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Lower90 Newsletter - Week of Sept 21
Crazy week with lots of goals, seemingly in fours? (just ask Birmingham Legion!). Read on for a few highlights or get full match reports on more than 1,800 games at FN365reports.com!
This Week in US Soccer
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It was a week that delivered drama in almost every time zone, with stoppage-time goals, stunning comebacks, and hat tricks turning the USL Championship and League One standings upside down. Birmingham Legion had perhaps the wildest 48 hours of any club in the country — pulling off a jaw-dropping 4-4 comeback on Wednesday only to get dismantled 4-0 by Tampa Bay on Saturday. Meanwhile, the USL League One playoff race got spicier with Westchester SC picking up results on both matchdays and One Knoxville reminding everyone they’re not done fighting.
Match of the Week: USL Championship — Birmingham Legion FC vs New Mexico United | 2026-09-16 | USL Championship
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Editor’s pick: Three goals down and seemingly cooked, Birmingham Legion FC staged one of the most outrageous comebacks in recent USL memory — capped by Ronaldo Damus in the fourth minute of stoppage time. A 10/10 drama score doesn’t do it justice.
Let’s set the scene: Birmingham Legion are staring down a three-goal deficit against New Mexico United, the kind of hole that politely asks most teams to start thinking about the drive home. Not this Legion side. Not on this Wednesday night.
What followed was the sort of football that makes you forget you were only half-watching. Birmingham chipped away, then surged, turning a hopeless situation into a genuine frenzy inside Protective Stadium. The crowd, which had every reason to start trickling toward the exits, found itself instead in full voice as Legion clawed it back to 3-3.
New Mexico, to their credit, responded — retaking the lead and forcing Birmingham to do it all over again. And then, deep into four minutes of added time, with the clock pushing past 90+4’, Ronaldo Damus did exactly that. One composed, match-leveling finish to make it 4-4 and send the place into absolute bedlam.
For Birmingham, the point might matter come playoff tiebreaker calculations. For New Mexico, it was two points dropped in the cruelest fashion. But for everyone watching — in the stands or streaming on a laptop at midnight — it was the reminder of exactly why you stay until the final whistle in this league. You simply never know.
This Week’s Highlights
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USL Championship — Lexington SC vs Orange County SC | 2026-09-19
Phillip Goodrum was absolutely unplayable in the first half, completing a hat trick before the break as Lexington SC ran Orange County SC out of their own stadium in a 6-0 demolition that felt even more one-sided than the scoreline suggests. Orange County offered almost nothing going the other way, and by the time the second half rolled around this was a procession rather than a contest. For Lexington, a six-goal result like this does wonders for goal differential in what figures to be a tight playoff picture.
USL League One — Fort Wayne FC vs One Knoxville SC | 2026-09-16
Two goals down with 17 minutes left, One Knoxville SC had every excuse to fold — instead they produced one of the League One comebacks of the season. Three goals in the final stretch, all of the momentum, and Denis Krioutchenkov arriving in the 88th minute to bury the winner and complete the turnaround. Fort Wayne will be kicking themselves after letting a comfortable lead evaporate so quickly, and One Knoxville pick up three massive points that keep their playoff hopes very much alive.
USL Championship — Tampa Bay Rowdies vs Birmingham Legion FC | 2026-09-19
If you hadn’t already heard about Birmingham’s rollercoaster week, this result filled in the other half of the story. Just three days after their miraculous 4-4 comeback, Legion ran straight into a Tampa Bay Rowdies side that showed zero mercy. Matt Myers was the executioner-in-chief, netting twice in a four-minute blitz that killed the match as a contest and handed the Rowdies a ruthless 4-0 win. It’s a statement result for Tampa Bay at exactly the right point in the season, and a sobering reminder for Birmingham that Wednesday’s euphoria doesn’t carry over to Saturday.
USL League One — Sarasota Paradise vs Greenville Triumph SC | 2026-09-19
Six different scorers. Six goals. Zero response from Greenville Triumph SC, who were completely overrun in a 6-0 hiding that counts among the most lopsided results of the entire League One season. Sarasota Paradise looked sharp, organized, and clinical in a way that should concern anyone they face in the weeks ahead. For Greenville, it’s a result that raises serious questions heading into the final stretch of the regular season, particularly when you consider they were also on the wrong end of a Corpus Christi defeat earlier in the week.
