The beautiful thing about USL League One? You never know whether a given match will give you five first-half goals, live snakes, or Landon Donovan in a box seat – and that only covers Wednesday in Week 29. Across a double-stacked matchweek, what else stood out across League One for every club? Let’s dig in.
Spokane’s September swoon
The Spokane Velocity are almost certainly not going to win the Players’ Shield, and they may not get to host their first-round playoff game. Admittedly, that’s never been a problem for this club; Spokane has reached consecutive League One finals on the back of seventh- and third-place finishes in the league table. The big question is whether the Velocity’s recent tumult is a minor bump in the road or a red flag for November.
Across a 3-1 drubbing in Omaha on Wednesday and Sunday night’s 2-2 draw against Boise, Spokane took their licks across Week 29. The Velocity’s 4-4-2ish defense showed faults. Their attacking returns – at least according to the box score – were minimal. Still, manager Leigh Veidman continued to innovate, and that’ll (hopefully!) make the Velocity a stronger contender when everything is on the line.
The Omaha game was a mess from the start, and a singularly bad performance from winger Medgy Alexandre was the primary culprit. Alexandre’s effort as Spokane’s starting left winger wasn’t up to snuff. Just six minutes in, the Charleston loanee was dribbled past, allowing Omaha to go two-on-one against an isolated Derek Waldeck and cross their way into the lead. A near-identical sequence made it 2-0 by the 10th minute, with Alexandre losing out again to allow an assist from his side.
Evidently fully fit, Alexandre was pulled out of the game after just 33 minutes. At that point, Waldeck moved upfield as a winger – repeating a deployment used on the comeback trail a week ago against Chattanooga – but the damage had already been done. Even so, Spokane showed real gusto trying to recoup their losses in a 3-2-2-3 shape.
