We know Nashville SC will play in the Eastern Conference of the USL this year. We don’t know how the Boys in Gold, with a completely new roster, will stack up to the competition. Of course, we can make educated guesses based on what we do know.
Based on last year’s results, what can we expect from the returning Eastern Conference teams? Let’s take a look at those who made the playoffs (where we hope to find NSC in 2018) first.
Louisville City
- 2017 position: 1
- Points/game: 1.94 (18 wins, 6 losses, 8 draws)
- Goals/game: 1.81
- Goals against/game: 0.97
Louisville City was the East’s best team, and in the end turned out to be USL Champion after a 1-0 victory over Swope Park Rangers in the USL Cup final. They scored more goals than any team in the conference, and although the defense was at times spotty (three teams below them in the table had better goals against averages), they were able to win more games and lose fewer than any other team in the East – while only teams well beneath them in the table had fewer draws, as well.
They return four different players with over five goals (regular season and playoffs combined, though the above numbers pertain only to the regular season): Striker Luke Spencer scored 11 goals, his backup Cameron Lancaster eight, while wingers Brian Ownby (left) and George Davis IV (right) both had seven. Defensively, they return both goalkeepers from last season, USL Best XI center back Paco Craig, assist leader left-back Oscar Jimenez, and captain Paolo DelPiccolo, a defensive midfielder.
Their only additions are defensive midfielder Pat McMahon (who joined from FC Cincinnati, where he got only two appearances last season), and midfielder Magnus Rasmussen, who returned after a year in Denmark. In his previous stint at Louisville, he was a goal-scorer, but a hip injury saw him remake his game to be a bit more defensive – which is clearly the area that Louisville City wanted to shore up.
Charleston Battery
- 2017 position: 2
- Points/game: 1.69 (16 wins, 8 losses, 9 draws)
- Goals/game: 1.66
- Goals against/game: 0.63
Charleston didn’t score a ton of goals – a good number, not a ton – but had an extremely tough defense.
The Battery also had more players on Best XI teams than any other team in USL – but they don’t bring all of them back. Their lone first-XI defender, Forrest Lasso, headed to Cincinnati this offseason. Box-to-box midfielder Taylor Portillo went to Real Monarchs, the new USL affiliate of MLS side Real Salt Lake. Striker Romario Williams – who scored 15 goals last year – was signed by Atlanta United (Charleston Battery was their USL affiliate before the establishment of ATL UTD 2). Striker Heviel Cordoves, the team’s second-leading scorer with nine goals, has departed for the Richmodn Kickers.
They do return captain Taylor Mueller, a central defender and second-best XI honoree. Also back are wingback Quentin Griffith, second striker Kotaro Higashi (seven assists), and keeper Odisnel Cooper. Still, this is a roster decimated by talent heading out. Their only public addition in the offseason has been left winger Ian Svantesson, though the Tulsa Roughnecks’ leading scorer from last season (11 goals) is a good addition. Unless and until they add more high-end talent, though, this looks like a squad poised for a step back.
Tampa Bay Rowdies
- 2017 position: 3
- Points/game: 1.66 (14 wins, 7 losses, 11 draws)
- Goals/game: 1.56
- Goals against/game: 1.09
The Rowdies weren’t a super-potent offense, and they didn’t pair it with an elite defense, either. They were timely in their scoring to avoid losses, but had more draws than the teams above them.
Their key returner is longtime Wolfsburg midfielder Marcel Schäfer, who was on the USL Best XI in his first year in Tampa (seven goals, 11 assists). Center-back Neill Collins, at 34, is another aged member of the squad who will be back – though he was productive despite his age last season, with the most clearances, blocks, and interceptions of anyone on the team last year. Left back Luke Boden (most passes per 90) is also back.
Leading scorer Georgi Hristov seems to be departing, however (nothing official has been announced, but this seems like a solid indication), likely taking 15 goals and five assists into retirement or back home to Bulgaria. Second-leading scorer Martin Paterson has not re-signed – and also isn’t in the Rowdies’ squad-numbers tweet – and if he doesn’t, that’s another nine goals gone. Another huge name to depart? Matt Pickens, whom you may recognize as the presumptive starting keeper for your Nashville SC this year. While the defense in front of the goalie has been maintained, the backstop (all but 286 minutes of the season played with a .67 save rate) isn’t there.
The Rowdies have been more active than the teams that finished above them in signing new players, however. They snatched up Rochester Rhinos striker Jochen Graf (11 goals for the now-defunct squad last season), grabbed goalkeeper Cody Mizell from Charlotte Independence (.677 saves as the full-time starter), and have doubled down defensively with defensive midfielder Lance Rozeboom, right back Kyle Curinga, center back Ivan Magalhäs, and right back David Najem. None are huge signings, but they should help this defense be nigh impregnable. The problem is losing basically all your scoring and not replacing much of it, but we’ll see if they can manufacture goals in other ways.
Rochester Rhinos
Defunct
- 2017 position: 4
- Points/game: 1.66 (14 wins, 7 losses, 11 draws)
- Goals/game: 1.13
- Goals against/game: 0.88
The Rhinos are reportedly on just a one-year hiatus, but color me skeptical that they’ll be able to return – that’s just the way of soccer in this country (“let’s add pro-rel and drive more teams out of business!” the Greek Chorus chimes in). You’ll see some of their top players dispersed among the other teams in the East.
Charlotte Independence
- 2017 position: 5
- Points/game: 1.50 (13 wins, 10 losses, 9 draws)
- Goals/game: 1.63
- Goals against/game: 1.25
The Independence had a decent offense, but the worst defense we’ve seen to this point in the table (naturally, the defenses will trend downward as we move from good to bad).
