The first silverware of the 2024 USL Championship season was earned on Saturday night among a collection of tremendous contests across the weekend that included arguably the biggest win in one club’s history and a throwback performance by a recent title-winner that might have salvaged its campaign.

Here are the three big storylines we took away from Week 31’s action, our picks for who’s up and who’s down coming out of the weekend, and thoughts on everything else we saw around the league.

TOP THREE STORYLINES

1. LOUDOUN UNITED IS IN IT TO WIN IT

You could make a pretty good argument Loudoun United FC’s game against Hartford Athletic on Saturday night was the biggest league contest in its history.

After all, it’s not like United has been this close to earning a postseason berth in its prior history, and earning a result against one of the teams attempting to reel it in from below the playoff line was crucial for both sides.

Which is why Loudoun’s resilient 2-0 victory – which broke Hartford’s seven-game undefeated streak and four-game shutout streak – is now one of the biggest wins in United’s history.

• FAUROUX STEPS UP: One of the key differences between this season and last has been United’s defense, which has gone from conceding more than 60 goals in each of its four prior full seasons to only 34 this season. Goalkeeper Hugo Fauroux has stepped up, too, and his big first-half denial of Hartford’s Mamadou Dieng was key for the visitors as they kept the game scoreless at the break.

• IMPACT SUBS: With the game scoreless, Abdellatif Aboukoura and Wesley Leggett made the difference following their introduction in the 67th minute. Five minutes later, Leggett’s shot inside the penalty area was handballed by Athletic’s Beverly Makangila, giving Keegan Tingey the chance to convert from the spot. Aboukoura then set up Leggett for a well-taken second that put the result to bed.

“Our guys really stepped up to the plate and got it done,” said United Head Coach Ryan Martin. “When you see the resiliency and the lessons they have learned across the year come into play, it speaks tremendously of the character of this group.”

When United was acquired by Attain Sports and Entertainment last year, this was the long-term aim. Attendances have risen at Segra Field this season as the side has put together a team capable of competing consistently in the Eastern Conference.

With its win against Hartford, Loudoun also gets to face the next stage of its new reality, where the game that follows the most important of your history takes on that mantle. Tuesday night, Indy Eleven, United has everything to play for, and that’s a great spot to be in.

“We are taking it one game at a time; our goal is to win out the rest of the season,” said defender Jacob Erlandson. “It’s a big ask but this group is ready for it, we have seen a lot of adversity and have been playing good soccer. It’s just a matter of believing.”

2. SAN ANTONIO BREAKS OUT THE WAYBACK MACHINE

As we noted last week, San Antonio FC’s backs were against the wall going into Saturday night’s clash against Sacramento Republic FC.

When SAFC conceded only four minutes into the game, a poor clearance giving Kieran Phillips a chance he put away smartly for Republic FC, that pressure increased.

Which made the response San Antonio put in to come back and earn a 2-1 victory to pull itself back into the playoff race out West not only impressive, but a throwback to the way the side earned its league title in 2022.

• GOING DIRECT: It might not have been as extreme as the splits SAFC put up two seasons ago, but the side logged 71 long passes – its highest total at home this season – which equated to 20 percent of the side’s overall passes.

• FINDING THE SEAMS: San Antonio used its transition to set up opportunities for Jorge Hernandez, Nelson Flores Blanco and Rece Buckmaster to deliver into the penalty area, creating numerous chances from open play and set pieces. After other chances had gone astray, they finally got the payoff with the game-deciding own goal by Republic FC’s Jared Timmer.

• TURNING THE TIDE: What was maybe most important is San Antonio’s energy level looked right throughout the night. Carter Manley, Mitchell Taintor and Trova Boni were on point in winning their battles, and that set up the key moment in Manley’s interception and strike to level the game that got things moving in San Antonio’s direction.

“We, in the night, definitely deserved and earned the three points,” said SAFC Head Coach Alen Marcina. “If you look at the game in its totality, we took a page out of our old book. That was the SAFC way that people have known and recognized and supported. It was incredibly hard work. The guys put in an incredible shift, and they deserved those three points.”

San Antonio isn’t out of the woods yet, although the rest of the weekend’s action was largely favorable for the side.

As difficult as its final stretch looks – including a Copa Tejas clash on Wednesday night at an El Paso Locomotive FC side that has produced consecutive wins – this is the sort of performance that should renew San Antonio’s confidence it can get over the line.

3. LOUCITY IS YOUR PLAYERS’ SHIELD WINNER

Certainly, Louisville City FC would probably have much rather wrapped up its first Players’ Shield with a solid victory on the road against their biggest rival.

And yet, the manner of Jake Morris’ equalizer in the third minute of second-half stoppage time that earned LouCity a 2-2 draw against Indy Eleven in the 23rd edition of the LIPAFC and the point it needed to move clear of both New Mexico United and the Charleston Battery for the first silverware of the season might have been just as appropriate.

“It’s a never-say-die attitude,” said LouCity defender Amadou Dia. “Like [Head Coach] Danny [Cruz has] been talking about all season, always believe until the last, final whistle.”

