Weekend Results
Birmingham Legion FC
Legion's first match under new head coach Mark Briggs was on the road against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. During his introductory press conference, Briggs stressed the importance of being aggressive, and Legion hit the ground running. The first twenty minutes saw a flurry of activity in the Rowdies’ box and some big saves by Campisi. And then in the 26th minute Enzo Martinez was called for a foul that was ruled to be just inside the Legion box, giving the Rowdies a penalty kick (the challenge was definitely late and sloppy, but I think the contact was outside the box). Regardless, Leo Fernandes calmly sent the kick past Van Oekel to give Tampa Bay the lead. The Rowdies came to life after that point, and were better in attack for the rest of the half. They held that 1-0 lead at halftime.
The second half began looking much like the end of the first. Then both coaches made some substitutions that seemed to change the tenor of the game. Tampa Bay brought off Pacius, a striker that has had good success this season (but struggled in this game, and then just a few minutes later Legion made a triple substitution. Among those changes, Briggs decided to bring off Ronaldo Damus in favor of Preston Tabort-Etaka. Damus was clearly not happy with the choice. But Legion scored their first goal just one minute later on a classic Enzo Martinez clean-up in front of the goal l. Legion stayed on the attack, and just six minutes later Preston drove into the box to give service to Trejo for the second goal. Legion's final two subs were meant to provide the coverage to hold onto the lead. But Rowdies winger Pacifique Niyongabire shredded the Legion defense to get an equalizer in stoppage time. The final was 2-2. The last-minute goal was a tough pill, but if Legion can consistently play in recent form they'll start climbing the table.
Huntsville City FC
Image credit: Huntsville City
Huntsville City faced off against Atlanta United 2, hoping to continue their move up the table. HCFC got an early lead, and added a second goal in the 42nd minute. They looked to be in good position to go into halftime with a 2-0 lead, but Atlanta pulled one back just before the break.
Atlanta United got their equalizer early in the second half, and were able to keep Huntsville at bay. Regulation ended in a 2-2 draw, and then a tense shootout saw Atlanta make every kick to take home the extra point.
USL2
First up for two USL2 preseason friendlies was Dothan United against AFC Mobile. Mobile is looking to beef up their squad after a tough 2024 Summer, and players are just now being announced. Dothan United has been ahead of the game on getting players in, and it showed. The Dragons crushed AFC Mobile 9-0. It was a great warm-up for Dothan, and hopefully Mobile found some things they can build on.
Image credit: Montgomery United
The other preseason friendly had Montgomery United vs Fountain City. Inclement weather came in to spoil the party, and the match was called off after just 25 minutes played. The score ended at 0-0, and unfortunately left Montgomery short of some much-needed minutes against an opponent that is in mid-season form.
Looking ahead, Dothan and Montgomery will kick off their season against each other coming up on Sat May 10.
FC Birmingham
FCB2 was on the road against Limeno 3, expecting to put together a big win. Limeno was looking for their first win of the season, after some very uneven performances. FCB2 couldn't get anything going and they lose 0-1.
UMA FC
UMA2 was on the road against FC Atlanta, but results haven't been posted. I'll update here when that score comes in. [Updated] UMA2 got their first win of the season, 2-1.
The Adjacency
FC Columbus Elite were on the road against Georgia Athletic for a match that had been expected to be a high-scoring affair. However, this ended up being a tight game. Elite came away with a 2-0 victory, their third win in the last five games.
Columbus Knight Eagles took a hard loss at home this week against Middle Georgia United. This game was expected to have a lot of goals and it did, but it was also one-sided. Middle Georgia made a statement with a 6-2 win as they move up to second place in the table. The game continues a slide in form for the Eagles, with both of their goals coming from Mouhamadou Diop.