We’ve already seen that the Independence lost their starting goalie to Tampa Bay, but they return one of the USL’s most potent one-two scoring punches in Enzo Martinez (17 goals, five assists) and Jorge Herrera (12 goals, five assists). The Colombian, Herrera, is 37, so it’s not unreasonable to expect a drop-off in skills at some point soon, but he got it done last year, so it hasn’t happened yet. Martinez, a Uruguayan-American, is a more sprightly 27. Alex Martinez, a midfielder, is back, as are captain and center back Bilal Duckett, right back Joel Johnson, center back Henry Kalungi, and defensive midfielder Jun Marcus Davidson.
The primary losses outside of Mizell are left back Austin Yearwood (moved to Richmond Kickers) and midfielder Callum Ross (Oklahoma City Energy). Ross had the fourth-most passes per 90 on the squad, while Yearwood was fourth in clearances and tackles. Ross, at least, should be easily replaceable, as he was more a backup to Lewis Hilton for much of the year.
Independence hasn’t publicly added any talent since last season, so there’s a good chance they take a step back with the loss of Mizell (presumably backup Kyle Renfro will replace him, though they need to sign some serious goalie depth by March).
FC Cincinnati
- 2017 position: 6
- Points/game: 1.44 (12 wins, 10 losses, 10 draws)
- Goals/game: 1.44
- Goals against/game: 1.50
FC Cincinnati is a darling of the media because of their US Open Cup run, outstanding attendance numbers, and MLS bid – all of which are definitely deserving of credit. But they weren’t particularly good on a game-to-game basis last year, with a relatively anemic offense and by far the worst defense we’ve seen yet, to give them the first negative goal differential in the table.
I’ll start at the opposite end of my discussion, though, because they’ve opened up the checkbook this offseason to add a ton of talent. Since the USL Cup playoffs ended, they’ve added 14 new players to the roster, including the four most expensive they own, per TransferMarket (an imperfect source, no doubt, but a reasonable starting point to estimate). The key signing was the New York Cosmos’ Emmanuel Ledesma, who was tied as the NASL’s fourth-leading scorer with 10 goals. Other notable signings include center back Dekel Keinan (Maccabi Haifa in Israel), midfielder Lance Laing (tied for eighth in NASL with eight goals for North Carolina FC), and Tommy Heinemann (tied for sixth in NASL with nine goals, for NASL Cup champions San Francisco Deltas). That’s a ton of firepower and a good defender for a mediocre (sixth in Israeli Premier League last year) team overseas. That’s just a small sampling of the talent they’ve added: they’re serious about improving the squad.
They also return some of their key players from last year, like leading scorer and striker Djiby Fall (12 goals, three assists), second leading scorer and striker Danni König (11 goals, one assist), and defensive midfielder Kenney Walker.
That they dealt their lone Best XI player (defender Harrison Delbridge headed back to his native Australia to play for Melbourne City FC), their starting goalie (Mitch Hildebrandt signed with Atlanta United), and other key players is… well, it’s not good, but by all appearances they’ve upgraded at most positions, right? As long as one of the three keepers (or a combination) they’ve signed since season’s end can approximate his performance, they should be an improved squad overall.
New York Red Bulls II
- 2017 position: 7
- Points/game: 1.38 (13 wins, 14 losses, 5 draws)
- Goals/game: 1.78
- Goals against/game: 1.88
The first MLS reserve team in the standings, NYRBII were nothing if not exciting: they’re the highest-scoring team we’ve seen yet outside of Louisville City, but their defense was profoundly awful, making for some high-scoring contests. It should come as no surprise that they drew the fewest games in the East, because the sheer number of goals scored meant a result one way or the other most games.
It’s hard to evaluate reserve teams’ rosters, because by definition they’re intimately tied in with their MLS squad (and not just for players to pass between the two, but also for the USL side to develop and sell talent, rather than have a ton of continuity). Leading scorers Stefano Bonomo, Florian Valot, and Junior Flemmings are all with the Red Bulls for now, but will they be back with the USL side by the time the season begins?
Their roster is tough to discern at this point – and that’s basically fine (like their “score, get scored on” style) because a reserve team serves a different purpose than a USL side. Expect, with NSC’s scoring talent, a lot of goals for. Unless the Boys in Gold add defensive depth, NYRBII might get plenty of ’em coming the other way, too.
Bethlehem Steel
- 2017 position: 8 (tiebreaker in USL is total wins rather than goal differential, putting them behind NYRBII)
- Points/game: 1.38 (12 wins, 12 losses, 8 draws)
- Goals/game: 1.44
- Goals against/game: 1.41
Steel was a similar team to NYRBII (but less so, and actually a little bit better, though USL’s tiebreaking procedures don’t bear that out). They didn’t score or allow as many goals, and had a positive goal differential.
Key returners include captain and central midfielder James Chambers (who had by far the most minutes of any player on the squad), left winger Santi Moar, and right wing Chris Nanco.
They lost leading scorer Seku Conneh to a K-League side, while second-leading scorer Cory Burke, a 26-year old Jamaica international, is up with parent club Philadelphia Union for the time being (they aren’t a pure reserve team, but are more into the back-and-forth flow of players than other affiliates like Charleston Battery).
They’ve added some nice talent, though. Striker Brandon Allen, midfielder Omar Holness, and center back Brandon Aubrey were all signed to MLS squads last year (New York Red Bulls, Real Salt Lake, and Toronto FC, respectively), though Allen and Aubrey played primarily with reserve squads in USL.
Tomorrow: The remaining teams in the Eastern Conference
Club and Country 