantastic solo score from Lexington's Seo-In "Soso" Kim in the 78th minute seemingly shifted the momentum in the visitors' favor, but just minutes later the Red Wolves piled it on. Between the 80th minute and the final whistle, Chattanooga found a trio of rapid scores through defender Nicolás Cardona and substitutes Ropapa Mensah and Mayele Malango, securing the comeback victory.

Despite a pair of promising mid-month results, Lexington are in the midst of the third-worst start to a debut League One season as LSC have dropped a league-high six points from winning positions.

"In the first half, we had some good moments with the ball for 25 to 30 minutes," said Chattanooga Head Coach Ziggy Korytoski. "After that, I felt Lexington made a little adjustment and it kind of went against us.

"In the second half, we made some defensive adjustments and we were much better — we mixed up the game and formations a bit with two up top, and having Mayele and Ropapa come in really changed the game. I felt from that moment on we were the more dangerous team."

4. Meza, Owls dent Hailstorm's unblemished start

Union Omaha (2-1-2, 4th) ensured its league-record three clean sheets to start a season in 2021 will be shared with - rather than topped by - Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC (1-1-2, 10th) as the Owls upended the then-unbeaten Hailstorm 3-2 in the former's return to Werner Park.

Player of the Week and Player of the Month nominee Noe Meza dueled with promising northern Colorado native Trevor Amann, with each striker recording a brace in the contest. Meza pulled off a sensational bicycle kick goal while Amann's shorthanded Hailstorm fell just one-goal short of erasing a three-goal deficit.

"I saw the ball go to Pedro Dolabella's head and I knew he was going to win it," Meza said. "Getting in front of the defender and gathering it off my chest was a skill I’ve done in training before. I hadn’t done it in a game before and it was an amazing feeling once I saw the ball in the back of the net."

"Obviously a big change in the game happened quite early on,” Hailstorm Head Coach Éamon Zayed said of the early ejection. "It felt like we were getting into a bit of a rhythm before that, able to control a bit of the game. Then, obviously, having a man sent off changes the picture."

As previously mentioned in last week's and this week's Power Rankings, Lalo Delgado and the Hailstorm defense have been solid, but they also had not been previously tested by an offense as potent as Omaha's. In the first match of the season in which Northern Colorado faced more than four shots on target, it conceded three.

"We made it difficult for ourselves in the second half with the two goals we conceded so obviously pleased with the three points, pleased with the guys to go out there and work as hard as they did and play as well as they did, but we need to manage the end of the game a lot better," Omaha Head Coach Dominic Casciato said.

"When things aren’t going your way, it’s easy to take the mentality of the victim. But the guys didn’t have that attitude," Zayed added. "They stayed strong and continued to fight. Those are big moments as the season progresses, where guys can look around the locker room and know that they have each other’s backs. It’s a big character-building moment."

5. Players' Shield holders top league champions

As 2022 was the first League One season in which the Players' Shield and League One title were not claimed by the same club, the matchup between South Georgia Tormenta FC (3-4-0, 3rd) and the Richmond Kickers (2-1-2, 5th) was the first-ever meeting between defending regular season and postseason champions. In the high-stakes match, the Kickers extended their all-time advantage over the Ibises to 4-2-5 with a convincing 3-1 victory in a soggy Statesboro.

"The guys worked very hard to get themselves ready with a short turnaround from the U.S. Open Cup match on Wednesday," Kickers Head Coach and Sporting Director Darren Sawatzky said. "We had some weary legs but showed some quality in the first half to get some needed points in the road."

With TJ Bush and Pablo Jara splitting time between the pipes, Tormenta FC has concerningly conceded a league-high 11 goals and are second in League One with an average of 1.57 goals conceded per match. On average, South Georgia have previously recorded 4.5 matches each season across all competitions in which it concedes three or more goals. In nine total matches this season, Tormenta FC has already experienced four such matches.

For the Kickers, it's been tough to replicate its record-breaking 2022 offensive productivity, so netting three goals and seeing Emiliano Terzaghi open his 2023 account with certainly be reassuring heading toward the middle of the season.

"We did a good job of moving the ball in the first half and we created final third entries that led to set pieces," Sawatzky added of the Kickers' scores. "We converted early on a corner kick then Emi [Terzaghi] smacked a free kick that got deflected into the goal. The sequence that led to Justin [Sukow]'s goal was good build-up play and creative execution in the box. We're happy to see the work come into a game but we need to continue to work for more and more consistency."

6. van der Pluijm wills Knoxville to victory

One Knoxville SC (2-2-1, 7th) snapped a three-match winless run thanks to a Yesin van der Pluijm winner in stoppage time to secure a 1-0 victory in California against Central Valley Fuego FC (1-4-1, 12th).

Fuego FC were forced to overcome an early obstacle with Mouhamed Dabo's ninth-minute ejection. To be fair, Central Valley did well to fend off numerous Knoxville chances up until stoppage time. The visitors finally did take advantage of their numerical upper hand, relying on a van der Pluijm rip from the top of the box to secure the much-needed victory.

On the other side, Fuego FC is tied for the fourth-worst start to a season in league history coupled with an all-time low of just two goals through the first six matches of a season. Adding lethal Turks and Caicos Islands goalscorer Billy Forbes should help Fuego FC start to overcome its goalscoring woes, but I'm also looking for more leadership and offensive production from veterans Othoniel Arce, José Carrera-García and Villyan Bijev.


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