The countdown to the start of the 2025 USL Championship season on Saturday, March 8 is underway.

So, which goalkeepers and defenders have the potential to take the spotlight this campaign? Between new arrivals, established talents and rising prospects, here are our picks for which players have the potential to be an impact-maker for their side this year.

Our picks for the Western Conference are below, for our picks in the Eastern Conference, click here.

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC – Christian Herrera

If the 2024 USL Championship regular season was the one in which Christian Herrera found a new level as the Switchbacks starter, the club’s run in the postseason was one in which the 27-year-old put himself in position to become one of the league’s top goalkeepers.

Herrera’s three shutouts in four games and key late-game saves proved crucial as the Switchbacks claimed the Championship crown, carrying his full-season numbers across the regular season and playoffs to 13 shutouts in 38 appearances, a save percentage of 70.3 percent on 98 saves and a Goals Prevented mark of -4.33.

A native of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Herrera bounced around the professional ranks before landing in Colorado Springs in 2022, eventually becoming the club’s starter in the 2023 campaign. As he returns for the new season, the 27-year-old enters his prime ready to enter the conversation alongside the top goalkeepers in the Championship.

El Paso Locomotive FC – Memo Diaz

When Memo Diaz signed with El Paso Locomotive FC for the club’s inaugural season it was a feel-good story. Being the local standout who came through an invitational tryout to earn his first professional contract gave Diaz a hook, if not a regular spot in the lineup as he logged 423 minutes in two seasons.

As Diaz returns for his second stint with Locomotive this season, he’s quietly become one of the best attacking full backs in the Championship, one that could make an important impact as El Paso looks to return to the playoffs this season. Over the past four seasons with Oakland Roots SC, Diaz has logged 15 assists and 143 chances created while logging at almost 8,500 minutes of action across the regular season and playoffs. The number that really stands out, though, is Diaz’s 20.33 Expected Assists mark, which is both a big overperformance on his actual assist number but also ranks second to only Jack Gurr (20.77xA) in the past four seasons.

Diaz’s quality on the flank – and solid defensive capabilities – could provide Locomotive’s forward line with necessary service this season. If they can deliver at the other end of his deliveries, Diaz could be ready for a breakthrough campaign.

FC Tulsa – Johan Peñaranda

It’s difficult to imagine a goalkeeper making an entrance into the USL Championship like that of Johan Peñaranda midway through the 2024 season. At the time he signed a short-term agreement with FC Tulsa, he was competing for USL League Two side AC Miami, and there was no guarantee he’d be with the side longer than his initial 25-day deal.

So, what did Peñaranda do? Made it impossible to let him go. The 25-year-old recorded five shutouts in his first eight appearances, allowing only three goals, and earned the Player of the Month award for July, a first in club history. While Tulsa’s playoff bid faded down the stretch, Peñaranda continued to impress, ending the year with 85 saves in 22 appearances at a save percentage of 78 percent while posting a -6.76 Goals Prevented mark.

With a new multi-year contract in place going into the 2025 season, Peñaranda now faces a full season between the sticks for a club with aspirations of pushing on from a season ago. If he can come close to his numbers from this past campaign over a full season, he could be in the Goalkeeper of the Year conversation when it’s all over.

Las Vegas Lights FC – Maliek Howell

Maliek Howell was one of the last signings made by Las Vegas Lights FC as it completed its roster overhaul ahead of the 2024 season. He then spent the first half of the season learning the ropes in his first professional action in the United States.

In mid-June, however, he moved into the starting lineup for the Lights as the club began to pick up steam, putting together a pair of lengthy undefeated streaks that paved the way to its first postseason appearance and a run to the Western Conference Final before falling to Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. The Jamaican put up strong defensive numbers throughout, winning 66.4 percent of duels, 73.9 percent of aerial duels and 66.7 percent of tackles while playing 51.8 percent of the side’s minutes in the regular season and playoffs.

