In the last installment, I mentioned that Loudoun would be facing a Rhode Island side that could be gettable, so that they could end their winless streak which has been ongoing since the end of June. Loudoun played well Saturday, but if it’s a game with Rhode Island, it usually means low scoring, if any exists, and the game’s 0-0 draw was the third the teams have played in their four matches in two seasons. While the play was encouraging, combined with North Carolina’s win over Tulsa, dropped Loudoun to 4th, their first time out of the East’s Top 3 this year.

Was there a way to take from the game? Maybe one or two but first, the highlights:

On the murmurs of some danger. Last week I mentioned that having guys like Riley Bidois who want to run and put the ball on net help your Abdellatif Aboukouras or your Florian Valots. And sure, Aboukoura and Valot only had one chance created each, but Aboukoura found himself perhaps in some more space than he’d had in recent weeks, and provided some nice moments of interchange with the other attackers onfield. There was some hesitancy at times on attacks where things just stopped once the team got to the 18, where willingness to say ‘screw it’ and throw a shot on was perhaps worthwhile; Koke Vegas is good but he can’t be that good, right?

On first impressions and longer terms. Earlier in the week Loudoun signed Guatemalan national team player Arquimedes Ordonez, and received Omari Glasgow on loan from the Chicago Fire. Their third signing, right back Luca Piras, was on the bench Saturday. Signings one and two came on in the 56th minute, and if you want snap takes on performances, Ordonez wasn’t bad; he was there to help press at forward and even almost muscled his way through to finding a Loudoun goal moments after coming on.

Glasgow made eyes open a little more:

Lots of green for a perfect 19/19 passing day, with one shot hitting the post, and another forcing a save from Koke Vegas. He was able to find Keegan Tingey, and his central players in (mostly) Aboukoura and Valot with relative comfort, and makes a case for himself to start one of the next couple of games with his work. Squeezed out of playing time in Chicago, having a low-risk, medium reward like this for Loudoun could prove to be beneficial.

Back to Ordonez (and to an extent Piras), getting players in and acclimated makes for some foresight. Consider Loudoun has three defenders (Tingey, Yanis Leerman, Robby Dambrot) and four midfielders (Valot, Tommy McCabe, Drew Skundrich and Ben Mines) with expiring contracts in 2025, to say nothing of seven others with contract options.

Whether the mood in the room since the April Athletic report is changed or not, as I’d presume the team is going to look vastly different than it does now.

On slight misperceptions: The always-fun John Morrissey highlighted that Loudoun’s defensive struggles in allowing the highest xGA number per game. While results Saturday moved them down from highest to sixth highest per Analysis Evolved, there is some opposition bias to take into consideration; Rhode Island has scored the second-fewest goals in the League and their xGF per game in third-lowest. Even with their anemia, RIFC outgunned Loudoun on shots and shots on target, JJ Williams looked dangerous on occasion, and with teams with bigger guns coming back up on the schedule, like John, we both pine for days of Jacob Erlandson’s return.

Random Stat of the Day: 0.24/96, the goals added per game number from Glasgow (per ASA), the 7th highest figure in the USL.

So, where do we go from here? Well, the team’s hot start is officially done as various elements have caught up to or surpassed them; while they are in 4th, they are a point ahead of Pittsburgh, meaning they are hanging onto that home playoff spot by the skin of their teeth. Aboukoura remains the USL’s leading goal scorer, tied with Charleston’s Cal Jennings and Miami’s Francisco Bonfiglio, with three more players at 10. Once the leader in assists, Valot has six players tied or ahead of him on the board (Valot has 6 currently). Loudoun have a demanding week coming up, hosting Indy Eleven Saturday at Segra before hosting Sacramento midweek in Jagermeister Cup quarterfinals, then moving ahead to play at Charleston, who they have not beaten in 11 straight games, the 4th longest streak in USL history.

If there is a time and a place for Loudoun to get their first win in almost two months, Saturday may need to be it.