Loudoun United hosted Phoenix at a rainy Segra Field Saturday with the hopes of keeping up with a group of five teams in the Eastern Conference who all want to keep playing playoff games. And debuting what was an interesting third jersey (dubbed the Hero Kit, where Loudoun pays tribute to the County’s first responders, including a ceremony for a fallen firefighter pregame), Loudoun put another bucket of shots on net, only to be denied as a shot deflected off Jacob Erlandson and resulted in a 1-0 loss. While Loudoun’s normally thought of Segra as a fortress, the result put their short term performance at home to one win in four games, and no goals in the last two. So I guess the question is, is it time to stress out?

On what the hot hand can do: I’d said on the DC News Now pregame show after Loudoun and Rhode Island went to a scoreless draw that sometimes, you run into a good goalkeeping performance, and that you can’t really do anything more than tip your cap. I also said Loudoun would run into an equally, if not harder, goalkeeper on Saturday. And well, yep! So in the last two weeks Loudoun:

Put more shots on target (4-3) and won the xG (2.17-1.84), but could not score in a 0-0 draw with Rhode Island, whose keeper Koke Vegas won Team of the Week honors.

Put more shots on target (8-5) and won the xG (1.15-1.07), but could not score in a 1-0 loss to Phoenix, whose keeper Rocco Rios Novo is probably going to win Team of the Week honors.

With all respect to Hugo Fauroux, the good news is Loudoun now has recent experience at what a top tier League goalkeeper can do, and may need to call upon it in a situation where there’s a knockout game involved. But taking a step back for a second, analytically Loudoun hasn’t won the xG numbers in an 11v11 game since drawing at Indy Eleven, which was eight games ago on July 13. There may be a slight ’embarrassment of riches’ with your most polished attacking players all returning like Kalil ElMedkhar, Zach Ryan and others, but they have an intimidating stretch coming up.

On new(ish) returns: Two kids I wanted to look at in various levels here, the first being Gavin Turner, making his USL starting debut (he started in the Open Cup win at Orange County) after battling injury and surgery. Playing mostly on the left side ahead of Kwame Awuah, it was interesting to watch a little more:

Turner had some good moments in both halves of the field, and his ideas and vision for passes were things that made me raise my eyebrows (a couple of first half efforts weren’t flashy, they were just things I couldn’t wholly envision Loudoun’s current stable trying). He certainly has options for what he can do when he turns 18 in the offseason, but it was fun to watch him particularly.

On Alex Nagy, who was drafted by D.C. United in 2023, later signed by Loudoun, only to tear his ACL in the 2023 preseason, making his Loudoun debut Saturday, I’ll save the space for Ryan Martin:

Random Stat of the Day: 537 (the number of minutes between goals for Phoenix).

So, Where Does This Leave Us? In the past, Ryan Martin’s talked about taking the season in four-game stretches, and this may be the toughest one yet. September sees them at Louisville City (League Leader in points), hosting Birmingham, then going back on the road to New Mexico (Western Conference Leader) before wrapping up at Colorado Springs (5th in West, looking for home playoff game). Those road games are against teams who are in the Top 5 in the League in goals as well, and whose home records are similar to Loudoun’s.

The good news is Loudoun remains a win (and combination of results) from 5th place, and most of the teams involved in the Eastern Conference chase are going through their own eccentricities of form as well. Loudoun’s heading into a stretch of games where points accumulation now means good things later, and they need to start that in a place where few have been able to have success.