Now, with center back partner Joe Hafferty having moved on to Lexington SC, the stage is set for Howell to step into a bigger role. For the 26-year-old there’s the motivation of involvement with the Jamaica Men’s National Team, for which he earned a call-up in February for a non-FIFA date, as well as aiming to build on the progress Las Vegas made a season ago. It’s an opportunity he’ll do well to take.

Lexington SC – Joe Hafferty

Having earned MLS NEXT Pro Best XI honors with Austin FC II in 2023, Joe Hafferty followed former Las Vegas Lights FC Head Coach Dennis Sanchez to Cashman Field last offseason and established himself as one of the key players in the club’s dramatic turnaround last year.

Making his debut in mid-April against Rhode Island FC, the center back’s start against the Tampa Bay Rowdies in late May was the start of a run that saw him go the full 90 minutes – or in the case of the club’s Western Conference Quarterfinal against Sacramento Republic FC, 120 minutes – in every game for the rest of the season. Hafferty led the side with 90 clearances and 22 blocked shots while also putting up strong numbers elsewhere, including winning 31 of 38 tackles.

That grabbed the attention of Lexington SC, which was in almost the same level of roster overhaul to Las Vegas as it made the move up from USL League One this offseason. Acquiring Hafferty via transfer from the Lights was a big move, but the 26-year-old appears equipped to handle it.

Monterey Bay FC – Carlos Guzmán

Based on its most fundamental metric, goals conceded, Monterey Bay FC had a slightly above-average defense in the USL Championship in 2024, allowing 44 goals on a league average of 45.1 across the league’s 24 teams. The issue? Monterey Bay was almost supernaturally reliant on its goalkeeper to keep bailing it out. The club’s 184 shots on target faced were tied for the second-most in the league.

That’s one of the areas Head Coach Jordan Stewart will be trying to address in his first full season at the helm, and Mexican veteran Carlos Guzmán could have a key role to play in shoring up the left side of the back line. The 30-year-old was solid in his first year in Monterey Bay, leading the side with 41 interceptions and logging 84 clearances and 22 blocked shots.

There are areas where the former Toluca and Queretaro defender needs to tighten up. He was responsible for three of the six penalty kicks Monterey Bay conceded in 2024, and he was below the league average among defenders in winning only 54.7 percent of his duels. If Guzmán can find improvement in those areas, it would provide a boost for a Monterey Bay as it seeks to become a more well-rounded side in pursuit of a first playoff berth.

New Mexico United – Talen Maples

Talen Maples was at the center of one of the goofiest moments in the 2024 Championship season when his inadvertent handball – believing a ball had gone out of play for a goal kick instead of being live – handed Memphis 901 FC a penalty kick. It could have been a major deflator for the center back, but instead what happened in the aftermath showed the character and quality the 26-year-old brought to the table in his first year at the club.

Maples was arguably the most reliable piece in New Mexico’s lineup throughout its run to the top of the Western Conference, evidenced by his position as the club’s leader in minutes among outfield players, almost 500 minutes ahead of second-place Chris Gloster. He ranked in the top 10 in the Championship in clearances (131) and blocked shots (28) in the regular season and even showed composure from the penalty spot when called upon, scoring twice out of three goals overall.

As New Mexico looks to push forward from last year’s breakthrough year, Maples figures to be a central figure again. If his numbers continue to rise, an All-League campaign might not be out of the question.

Oakland Roots SC – Kai Greene

As he closes in on 250 appearances in the USL Championship across the regular season and playoffs, Kai Greene returns for a second stint at Oakland Roots SC as the steady hand the side at times seemed to desperately need through a tumultuous defensive campaign in 2024.

If there’s anything that Greene can bring, it’s reliability. Over the past four seasons, the 31-year-old center back has logged an average of 2,771 minutes across the regular season and playoffs while winning possession and making good defensive plays at a consistent clip. Greene has averaged 144.3 duels won per season at a 63.1 percent success rate, and 37.3 tackles per season at a 66.5 percent success rate. He’s not as dominant in the air as he was earlier in his career, but that can be mitigated by his younger teammates on the back line.

