Kicking Off … Carolina Ascent Pull Ahead in Super League’s Short Season
Carolina Ascent FC (5-1-0, 15 Points) won another match this past weekend, keeping them atop the USL Super League — also known as the Gainbridge Super League for sponsorship reasons — and 4 points ahead of their closest competitor in the table.
That’s only scratching the surface of how dominant the Ascent have been.
The 1-0 victory over last place Brooklyn FC (1-5-0, 3 Points) was the Ascent’s 16th win since the last time the Ascent dropped points in consecutive games (Valentines Day, February 14). That’s 16 wins and 1 draw in their last 19 competitive matches for a truly superlative average of 2.63 points per match.
If you’re a football nerd, you know that 2.63 ppm is the exact same number Manchester City achieved in the 2017-18 Premiere League season, when they set the single season record for most points in modern first tier competition.
That is how good the Ascent are.
On Saturday, they face Sporting JAX (3-2-1, 10 Points) at home. Jacksonville is the only team Carolina haven’t faced during the short season, but the last time the teams met they played two in a row, with the Ascent winning 3-1 at home and 0-1 away, taking six points from a team that only needed one to secure the Players’ Shield and their first Super League title.
Jacksonville might have something to say about that, so we asked Ascent head coach Philip Poole about how he’s preparing for the match.
“I've got a boring answer for you unfortunately,” said Poole. “We put [in] just as much prep and give just as much respect to Brooklyn as we do Lexington and Jacksonville. And I think when you don't, you get caught … the prep and the respect is a given, but I think it’s a different team, different proposition, different areas that’ll hurt us [as opposed to Brooklyn].”
The Ascent host Jacksonville at 7:00 PM Saturday, September 26 at Memorial Stadium.
Watch: Post Match Interview with Coach Poole
Lineups: What You Need to Know
We’ll start in MLS NEXT Pro since, for the second time in club history, Crown Legacy FC (58 Points) have won the Southeast Division with the best regular season record in the Eastern Conference, claiming the #1 Seed in the East for the MLS NEXT Pro playoffs.
Were they to win the playoff, it would be the first cup win for the Charlotte FC organization. You can read our full writeup here.
“I think you can see by the quality of the league, and how the table was, we had to fight throughout the entire season to maintain our top spot, and nothing changed on the last day of the season.”
- Crown Legacy FC head coach Kevin Sawchak
Crown Legacy picked their first playoff opponent today, and could potentially host the MLS NEXT Pro Cup final during the Nov. 6-8 window if they win the Eastern side of the bracket.
Crown Legacy chose to play the winner of the play-in match, so they will face either #8 RBNY II or #9 Huntsville City FC in a couple weeks.
Crown Legacy had 2 wins and one shootout win agains Huntsville this season. Their biggest win was 7-2 at Home.
Legacy and RBNY II met once. Legacy won 0-3 Away.
If Crown Legacy host the final, all of us at Soccer Sheet hope the boys get the chance to play at the Bank.
NWSL: Ashley Sanchez will have to wait to match the single-season scoring record in the NWSL, and you can blame VAR. The NC Courage (12-10-3, 39 Points) dropped to 7th place in the table after falling 1-2 to first place Gotham FC (15-4-6, 51 Points), and the offside flag was the culprit in what was otherwise a strong performance from the Lioness.
Jordynn Dudley had a brace for Gotham, with goals in the 8th minute and in stoppage time. She got superstar assists from Sam Kerr in the first half and Rose Lavelle in the second.
Did Gotham put in a cheat code or what?
Evelyn Ijeh slotted in a response just 6 minutes later, but the goal was called offside.
Sanchez also almost got the equalizer at the start of the second half, but the goal was called off when VAR found Gianna Paul offside.
Paul was in her first match for the Courage after being acquired from KC Current.
Natalia Staude got the equalizer for the Courage in the 69th minute, but Dudley’s late goal sealed the win for Gotham.
The Courage doing well in the stat column all night, with more shots on goal (14 to 11), equal shots on target (3 apiece), and a higher xG (1.14 to 1.09) even without the two goals called back.
