A couple of weeks ago when Loudoun United got their first USL Championship win of 2026, it was only natural that they celebrate by…having a bye week, but that’s how the schedule lined up. It didn’t help that they would be facing a Detroit City side that was pretty good, but was also at the tail end of a 3 game/7 day swing. That said, Loudoun couldn’t crack the net but held off Detroit and led to a 0-0 draw, the third scoreless draw for Loudoun in 2026, but also was the second consecutive shutout for Loudoun. What to make of it, dear reader? Let’s take a gander:

On an interesting wrinkle. As the roster slowly emerges into its best health of the season (more on that in a moment), Anthony Limbrick made the intriguing choice, dropping captain James Murphy from the lineup, and placing Andres Souper in the middle, next to Bolu Akinyode. And this was interesting!

Two sequences of note were at 2:50 of the highlight video above, and this cropped clip below, where he finds the outside pass:

Next to Akinyode who was a force again with 11 of 14 duels won, Souper could find Pedro Santos and Pacifique Nyongabire for crosses into the box and make for dangerous attacks. In a rockfight against the first or second best defensive team in the League, Souper led the team in the Goals Added metric and gave an intriguing look into the future of central midfield when everyone is back around.

On this current backline. Axel Essengue, Sal Mazzaferro and Noah Adnan got the tap again after keeping Brooklyn off the board and handled business. Assisted by Akinyode when necessary, their combined defensive action map looked pretty impressive:

To be fair, Brooklyn’s the third lowest scoring attack in the USL, and Detroit left Darren Smith and his six goals back in Michigan, and nobody else who played Saturday has more than a goal so far this season. You do have to play who’s in front of you, and Loudoun will get a decent chance to extend that scoreless streak some more.

Look man, sometimes it’s too damn wet. A little jocularity for a second; I was with my kids all weekend while my wife was out of town celebrating a friend’s birthday. And it rained three quarters of the weekend. It felt like I was in London or Seattle or something. Compounding problems, one of the kids was sick, so a lot of TV and lax diet standards abounded. I didn’t want to work out, I wanted to be in front of screens and not make/reheat meals, because things were unrelenting.

I’m not saying crap weather rained on the game’s parade, but it sure didn’t help!

Random Stat of the Day: 399, the number of days from the last time Jacob Erlandson was at full health, due to a broken foot and damaged ligaments. Erlandson was in the 18 for the 2nd time since April 19, 2025. Additionally, offseason acquisition Christian Torres made his first 18 of 2026 as well.

So, where do we go from here? Loudoun heads out to California to play Monterey Bay, who’s scored a league-low 7 goals on the year (Loudoun’s Thor Ulfarsson has 5). Loudoun then play a couple of League One sides in USL Cup play, hosting Richmond and then playing at Greenville before returning to League play.

It’s weird to say this about a team with only one League win so far, but combined with warm bodies coming back (Loudoun dressed 19 players for the first time since maybe Week 1?), it…wouldn’t surprise me to see Loudoun go on a run of sorts before they see Rhode Island on June 13 at Segra.