Results Roundup
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USL League One — Westchester SC vs Richmond Kickers | 2026-09-16 — A 5-2 blowout. McGlynn and Jimenez each scored twice in a first half that was essentially over by halftime, giving Westchester a result that looks even more impressive given what came next in their week.
USL League One — New York Cosmos vs Westchester SC | 2026-09-19 — Westchester made it a winning week in the most dramatic fashion possible, with Conor McGlynn — the same man who torched Richmond — sliding home a 98th-minute winner to snatch a 2-1 victory after Spengler had leveled late for the Cosmos.
USL Championship — Brooklyn FC vs FC Tulsa | 2026-09-19 — Brooklyn came back from two down at the break to earn a 2-2 draw, with Tommy McNamara poking home the equalizer in the 91st minute and sending the home crowd into chaos.
USL Championship — Phoenix Rising FC vs El Paso Locomotive FC | 2026-09-19 — Luke Biasi’s extraordinary pair of yellows in two minutes — earning his marching orders in the 80th — handed El Paso the numerical advantage, and Rubio Rubín made it count with a 96th-minute goal to seal a 3-1 win.
USL League One — Fort Wayne FC vs FC Naples | 2026-09-19 — Fort Wayne were two down and staring at defeat before Ryan Becher struck in the 92nd minute to complete a remarkable 2-2 comeback, earning a point that feels bigger than it might look on paper.
USL League One — Chattanooga Red Wolves SC vs Portland Hearts of Pine | 2026-09-19 — Portland looked to be taking three points on the road until Omar Hernandez had other ideas, equalizing in the 90+1’ to rescue Chattanooga a share of the spoils.
USL Championship — Indy Eleven vs Brooklyn FC | 2026-09-15 — Jack Blake was magnificent, contributing two goals and an assist as Indy put on a 4-0 clinic against Brooklyn — a result that now looks even more telling given Brooklyn’s struggles later in the week.
USL League One — Spokane Velocity FC vs Athletic Club Boise | 2026-09-20 — Boise had 2-0 in hand at halftime and looked comfortable before Spokane turned the second half upside down, scoring twice inside the opening two minutes after the break to snatch a 2-2 draw.
USL League One — Athletic Club Boise vs Charlotte Independence | 2026-09-16 — Charlotte’s Séga Coulibaly saw two yellows inside 11 minutes, but the ten-man visitors buckled down and Reudd Manin’s 62nd-minute equalizer earned a hard-fought 1-1 draw against the odds.
USL Championship — Louisville City FC vs Loudoun United FC | 2026-09-19 — Louisville trailed going into halftime before flipping the script in remarkable fashion — Serrano equalized and Donovan struck right on the stroke of half to seal a 2-1 win that had the home end roaring.
USL Super League — Fort Lauderdale United FC vs Dallas Trinity FC | 2026-09-18 — Jasmine Hamid struck just 46 seconds into the second half to take the wind out of Fort Lauderdale’s sails, and Sh’Nia Gordon’s late finish put the polish on a composed 2-1 Dallas Trinity road win.
USL League One — Union Omaha vs Spokane Velocity FC | 2026-09-16 — Gabriel de Freitas buried a 93rd-minute goal to restore a two-goal cushion and put the result beyond doubt, giving Union Omaha a straightforward 3-1 win that keeps their form ticking over.
USL Super League — DC Power FC vs Tampa Bay Sun FC | 2026-09-18 — Emma Jaskaniec came up with the goods in the 70th minute to equalize, earning DC Power FC a point in a tense, niggly match against Tampa Bay Sun FC that threatened to get away from the hosts.
USL League One — Greenville Triumph SC vs Corpus Christi FC | 2026-09-16 — A ten-yellow-card war that felt on the verge of boiling over throughout, but Dominick Bachstein’s 36th-minute strike proved the difference in a 1-0 result that Corpus Christi earned through grit as much as quality.
USL Championship — Rhode Island FC vs Miami FC | 2026-09-19 — Denilson Milanés scored just five minutes after being booked to give Miami a 2-1 away win, while Rhode Island FC’s frustration manifested in three yellows in a chaotic 12-minute spell late in the match.
Until next week — keep watching the beautiful game
Originally published by Lower90 on Substack.
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