I’m not going to pretend I was some sort of nostradumarse last week when I thought there was a chance Loudoun could eke out a win over Louisville somehow, I just thought it was a potential trap that could be taken advantage of. Loudoun almost did such a thing, rallying back to tie and eventually regain a lead before Loovul had the last word in a 3-3 draw. Loudoun remains winless in their first five of 2026 but three of the last four have been draws, so not all bad, right? Let’s take a dive:

On THAT goal, or more than that. OK, let’s watch Thor Ulfarsson’s goal again. Not the other one, this one:

An intriguing ponderance coming into the season was what kind of shape Thor would be in for Loudoun, which is to say he returned to playing only in September, after injuries forced him to miss the previous 18 months. Familiar with playing in the American leagues and having turned 25 this past December, he’s come roaring back to form, currently second in the USL in goals, scoring 4 of Loudoun’s 8 so far, and doing so on a variety of plays; he had a free kick goal at Tampa and almost had one more. With Andres Souper and Abdellatif Aboukoura getting closer to return next to Marcos Dias and Quimi Ordonez, this makes for a potential welcome dilemma.

On the portside loandown. OK, here’s the other goal:

Richie Aman is with the assist there, and he played a part in Loudoun’s third goal by Bolu Akinyode (his first) on a really sweet set piece play. Early days but he’s got a pair of assists already in five games and is tied for the team lead in created chances (7), and does not hesitate to run at defenders and find his teammates in the open space; I’ve seen him do this a couple of times already and defenses haven’t adjusted to it yet. He also had three shots, all in the 18 (two were blocked). If the league doesn’t catch up to him, it wouldn’t surprise me if he got recalled by D.C.

On a recurring pain point. While it was nice to see Bolu score, the third Louisville goal made me wince a little. Giving space up to a defender has occurred a couple of times already this season and its cost the team before, just as it did Friday night. I said it last week, but I imagine this will change depth and deployment as Sal Mazzaferro and Jacob Erlandson get back from injury, but no lead can be considered safe right now.

Random Stat of the Day: 2.74, the difference between actual (4) and expected (1.26) goals for Ulfarsson, a note of potential regression.

So, where do we go from here? The USL Championship has been weird so far. You have this game, then Charleston, who beat handled Louisville their first loss at home in more than a year the week beforehand, was thumped by expansion side Brooklyn.

Then you have Hartford, who Loudoun play in Connecticut Saturday. Hartford had given up three goals in their first five games total, then shipped four to visiting El Paso, including three in a twenty-minute first half span. Putting aside Loudoun’s still existent issues with roster health, Saturday will be either another shootout or a one-sided walk, there can’t be any in between.

In an already weird season, expect more of the same.