The last thing I mentioned following Loudoun United’s disappointing loss at home to Birmingham was that Loudoun was going to have to call upon a behavior they’ve exhibited all season in order to win on the road, and that was to win on the road in a place they hadn’t won at before. And well, Loudoun did get that fancy ‘x’ next to their name in the standings with a 1-0 win, so let’s see the game, recapped in eight minutes:

On just how imporant the Next Man Up is. Following last week’s loss of Zach Ryan (red card), Quimi Ordonez (national team duty), Yanis Leerman and Ben Mines (injury), Saturday brought the surprise absence of Hugo Fauroux. Enter Ryan Jack for his first state of 2025, with Garrison Tubbs and Bolu Akinyode as the center back pair, one that had played sparsely since the former was loaned back down and the latter was signed shortly after Alen Marcina’s arrival as Scouting Director.

And things went well!

Call the pair Dulles Airport because nobody wanted to go out there! Starting around the 12th minute when Tubbs headed a ball away that got over Bolu, each covered for the other nicely (Bolu repaid the favor in the 65th por ejemplo), they combined to win 10 of 16 duels and all six aerials. More than that, the new additions and the team as a whole, did not allow a Detroit shot in the first half and didn’t allow a Detroit shot on target at all.

Of note, Tubbs went out moments later to injury and was replaced by Cole Turner, for his first appearance in almost two months and worked with Akinyode to a seamless nature. Obviously getting Leerman and Tubbs back available would be nice as October games become November ones.

Lucky? Not really. Riley Bidois’ goal wasn’t really some act of fluke; Loudoun was bossing Detroit for most of the last 25 minutes of the game, and his high value chance removed kind of illustrates it:

Two shots, one blocked in that span for DCFC, while Loudoun was slowly ramping the pressure on the backend.

In terms of style, way back in Week 2, Loudoun beat NCFC 2-1, because a second half counter allowed Florian Valot to spring his right winger, and fed to Riley Bidois for the game-winner. Flash forward seven months, swap Ben Mines for Omari Glasgow, and you have the same result, with larger ramifications.

A personal note. Back when SB Nation had websites that didn’t run on WordPress a couple years after ours did (cough cough), it looks like the end of 2017 was when I started typing words on a keyboard that said “Loudoun United”. Sitting on County Supervisors meetings, groundbreakings, driving on a gravel road behind a park in Leesburg to see when exactly this stuff would get done, was all part of seeing how the sausage would get made. It disappointing that because unfortunately said metaphoric sausage hasn’t been done yet, that’s one of the prime stories of the 2025 USL Championship season and a larger bone of contention in CBA talks between the Players Union and the League.

Circling back to the sentimental, as times have changed and players have come and gone, the connection to this group isn’t one that I have as much for different reasons; while Loudoun was clinching their playoff spot, I was at a soccer tournament for my oldest son where, like Loudoun, he helped his team shut out the opposition. I mention this because years ago when Loudoun just began to work at Segra, I had my son with me, he was invited onto the field to kick the ball around, which made his day because he was sick and home from school (sorry guys!).

Forgive me, but I cannot help root for Ryan Martin and the group he put together, and congratulate them on this year and the previous ones he’s had to endure to get to this point.

Random Stats of the Day:

12: Number of regular season wins by Loudoun in 2025 (new single season club record)

42: Number of regular season points by Loudoun in 2025 (tied for most points in regular season, set in 2024)

1/1: First win by Loudoun United in Detroit/number of postseason appearances by Loudoun United

Your Moment of Zen:

So, where do we go from here? Loudoun’s done thing one, which was make the playoffs.

Thing two is get a playoff game at home, which remains up in the air:

Rhode Island remains red hot as shown above, but the only team not to win in that group? NCFC, who was blanked for the second straight week, this time at home. I’ll mention again that Loudoun host NCFC in the regular season finale, with the increasing likelihood that the fourth and final home playoff seed will be on the line.

But for now, Loudoun can celebrate a moment they’ve rightly earned, where everyone played a part.