It’s a busy holiday weekend in the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference with games each of the next three nights to kick off the new month. Here are five key talking points to watch for as we move through the action.

GUENZATTI REACHES CENTURY MARK FOR ROWDIES

Friday night’s game against the Charleston Battery is set to make Tampa Bay Rowdies captain Sebastian Guenzatti’s 100th appearance for the club, a mark that early on in his time in Tampa Bay some might not have envisioned as the striker struggled to find form early on at the club. The 29-year-old has battled back to not only become an unquestioned leader of the side, but also put himself among the leading forwards in the Championship, with Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins pointing to his reaction after getting substituted at halftime of a loss to Louisville City FC in 2018 as illustrative of the type of player Guenzatti is.

“I’ve played with and coached a lot of players here and you can imagine what some of the attitudes might be to not playing or getting taken off at halftime,” said Collins this week. “Seba trained like a beast for four weeks and never made a squad, never made the bench, never travelled and then got his way back into the team. That told me a lot about his personality and then he backed it up with the quality of his play and he got his chance at No. 9 and he’s been a real leader and captain. He’s what you want representing you out there on the field as a fan. That’s the kinda guy you want to support and get behind and that you want to coach.”

Guenzatti has recorded 43 goals for the Rowdies overall in his career, with his game-winner last Saturday night against Hartford Athletic his 40th regular-season goal in the Championship of his career. Since the start of the 2019 season, only Phoenix Rising FC’s Solomon Asante (34) has recorded more regular-season goals than Guenzatti’s 33, with his average of a goal every 151.1 minutes putting him among the league’s elite.

TULSA LOOKS TO MAINTAIN HOLD ON BLACK GOLD DERBY

FC Tulsa fans have known what it’s like to go through what OKC Energy FC are experiencing right now. In fact, when Tulsa claimed the Victory Wrench for the second time in the history of the Black Gold Derby with a 3-2 victory last September 30 at the end of the 2020 season, it marked the first victory for the side in the series in 1,146 days, going all the way back to the 2017 season.

With the parity that has emerged in the rivalry since the start of the 2019 USL Championship season, it’s now Energy FC that is looking to break an unwanted streak of its own. After Tulsa’s victory on April 24 to start the new season at ONEOK Field as Joaquin Rivas scored his second and third goals in the rivalry series, Energy FC is sitting on a streak of 1,059 days since it last claimed victory against its in-state rivals.

With Energy FC having turned its season around over the past three games, claiming three consecutive wins for the first time since the 2018 season, it’s setting up to be an intriguing contest at Taft Stadium on Friday night (8:30 p.m. ET | ESPN+) as Tulsa looks to maintain the upper hand.

HOUNDS LOOK FOR GREATER CONTROL AGAINST INDEPENDENCE

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC has been one of the better teams in the Championship in recent years in dictating the terms on which a game will be played, which has been a key factor in the club’s three consecutive playoff berths under Head Coach Bob Lilley. On Wednesday night, however, Lilley believed his side got away from that philosophy in a 2-1 defeat to Loudoun United FC that saw the hosts register seven shots on goal, the most the Hounds have faced in a single game this season.

“We let them dictate the game, and that’s what was disappointing,” said Lilley. “We rested some guys, but we had enough quality out there to play better than we played. Don’t get me wrong, Loudoun deserves credit. Don’t take anything away from them. … But it’s not going to magically happen. New York, Loudoun, every game you play in this league, nothing is given. I don’t think we put enough into this game to get a result, and that’s disappointing.”

For Pittsburgh, dictating the game hasn’t necessarily meant controlling possession. There have in fact only been two games this season when the Hounds have had more than 50 percent of the ball according to Opta – the first when it had a man-advantage against the Charlotte Independence and the second against an Austin Bold FC side that scored early and then defended resolutely at Highmark Stadium on June 6. With the Charlotte Independence visiting on Saturday night (7 p.m. ET | ESPN+), regaining that balance of control with and without the ball is going to be key for the Hounds as they try to strengthen their hold on second place in the Atlantic Division.

INDY NEEDS RETURN TO WINNING WAYS AT HOME

It wasn’t so long ago that when you went to visit Indy Eleven, the chances of coming away with all three points were minimal. Between early in the 2018 season and the start of last season, the Boys in Blue put together a 28-game home undefeated streak in the regular season – tied for the second-longest in the Championship’s history – that fueled back-to-back postseason berths in the club’s first two seasons in the league.

That changed midway through last season – Indy won only once in its last five home games in the abbreviated 2020 schedule, a run that effectively cost it a place in the playoffs – and this year’s return to Michael A. Carroll Stadium hasn’t improved matters much with the side currently 1-3-1 on home turf this season. Indy has taken four points from its first two games under interim Head Coach Max Rogers after a 3-3 draw last Saturday night against LIPAFC rival Louisville City FC, but both of those results came on the road. Saturday’s visit from Central Division leader Birmingham Legion FC (7 p.m. ET | ESPN+) is a chance for Indy to start making visits from playoff rivals something to fear once again.

SPOTLIGHT ON ZAROKOSTAS AS BATTERY VISIT ROWDIES

The Charleston Battery will be without key playmaker Zeiko Lewis on Friday night against the Tampa Bay Rowdies (7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN+) as he joins Bermuda’s squad for Concacaf 2021 Gold Cup Qualifying, which could put the spotlight on Stavros Zarokostas after his individual success a season ago against the defending Eastern Conference Title-holders. The Greek forward – who last weekend became the player to score the 10,000th goal in the Championship’s regular season history against Loudoun United FC – is the lone player in the league to have scored multiple goals against Tampa Bay since the start of the 2020 season.

Zarokostas notched three goals in four games last season for the Battery against the Rowdies, including both goals as Charleston took a 2-1 victory against its hosts in the final game of the regular season at Al Lang Stadium on October 3. Tampa Bay would have its revenge with victory in the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the 2020 USL Championship Playoffs two weeks later, but as the sides square off for the first time this season Zarokostas should be a player to watch in one of the weekend’s more intriguing matchups.