It was also, over the 90 minutes, fully deserved.

• ATTACKING MACHINE: The calling card for LouCity’s season has been its attack and it was on full display on Saturday. It’s 32 shots were the highest by a team in a USL Championship contest this season, as were its 23 shots in the second half as it accumulated a 3.24 expected Goals mark, its second-highest of the season.

• BATTLING BACK: Dia’s note about the side’s never-say-die attitude is also accurate. LouCity has now gained 17 points from losing positions this season, third in the league to the Charleston Battery and Las Vegas Lights FC on 18 apiece.

• LANDMARK MOMENT: With LouCity having won two league titles and four Eastern Conference crowns in its history, this completes the set of league silverware for the perennial title winner. Head Coach Danny Cruz, who referred to the Players’ Shield as an objective, joined in the celebrations, but also wanted his side to remain focused on what was coming next.

“I don’t want them to be satisfied,” said Cruz. “This is something the players earned and something they should certainly be proud of – no question about that. … I don’t want anybody in that locker room – I don’t want my staff – to be satisfied with being the Players’ Shield winner. You see it time and time again. I want them to be proud, no question, but not satisfied.”

Doing the double of winning the Players’ Shield and Championship Final in the same season has been a feat that has pushed title winners into a higher stratosphere in the league’s history.

With three games to play in the regular season, LouCity is in position to accomplish that, and very well might.

Three Up

Las Vegas Lights FC – The Lights are going to the postseason for the first time after their 1-1 draw against Orange County SC. When the side’s new leadership said that was the goal in preseason, there was skepticism, but Head Coach Dennis Sanchez and his side have delivered in magnificent fashion.

Augustine Williams – The Sierra Leone international’s two-goal game for Indy on Saturday night got a little bit buried due to LouCity’s late equalizer, but that’s consecutive games with multiple goals for the first time in Williams’ career. If this is the start of him catching form, everyone’s going to be in trouble.

Ezra Armstrong – The North Carolina FC wingback has been a brilliant player to watch all season – his 43 completed dribbles rank fifth in the league while he’s put up a 53.1 success rate – and he was at his best against Birmingham Legion FC on Sunday night while bagging his first two-goal game in the Championship.

Three Down

Rocco Ríos Novo: We have no explanation for what happened to the 2023 Championship Final MVP on Friday night, when he conceded twice including a bizarre own goal that proved decisive. Ríos Novo has been impressive overall, but the last couple of weeks haven’t been good.

Birmingham Legion FC: Legion’s in seventh place in the East, but on thinner ice than you might imagine with three games to go. It lost its season series to all three of North Carolina FC, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC and Hartford Athletic, which is key in terms of positional tiebreakers.

Sacramento’s Road Form: Republic FC has lost four games in a row on the road after its loss to San Antonio, and in three of those it held a lead. Just as its home form got fixed, Sacramento can’t find the same success on the road all of a sudden.

THE REST OF THE ACTION

#MBvPHX: Finally, a win for Monterey Bay and Head Coach Jordan Stewart, and against his former club, no less. Whether it makes a difference in MBFC’s playoff chances we’ll have to see on Wednesday night when it visits Sacramento, but it put a serious dent in Phoenix’s chances with Rising having lost three in a row for the first time since 2022.

• READ MORE: How Monterey Bay got the breaks, and finally broke its winless streak

#CHSvDET: That was, in a word, feisty. Between the back-and-forth in the 2-2 draw between the Battery and Detroit City capped by Laurent Kissiedou’s stoppage-time equalizer for Le Rouge, some brilliant pieces of play by Charleston’s Juan David Torres and bellicosity between the two sets of players, this felt like a playoff preview.

#MIAvPIT: The Hounds got the result they needed in emphatic enough fashion, although goalkeeper Gabriel Perrotta had to be sharp to preserve a shutout. Miami’s now set a league record for most losses in a season and could set a record for the longest scoreless streak in league history this week.

#RIvTBR: How much satisfaction do you think JJ Williams and Zach Herivaux derived from finding the net against their former club as Rhode Island took another step toward the postseason. The Rowdies aren’t going to miss the postseason, but they’re not in good shape at the moment.

#MEMvOAK: Roots stopped the bleeding thanks to Camden Riley’s equalizer against Memphis, which was good enough to earn a point in a 1-1 draw. Somehow, even with one point from their last five games, Roots could clinch a playoff spot this week.

#TULvELP: It’s almost certainly too late for El Paso Locomotive to rejoin the playoff race now, but things are starting to look up for the side. Tulsa needed a result out of this game for its playoff bid, and Locomotive was the better of the two sides in the 90 minutes.

#LVvOC: The Lights are setting them up and Khori Bennett is knocking them down, just like they planned it. This gave Orange County a valuable point as well from the 1-1 draw, but the Lights continue to be a very difficult team to defeat, which is something to keep in mind for their first playoff trip.

#BHMvNC: For a neutral fan, this was a tremendously entertaining game as North Carolina kept itself in touch with the playoff race with a 3-2 win. Legion had its moments as well, but this is starting to become a trickier run-in than they’d have been expecting a month ago.