When we were here last week, Ryan Martin talked about the desire to take things one game at a time and see where the road takes the Loudoun United bus. Saturday night saw them go to St. Petersburg, where they faced a Tampa Bay Rowdies side in their first game at Al Lang Stadium since Hurricane Irene forced them to play out 2024 on the road, and 2025 saw the Rowdies drop three of their first four, and seeing coach Robbie Neilson shown the door, replaced by Steve Coleman, who was next to Martin on Loudoun’s bench last year.

An interesting game of chess eventually unfolded to each team’s strengths and weaknesses, and Loudoun’s 2-1 win over Tampa wasn’t indicative of how they handled the game in general. So following the team’s third straight win over Tampa Bay dating back to last season, what’s there to think about this Loudoun side?

On a roster quandary. Former Columbus and DC midfielder Pedro Santos was signed to a 25-day contract with Loudoun two weeks ago. He’s played some Open Cup and USL minutes, but it’s the latter I want to hit for a second. His work with Tommy McCabe was a point from last week’s piece, this week saw him with a little more free reign, since Yanis Leerman was back in the lineup and Drew Skundrich could slot back into his regular spot.

Like last week, his work was a little more abstract in the first half but the second sees him take his motor up a little:

Granted, as the primary set piece taker he sees a bulk of the work now, but in the last two Loudoun games he’s created nine chances, and by comparison Florian Valot and Tommy McCabe lead the team with 10 (does his drawn PK count in this, I dunno). Sample size asterisk but he also leads the team in Goals Added per Game and is second in the same metric as far as total minutes go.

A couple of weeks ago, I alluded to having concerns about Loudoun’s depth as things head into the summer with surely this health not being able to last a full season. With Santos’ seemingly clicking with the rest of the group, his having some roots in the community (he does some youth coaching near Segra), making his deal last the season would seem to be an easy decision that could bear even more fruit.

On the potential of something special. Speaking of Goals Added, this apparently applies to goalkeepers too, and guess who’s second in the USL on this, along with expected versus actual GA. That’s Hugo Fauroux, who won last week’s Save of the Week voting and should walk away with it again after this save:

Over the last 15 months I don’t think I’ve written or talked about a player on Loudoun more than Hugo. Go back to last week’s thoughts for an example. He keeps the team in games to the point where a result can be snatched or secured, and this was another example of that; moments after this save Loudoun converts the penalty thanks to League Goalscoring co-leader Abdellatif Aboukoura to open scoring. A 94th minute annoyance goal was the only thing stopping him from securing his third straight shutout.

Lots of things can happen over the next 80ish per cent of the season, but he’s absolutely been the League’s best goalkeeper so far, and continued consistent performances like Saturday’s can only benefit Loudoun’s long-term fortunes.

Random Stat of the Day: 15, number of points Loudoun has, which is the most in the USL (yes I will keep doing this bit when possible).

So, Where Does This Leave Us? Loudoun has another double game week on the horizon as they go to Louisville to play in the third round of the Open Cup. Check out the second ‘graph on whatever thoughts I have about Lynn Family Stadium and Loudoun’s play therein. Afterwards, Loudoun come back home and play a Pittsburgh side that has struggled to find their form on the road so far this year, and dropped points at Charleston.

Regardless of what happens, Loudoun will finish next week in the same position they’re in now, which is on top of the Eastern Conference. The opportunity to get some space between themselves and the pack is one that is too hard to pass up.