Days before they start a stretch of games across July and August where four of which are against the top half of both conferences, Loudoun United coach Ryan Martin maintains the same approach to this that has served the team thus far.

“What we’ve really tried to do is look at the schedule in four game blocks and challenge the guys in (those) segments and keep the focus on what’s right in front of us now and not to get too far ahead of ourselves,” Martin said this week. “The last game (a 3-0 win over Hartford) was our first game of this block, so we’re trying to maximize points in those. And just training every day, continuing to focus on us and getting 1% better, harping on that, can we be better this weekend (at Indy Eleven) that we were against Tampa and Hartford and keep growing. I don’t know if there’s a lot of teams in the USL that are getting better at the rate we are from the start of the season until now. I can see our progress, which is all I’m really concerned about, keeping our eyes in front of us as opposed to anywhere else.”

It is difficult to broach the topic of the team’s current run of form without tempting some sort of karmic fate; Loudoun’s current seven-game unbeaten run almost doubles their next longest run of four, which was at the end of their inaugural season in 2019. The team’s recent formation switch (which John Morrissey recently illustrated) is one reason for the streak, but Martin cites a modest component as well.

“Health of the players just helped a lot. When we made the formation tweak it was something we always kind of wanted to do, but we had Keegan Hughes out for a substantial amount of time, (Robby) Dambrot (was out) for a little bit, then we had Yanis (Leerman) out. At one point I think Drew Skundrich played every position on the field for us, so I think a lot of it is health.

I think the other big thing when we look back at it is the growth of chemistry or connection being bone deep instead of skin deep. We spent a lot of time in preseason getting to know one another, and people’s stories, people’s journeys, the shared experiences they we all have through the good and the bad to be able to relate to each other.”

Despite the addition of seven new starters into the fold, Martin (who proactively mentions eight as Kwame Awuah spent virtually all of 2023 on the injured list), had the belief that it would click. “We knew it would happen and we could see it happening. The hardest thing you can do is build real connections and relationships, and the reality is it doesn’t happen overnight. When we could see it happening, when you see a group of guys that really like to be together, spend time together, and are playing board games at night after team meals; one of our team traditions is taking the guys out to dinner the night before a game on the road. It’s become a bit of a ritual for us, an opportunity to get away from the game but be together and enjoy everybody’s company. All those little rituals have helped add up into big connections, which go a long way in soccer. When you look at Leeds for example, when they didn’t get promoted to getting promoted, the biggest adjustment they did was they kept the team the same, because it’s the power of connection and continuity, what someone’s going to do but more importantly you trust somebody and if you have those shared experiences, (they) go a long way.”

A common thread of the offseason acquisitions was the veteran element (Loudoun signed their first players over 30 years old in the winter), but there have still been some transformations along the way. “It’s been a nice evolution from early in the year. I think people are trying to figure out a little bit of hierarchy within the team. Obviously Zach (Ryan) is the captain, Drew, Tommy McCabe, but it’s been fun to see a lot of other people step up in terms of giving really good opinions. Guys like Keegan Hughes, Jacob Erlandson and Kwame have taken leadership in a different way. They (all) have solutions when we ask questions, they give answers, their thoughts and opinions, and everybody’s in a connected way, the staff and players are connected in trying to solve problems together. When you look at top environments, that’s what we’re striving to be, it’s not me saying do this or my assistant coach saying do that, it’s ‘okay, here’s our thought, here’s why we think it and let’s do it,’ or maybe Tommy’s got a better solution and that’s the direction we’ll go, or maybe Zach or Robby have one. It’s important to have a lot of interaction and sharing of ideas between the group. I’ll have the final say, but we value their opinions and it’s been a very rewarding process for everybody involved.”

Along with the veteran players, Martin received full-time assistants as part of his staff, with the returns of Victor Lonchuk and goalkeeper coach Jack Stefanoski, New Zealander Steve Coleman moved to America and joined the staff after serving as technical director at Wellington Phoenix and with the New Zealand national team. “I’ve known Steve for two and a half years through a mutual friend, a coach that I work with named Cody Royle connected us and we always got on calls to share ideas. We have a join passion of professional development, sharing ideas and becoming better, and he always had an interest of coming to the US. We chatted in years past and it didn’t make sense for different reasons at the time, and when this opportunity openined he was one of my first calls to see his interest level. We started talking about the project and what Greg (Baroni, Loudoun majority owner) and Attain Sports are bringing about recruitment and the ability to attrack better people and talent, and he was very bought into it. Steve is a huge extension of me and everything we do, it’s a collective effort in terms of style of play, and he sees the game the same way, which was really important. We have similar cultural values, the way we approach things with integrity and honesty, but when he came in, he asked me for everything from training sessions to analyzing the previous opposition. We take turns doing a lot of different things, which has been great because in the past, I’d done a lot of it. And I think at some points I was probably sick of hearing my own voice, and I can only imagine what the guys felt at that moment! He’s been invaluable and an incredible addition to Loudoun United. I knew he’d be good and a good addition, but I didn’t think he would be this important for me and the project here at Loudoun.”

Attain’s off-field construction has not gone unnoticed. The February addition of Oliver Gage as Director of Soccer has included accomplishments like the introduction of staff and players to health insurance and retirement plans above League standard and additional resources in recruitment and match analysis to complement offseason additions to video and data analyses. Martin has embraced the enhancements.

“I think last year I had two full-time people in terms of my staff, this year I’ve got myself and three-full time assistants, you look at Ollie and Patrick Mullins (Senior Analyst, Scouting Operations, and former D.C. United player), you’re adding two more that we didn’t have last year. When I go into work every day it is a truly different feeling. Sure we’re showing up to the same stadium, but it’s different. Every day you’ve got ambitious guys that want to play, we don’t have to deal with the ups and downs of guys coming in and out of D.C.. We don’t (really) have to do with guys going down to training, it becomes a professional environment where you train, you perform, you get to play. There’s an identity in the team that I think is different than most other USL teams, and we’re able to do that because of all of the changes, because of Greg’s vision and the people we’ve brought in, staff and players, and truly every day with this group as been quite fun to be around.”

The topic of postseason has never been broached with Loudoun sides, but when asked about what he thinks the team can do and how far Loudoun can go, Martin says, “It’s no secret this team wants to get to the postseason. I think as we’re at the midway point right now, I really believe in this group and what (they) should become, and I think if we can continue over the next 12 weeks, we’re going to be in a really good place. I don’t think there’s been a game where we weren’t in it or different things. There’s a really big belief in what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, our process and the belief in one another.”

If Martin isn’t the longest-tenured member of the Loudoun organization, he’s close to it, and he’s tried to enjoy the moment as everyone else has. “I’ve tried to take a step back and enjoy the day to day of the group. We keep preaching the journey and the process and it’s hard as a coach, so I’ve tried to do that and really enjoy time with the people, players and staff. We’ve has some fun accomplishments along the way; the unbeaten streak, winning in the Open Cup at Orange County and playing LAFC on the road. After that, we played Colombia’s national team and the US national team, and we played Ecuadorian side FC Barcelona and Chicago Fire in preseason. We’ve had all these moments on the field and that pales in comparison to moments that we’ve shared off the field, whether it’s travel delays or different laughs, I’ve been just trying to enjoy time with the staff and enjoy where we are now and where we were at the beginning. There’s nothing better than seeing the group and individuals improve over the course of a season and that’s all we can ask.”