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Lower90 Newsletter week of Sept 28, 2026
Drama? Yes! Lots of goals this week...no! Lots of nil-nil but exciting games?...Yes! Actually, League1 continued to pour in the goals and USL Super League is heating up big-time! Read on soccer fans!!
September 28, 2026
This Week in US Soccer
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With the regular season entering its final stretch, this week delivered exactly the kind of football you’d expect from clubs fighting for their playoff lives — late winners, stunning comebacks, and enough stoppage-time drama to fill a highlights reel twice over. USL League One was the heartbeat of the week, producing back-to-back 90th-minute thrillers across multiple venues, while the USL Super League chipped in with a breathless 3-3 draw that featured six different scorers. Meanwhile, the Championship saw Lexington SC and Birmingham Legion make significant statements in the standings, with Loudoun United’s 4-1 demolition of Sporting JAX also turning heads.
Match of the Week: USL League One — New York Cosmos vs Richmond Kickers
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Editor’s pick: Philip Spengler broke Richmond hearts with a 90+5’ brace-completing winner in a match that swung wildly in both directions — five goals, six yellow cards in a 14-minute window, and a finish so late it bordered on cruel. Nothing else this week came close.
New York Cosmos came from behind their own collapsing lead to beat Richmond Kickers 3–2 at the death, with Philip Spengler striking twice — including a stoppage-time winner in the 90+5th minute — and Lamin Jawneh also finding the net. Zahir Vasquez and Sean Vinberg scored for Richmond in a second-half fightback that ultimately fell short.
The Cosmos started fast. Spengler opened the scoring in the 15th minute, and just six minutes later Jawneh doubled the advantage, finishing from a Christian Koffi delivery to make it 2–0. The home side looked comfortable, but Richmond pulled one back before halftime through Vasquez, who converted in the 32nd minute after a pass from Yann-Alexandre Fillion.
The second half was a fractious affair. Bookings piled up on both sides, with six yellow cards shown between the 60th and 74th minutes alone. Vinberg, cautioned in the 62nd minute, shrugged off that booking to equalize four minutes later, getting on the end of an Ali Sasankhah assist to level the match at 2–2.
Richmond sensed a result and pushed hard late on, with Harold Hanson picking up a yellow in the 89th minute. But it was the Cosmos who found the decisive moment deep into added time. Spengler popped up again in the 90+5th minute to complete his brace and snatch all three points, earning himself a yellow card moments later — presumably for his celebration.
The win gives the Cosmos a crucial three points in the USL League One standings as the regular season enters its final stretch.
This Week’s Highlights
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USL League One — Corpus Christi FC vs Athletic Club Boise
Blake Bowen put Corpus Christi ahead in the 22nd minute and the home side looked set, but Boise pulled level in the second half through Thomas Amang in the 63rd to force a nervy final act. Then came the moment: Jonathan Kliewer, in the 90+7th minute — seven, not five, not six, *seven* — rifled home the winner to send the home crowd into absolute pandemonium. In a week full of late drama, Kliewer somehow managed to outdo almost all of it.
USL Super League — Carolina Ascent FC vs Sporting JAX
Six goals across 90 minutes, six different scorers, and absolutely no shortage of momentum swings — this one had it all. Baylee DeSmit opened the scoring for JAX in the 20th minute, Shea Groom extended it before halftime, and it looked like JAX had done enough when DeSmit struck again in the 78th to make it 3-2 after Jillienne Aguilera and Alyssa Hennessey had pulled Carolina level. But Reese Tappan had other ideas, equalizing in the 83rd minute to earn Carolina Ascent a point they probably deserved. Wild from first whistle to last.
USL League One — Charlotte Independence vs Fort Wayne FC
Christopher Jaime was sent off in the 63rd minute, leaving Charlotte Independence facing 27 minutes of League One football with ten players against a Fort Wayne side that smelled blood. Tiago Dias punished them for it in the 82nd, giving Fort Wayne what looked like all three points. Except nobody told Stéfano Pinho — the striker stepped up in the 89th minute to equalize shorthanded and rescue a point that, on paper, had no right to exist. One of the gutsier results of the week, full stop.
USL Super League — DC Power FC vs Fort Lauderdale United FC
Tatum Thomason simply refused to lose. DC Power FC looked on course for three points when Thomason struck in the 62nd minute, but Abigail Hugh leveled for Fort Lauderdale just five minutes later to reset the tension. Rather than wilt, Thomason stepped up again in the 89th minute to complete her brace and hand DC the win — a performance built entirely on individual will at the most important moments of the match.