Next up, the Courage travel west to face 5th place Utah Royals FC (13-9-3, 42 Points) on Sunday, September 27 at 7:00 PM.
Three points would guarantee the Courage climb at least one spot in the table due to their superior goal difference.
Major League Soccer: If we’re being real, Nashville SC (17-3-6, 57 Points) will almost certainly win the East, and are the favorite to win the Supporters’ Shield. Fourth place Charlotte FC (12-7-7, 43 Points) did what they needed to do against 11th place DC United (6-8-11, 29 Points), winning 1-2 thanks to goals Ashley Westwood and Allan Saint-Maximin.
It may have been Maxi’s first goal, but he already has 5 assists in 6 starts for the Crown. Furthermore, 6 goal contributions seems low because it doesn’t scratch the surface of the number of plays he’s created since arriving in the Queen City.
After missing two matches in a row due to yellow cards, captain Ashley Westwood came back with a goal from his favorite spot, right above the box.
U-20 World Cup: Both the United States and England fell in the Round of 16 in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
Carolina Ascent player B Hylton featured in all 4 of England’s matches, but the Young Lionesses’ run ended with a 0-3 loss to Nigeria.
The U.S. lost to Brazil in penalties, 1-1 (5-4).
Spain will face Youth Women’s powerhouse North Korea in the final on Sunday, September 27 at 12:00 PM ET in Łódź, Poland.
USL Super League: The Carolina Ascent FC (5-1-0, 15 Points) are riding high ahead of their match against Jacksonville at 7:00 PM ET this Saturday, September 26 at Memorial Stadium.
B Hylton didn’t get enough rest to feature in last week’s game, but she’ll have an opportunity to be back out on the pitch.
ICYMI, the Ascent have an official band: Garinger High School’s Blue Funk Sound Machine.
USL League One: The second place Charlotte Independence (17-5-5, 56 Points) drew 5th place Athletic Club Boise (13-7-7, 46 Points) 1-1 in Idaho despite going a man down, and beat last place Richmond Kickers (5-16-5, 20 Points) 1-2.
Against Boise, Sega Coulibaly picked up two quick yellow cards and was sent off early.
After conceding, the Jacks battled back to a 1-1 draw thanks to a Reudd Manin equalizer off a Bakero assist.
In Richmond, a corner kick led to own goal by the Kickers’ Owen O'Malley, giving the Jacks an early lead in the 8th minute.
O’Malley quickly made up for it, assisting Tarik Pannholzer on the equalizer 3 minutes later.
Bakero would assist again near the end of the half, passing it to Joey Skinner for the winner. The Jacks held on through an uneventful second half for the win
Programming Alert: The Jacks will host their final home matches of the season at the Matthews Sportsplex.
On Saturday, September 26 at 2:00 PM ET, they’ll host 8th place Fort Wayne FC (10-9-7, 37 Points).
On October 10 at 7:00 PM, they host 16th place New York Cosmos (6-16-4, 22 Points) for the final home match of the season.
Jack Math: The Independence have 5 matches left, with a game in hand over first place Union Omaha (18-6-4, 58 Points).
The Jacks control their own destiny: if they win out, they finish first.
Charlotte have a superior goal difference (+24 to +20), so the Jacks can likely secure a first place finish if they find two more points than Omaha in the closing weeks.
First Half: The Latest Stories from Soccer Sheet
Halftime: Soccer Fact of the Week
Ashley Westwood really likes shooting from right outside the box.
Here’s a map of all of his goals for Charlotte FC in MLS competitions:
Second Half: Social Media Shares
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Postgame: Candid Comments
“[I’m] very proud of all the players and staff for all the work they have put in over the last 8 months to put us in this position,” Crown Legacy FC head coach Kevin Sawchak told Soccer Sheet. “Winning the Eastern Conference shows the consistency and the mentality this group has to fight for the Club. It also shows the Club is continuing to improve from the Academy up. Now we are going to freshen up the players and start to prepare for the Playoffs.”