Where Greene’s experience will come in most handy is for the games that simply got out of hand for Roots a season ago. While Oakland reached the playoffs, it ranked 23rd in the league with 57 goals conceded, more than a third of which came in four outings in which the side allowed five goals between July and October. Greene will be relied on to help stem those sorts of outings and give Roots a firmer footing on the back line.

Orange County SC – Grayson Doody

Having been sitting on the periphery at Club de Foot Montreal for most of the 2024 season, Grayson Doody’s late-season loan to Las Vegas Lights FC offered the chance for the 22-year-old to show what he could do in the professional ranks. Doody made the most of his opportunity, recording four assists on 15 chances created (and a 2.8 Expected Assists mark) that helped the Lights push into the top four and all the way to the Western Conference Final in their first postseason.

After his release from Montreal, that production in limited action was likely to be in demand in the Championship, and in the end it brought Doody close to home as the Hermosa Beach, Calif. native signed with Orange County SC. A former UCLA standout, Doody notched a little over 1,000 minutes in the regular season and playoffs, and even if his assists total overachieved a little, he could turn into one of the better two-way full backs in the league this season.

At a club which saw its fortunes rise under Head Coach Danny Stone late last season – and has a track record of advancing talent to bigger stages – it could be the ideal setting for Doody to put together an impressive campaign.

Phoenix Rising FC – Pape Mar Boye

There might have been no higher-profile signing for Phoenix Rising last year than Pape Mar Boye, who reportedly turned down an MLS Generation adidas contract to sign with Rising and start his career in the USL Championship. The 21-year-old more than lived up to the billing, earning Championship All-League Second Team honors while being nominated as a finalist for the Young Player of the Year award.

What’s next for the Senegalese center back is to build on that and help carry Phoenix back toward the top of the Western Conference in the process. While Boye was above average in duel and aerial duel success rate in the 2024 regular season, moving into the league’s elite in those categories while retaining his passing quality out of the back is likely to be central to that progression.

In that, he might not have a better mentor than new Rising Head Coach Pa-Modou Kah, who was a standout center back throughout his career in Europe and Major League Soccer. If Boye can hit that higher level, there could be much bigger things ahead of him in the years to come.

Sacramento Republic FC – Jared Timmer

In his four seasons in the USL Championship between Indy Eleven and Sacramento Republic FC, Jared Timmer’s consistency has been his calling card. Last season in Sacramento, where injuries regularly hit the side, that became even more important as the 27-year-old logged a career-high with 3,143 minutes of action – missing only 37 minutes of the campaign across the regular season and playoffs.

Understandably, Timmer also logged career-highs in clearances (87) and aerial duels won (86), the latter coming at an individual high 64.2 percent success rate, while also setting a new high with 195 duels won overall at a 65.4 percent success rate. Maintaining that standard is going to be important for Republic FC, with Timmer likely to have a role in the typical three-man back line Head Coach Neill Collins likes to employ.

After the letdown the side experienced over the final third of the 2024 regular season, resulting in an early elimination from the playoffs in the Western Conference Quarterfinals, Timmer will be aiming to help Republic FC maintain its elite defensive status.

San Antonio FC – Alex Crognale

This offseason saw Alex Crognale go from a team that for the past two seasons suffered from defensive challenges in Birmingham Legion FC – ultimately resulting in a first missed postseason for the club in 2024 – to a side whose defense crumbled having previously been among the best in the league in San Antonio FC, resulting in the same postseason absence.

And yet, it’s easy to see the impact the 30-year-old could have in his new surroundings. Crognale has been a force on the back line consistently in the Championship, averaging 132.3 clearances per season and an aerial duel success rate of 67.2 percent during his time at Legion while also recording a career-high 38 blocked shots a season ago.

Add Crognale’s ability to set tempo in possession – a season ago he completed 1,224 passes at an 84 percent success rate, a rate of 45 completed passes per 90 minutes – and he becomes an ideal fit alongside fellow defensive stalwart Mitchell Taintor. As a foundation for San Antonio to build around at the back, the duo might quickly become one of the best in the league.