Results Roundup
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USL Championship — Monterey Bay FC vs Lexington SC — Monterey Bay FC 2-3 Lexington SC. Lexington SC scored three goals after the 74th minute to complete a stunning road comeback, with Kelsey Egwu’s late red card adding extra chaos to a result nobody saw coming.
USL Championship — New Mexico United vs Sacramento Republic FC — New Mexico United 2-3 Sacramento Republic FC. Memo Rodríguez was magnificent with two goals and an assist, though Sacramento still had to survive Luther Archimède’s 85th-minute goal before closing out an absorbing road win.
USL Championship — Hartford Athletic vs Louisville City FC — Hartford Athletic 2-2 Louisville City FC. Hartford had two men sent off in back-to-back minutes — the 50th and 51st — and still refused to fold, with Michee Ngalina equalizing in the 73rd to earn a remarkable point against Louisville City.
USL League One — Greenville Triumph SC vs Union Omaha — Greenville Triumph SC 1-3 Union Omaha. Omaha trailed and looked down and out before reeling off three unanswered goals, with Kempes Waldemar Tekiela capping the comeback in the 90+4th minute to crush Greenville’s home hopes.
USL Championship — Sporting JAX vs Loudoun United FC — Sporting JAX 1-4 Loudoun United FC. Christian Torres scored twice in the 56th and 58th minutes — two goals in two minutes — as Loudoun United delivered a ruthless 4-1 statement win that the rest of the Championship table will have noticed.
USL League One — Portland Hearts of Pine vs Sarasota Paradise — Portland Hearts of Pine 1-4 Sarasota Paradise. Sarasota scored twice inside the first seven minutes and never looked back, with Sander Røed’s brace headlining a dominant away clinic.
USL Championship — Birmingham Legion FC vs Brooklyn FC — Birmingham Legion FC 4-0 Brooklyn FC. Four different scorers and zero sympathy from the Legion, with Ronaldo Damus twisting the knife in stoppage time to complete one of the most comprehensive home performances of the season.
USL Championship — Oakland Roots SC vs Phoenix Rising FC — Oakland Roots SC 3-0 Phoenix Rising FC. Bruno Lapa set the tone inside seven minutes and Oakland never relented, putting Phoenix Rising to the sword in a commanding 3-0 win that left Rising looking shell-shocked throughout.
USL Super League — Lexington SC vs Dallas Trinity FC — Lexington SC 3-0 Dallas Trinity FC. Catherine Barry was irresistible, bagging a quickfire brace in the final 20 minutes as Lexington dismantled Dallas Trinity in a clinical display that made the scoreline look easy.
USL League One — FC Naples vs Chattanooga Red Wolves SC — FC Naples 1-0 Chattanooga Red Wolves SC. Ten yellow cards in a ferociously ill-tempered affair, but FC Naples kept their composure long enough for Raul Miglietti’s 43rd-minute winner to be the difference.
USL Championship — Charleston Battery vs Rhode Island FC — Charleston Battery 2-0 Rhode Island FC. Emilio Ycaza was quiet for 77 minutes then exploded with two goals in seven minutes to shatter Rhode Island’s hopes of a road point and send the Battery faithful home happy.
USL Championship — El Paso Locomotive FC vs FC Tulsa — El Paso Locomotive FC 1-1 FC Tulsa. Eight yellow cards, two goals inside the first 17 minutes, and a simmering tension that never quite boiled over — a fiery 1-1 draw that felt like it was always one challenge away from chaos.
USL League One — Forward Madison FC vs Spokane Velocity FC — Forward Madison FC 0-1 Spokane Velocity FC. Spokane made the long road trip pay off with Jack Denton’s 73rd-minute strike, a precious away win that carries genuine standings weight for Velocity.
USL Championship — Indy Eleven vs Miami FC — Indy Eleven 0-2 Miami FC. Rodrigo da Costa struck early and Mason Tunbridge put it to bed before halftime as Miami FC cruised to a composed 2-0 road win that gave Indy’s home crowd nothing to cheer about all night.
USL Championship — Orange County SC vs Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC — Orange County SC 1-0 Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. Not a single booking in a disciplined, chess-match encounter where Orange County’s one moment of quality proved to be all that separated the two sides.
Until next week — keep watching the beautiful game
Originally published by Lower90 on Substack.
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