As is usually the case with writing, sometimes life actually does get in the way and thus I wasn’t able to look at Loudoun’s 1-0 loss at New Mexico at that point, but since I was around and had a minute, I was able to watch Loudoun’s game at Colorado Springs, had a draft cued up and well, more on that in a second! But I did want to get some thoughts out on the last couple of games before their next one, which has significant repercussions.

Izzy, is he? I was captivated by Isaiah Johnston’s work in the New Mexico game. Maybe it was because of this:

And his chalkboard confirmed the whole eye test thing as well, with his second straight impressive performance after the team’s win over Birmingham:

But I think what I liked more is the potential of the thing. The essential (to us second division soccer folks) John Morrissey wrote about how vital Tommy McCabe is to Loudoun’s work on field recently, and it’s perhaps intentional that McCabe is signed through 2025, along with other players like Zach Ryan and Drew Skundrich. And you know what? So is Izzy Johnston. So regardless of where Loudoun finishes in 2024, knowing that this can and already is being built upon for the years to come is encouraging in Leesburg.

Ooo-eee, Riley! Riley Bidois is another guy who is signed through 2025, and is another guy that I’ll credit John for here:

In a half hour’s work, he missed one of 13 passes and had two shots, one that went off the crossbar and was cruelly credited as a shot off target:

If memory serves, this was Bidois’ longest outing and best effort since tearing his hamstring leading up to the Olympics. With him and Kalil ElMedkhar (who has battled injuries and still doing incredible work in limited minutes), they may get called on if Florian Valot’s absence Saturday is longer than that.

On what snatching something from nothing can mean. Roll the clip:

I’ve seen Loudoun give up my share of goals in the 90th and beyond over the years, and have even see a goalkeeper score one of those goals. Having Loudoun score a goal past the 95th minute is something I’m not used to, but remarkably is the second time they’ve done it this year, after Zach Ryan buried a penalty kick in their regular season win over Orange County in May. When Loudoun United has been bad in a game they continue to work to something, so this may not be so surprising in retrospect, but nevertheless, to get what may prove to be a vital point can’t not encourage the team in their last five games.

Random Stat of the Day: 10, for goalkeeper Hugo Fauroux, who provided the assist on ElMedkhar’s winner:

So, where does this leave us? Well, here’s the standings:

Loudoun play at Hartford Saturday. Loudoun stole one point Saturday, stealing three more this week would help thin the herd a tiny bit.