This weekend in the USL Championship was one for setting new narratives.

On Friday night, FC Tulsa broke an unwanted record with its first victory against Sacramento Republic FC in club history, the 1-0 result on Taylor Calheira’s late winner at ONEOK Field breaking a 14-game winless run in the series dating back to 2015.

Then on Saturday night, North Carolina FC came through with a 2-1 victory against Southern Derby rival the Charleston Battery at First Horizon Field. That marked the first win for NCFC against the Battery in official competition in 16 years, when both clubs were members of the USL First Division, NCFC was called the Carolina RailHawks, and Sallieu Bundu scored the only goal at Blackbaud Stadium on June 11, 2009.

• STEPPING FORWARD: North Carolina was likely to be on the wrong side of the possession battle against a ball-dominant Battery side, but the hosts counteracted that with directness, which paid off in their opening goal. Ezra Armstrong’s speed down the left saw him track a ball into space before Ahmad Al-Qaq’s curled effort was flicked into the net by Evan Conway.

• MAINTAIN MOMENTUM: NCFC maintained its momentum after scoring the opener, and a fiendish cross by Mikey Maldonado with the outside of his right boot from the left was turned into his own net by Battery defender Graham Smith.

• BEND BUT DON’T BREAK: The Battery struck right before the halftime break after a handball in the box allowed Cal Jennings to bag his third goal of the season, but North Carolina was excellent defensively in the second half to see out the win. While the Battery held 68 percent of possession, they registered only one shot on target and three shots inside the penalty area, a testament to the barriers the hosts put up to earn an important three points.

“It's huge,” said NCFC Head Coach John Bradford on the win. “It's been the message the whole week – it was a good road result in Tulsa, and we have an opportunity to get two wins in a row, which is something we want to try and build on, especially before we go on the road for the next couple of games. I'm proud of the guys tonight.”

North Carolina made a positive return to the USL Championship last year after ending a three-year run in USL League One with the first title in club history. The side reached the postseason and gave Louisville City an early scare in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals before bowing out.

The challenge for the side in 2024 was two-fold; Bradford’s side was unable to string together wins consistently – it won consecutive games only four times and never extended that run to three games – and it struggled against the top teams in the East – the side went 1-6-3 against the top five teams in the East at the end of the season.

With the majority of its squad back in the fold, and some notable new additions such as former League One star Pedro Dolabella and experienced center back Conor Donovan, the hope this preseason was NCFC would kick on and become a top-four contender.

After going winless in their first eight meetings with the Battery in the USL Championship, gaining the upper hand in a long-standing rivalry while putting the side into a good spot at the end of the first month of the campaign is a positive step toward that goal.

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