A lot has happened since the last time we were in this space; Loudoun United remains atop the Eastern Conference, won its first Jagermeister Cup game over Lexington, and the team has undergone another restructuring, with a familiar face shaping this new leadership group. Even in that time, there was some fluidity before the team’s flight to Nevada, and a makeshift lineup led to a 1-0 loss to the Lights Saturday night. It wasn’t necessarily a total disappointment, the team dominated the second half, hitting a post and a crossbar separately, and the Lights lead the league in shutouts with five so far. Still, what does one take away from Loudoun’s performance?

On chickens and roosting. While it’s hard to not talk about the eight day whirlwind tour of Garrison Tubbs to and fro within Leesburg, it is unavoidable. He was loaned to Loudoun, played against Lexington and did well, and then subsequently recalled on Thursday, an announcement made hours before Loudoun flew to Las Vegas.

Before I vent a little, to make this an unambiguous as possible, I have no qualms with/understand the justification for both ends of the move, and suspect with D.C.’s backline situation (Kye Rowles was on an accumulation suspension, Lucas Bartlett was out due to a calf injury, and Lukas MacNaughton’s coming off early to injury) that means Tubbs will stick around D.C. a little while longer, and good on him for doing so.

That said, the yoyo-ing of Tubbs is reminiscent of moves made over the last half-decade, and that it has not been rectified on either depth chart is an indictment of what asset management (or lack thereof) has been ongoing with D.C. Soccer LLC owned properties in Loudoun County. On one side of Bolen Park, one team (Loudoun) may be trying to add onto their defensive depth, and is a situation that is complicated by injuries to multiple starters as well as the second options for the roles, to say nothing about some national reports on working conditions. On the other side, the other team (DC) has available roster spots on the supplemental roster where a defender or two could be added where Tubbs’ shuttling could have been rendered moot, in that he wouldn’t have had to be loaned down to begin with. But DC didn’t, it wasn’t, and it continues to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.

Loudoun’s Ryan Martin did not make the trip to Las Vegas, so first assistant Victor Lonchuk was the man behind the bench. Personal reasons were cited both on television and by the team for his absence, though I wouldn’t blame Martin whatsoever if he wasn’t up for it. Off and on through the years, Martin has had to adjust starting lineups, most times with a few hours notice, including one or two occasions were he had to pull Loudoun players early so they could play in midseason friendlies for D.C.. While the task was inherent as part of an MLS2 coach, as Loudoun has morphed into a kinda sorta independent team, the pattern appears to be continuing to some dismay.

To reiterate, while I don’t begrudge the recall, the fact that this dynamic keeps happening, particularly as D.C. employees work at both clubs, means that whomever is trying to ensure this doesn’t happen is failing at their job, if there is even anyone in that role. This remains amateur hour, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Martin felt like Roger Murtaugh for a minute late last week.

What was, and what could be. Elaborating on Loudoun’s depth at center back, they were without Josh Erlandson for a second week and Drew Skundrich for a third due to injury. Robby Dambrot has not appeared yet in 2025, so alongside Yanis Leerman at center back was Keegan Tingey, while Tommy McCabe played deep centrally and Moses Nyeman played higher up. Because Tingey was CB, this also plugged Ben Mines into the lineup and he handled a lot of work down the right wing. Nyeman and Mines did fine for the work that they were called upon to do, but of note was Cole Turner’s late second half appearance. Turner played on a not that great Loudoun side in 2023 where Turner was among the goals added leaders for defenders, before injuries limited him to 23 minutes over the last two seasons, including Saturday’s eight. If Turner can keep getting back to form then there is a muted plus for Loudoun.

Was the game disappointing? Kind of, but it’s hard to get mad at it completely. Depending on whose model you look at, Loudoun walked away with the xG numbers either by Sebastian Bush’s numbers (1.31 to 0.18) or even more convincingly by ASA’s (2.33 to 0.29), and while the first half may have been some misfires, the second half was dialed in, as the shot chalkboards show with Loudoun on the left:

Tip your cap, acknowledge Raiko Arozarena’s presumable Team of the Week nod and move on.

Random Stat of the Week: 10,006 (number of USL minutes played by McCabe with Saturday’s 90 minute start).

So, where does this leave us? After safely defeating them two weeks ago, Loudoun plays Lexington again, this time hosting them at Segra Field Saturday. This game and the next at Miami should hopefully have the return of more backline players, ahead of a three game home stretch of games with Louisville City, Charleston and Detroit City. The game with Louisville may be the team’s 2nd round game of Cup play but with the teams meeting again at Segra in League play at the end of June, may as well serve as a dry run for how the team approaches these games.

If Loudoun continues to hold the top spot or two in the East at July 4, a whole new challenge awaits those who want to give this team some “credibility and firepower moving forward.”