Some clubs have made flying starts to the 2025 USL Championship season, with Loudoun United having already surpassed 20 points in their first nine games and the Charleston Battery and Louisville City FC having the potential to join them.

For others, however, the first quarter of the campaign has been much more of a struggle. Six teams currently sit with only one victory as we enter this weekend’s action, including the defending USL Championship title-holders and two teams that reached the Eastern Conference Playoffs a season ago.

Here’s our look at the challenges each side has faced so far and some thoughts on potential solutions that can help turn things around as we move toward the midpoint of the campaign.

Birmingham Legion FC (1-4-3, 6pts)

Legion has made its slowest start to a season in club history, which resulted in a coaching change when Tom Soehn departed the club in early April. The side took a 3-1 victory against El Paso Locomotive FC in the outing that followed for its lone win of the league campaign so far but has gone winless in its last three games in the Championship since then.

What appears to be the problem?

Birmingham has struggled defensively this season. It has yet to record a shutout across all competitions this season despite sitting in the middle of the pack in the Championship with a 9.49 Expected Goals Against mark, having allowed 12 goals in league play. The side has also been unable to find a solution yet for the slow starts that hindered the side last year, five of its nine goals have come in the final half-hour of games, and its attack has been surprisingly low-energy. Birmingham’s 75 total shots and 22 shots on target ranking in the bottom quarter of the league, with the talents of new arrivals Ronaldo Damus and Danny Trejo yet to be fully unleashed.

What’s the Solution?

There’s a lot of work to be done for new Head Coach Mark Briggs as he implements his system and ideas into the squad after his appointment earlier this month, but the biggest thing the team may need is an injection of confidence. Legion’s 114 touches in the opposing penalty area are the fourth-lowest mark in the league this season – an average of 14.3 per game – but Legion showed last season how good it was playing with a lead. It dropped only five points from winning positions – second-fewest in the league – while going 10-1-1 when it scored first. Finding early momentum in games could be the key to unlocking this team’s potential.

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC (1-3-5, 8pts)

The defending Championship title-holders took four games to win their first game of the season – a 3-2 result on the road against Indy Eleven – and has drawn more games than any other team in the league this season to sit in 11th place in the West so far.

What appears to be the problem?

The Switchbacks have regressed defensively so far in their title defense. After allowing 40 goals in 34 regular season games last year, and then only one goal in four playoff games, the side has allowed 15 goals in nine regular season games this season. That projects to 50 goals over the 30-game campaign, a serious uptick. Colorado Springs has a -1.27 Expected Goal Differential and has allowed more shots and more shots on target (115/39) than it has taken (99/30), and the four headed goals the side has allowed is tied for the most in the league at this point of the season.

What’s the solution?

Finding the solution to defensive challenges is usually harder to pin down, but the absence of Speedy Williams this season in a central position seems instructional here. Colorado Springs has allowed 12 goals from open play, the most in the Championship so far, and 13 goals inside the penalty area, second-highest in the league. Finding the right structure to help break down attacks before they reach the back line – or making a deal to add a defensive midfielder that can plug into that role – feels like a potential answer.

Hartford Athletic (1-5-1, 4pts)

After more than doubling their points total from 2023 a season ago in Brendan Burke’s first season at the helm, Hartford has struggled so far this season in the league. Its lone victory came on April 19 against Birmingham Legion FC, which had let former Head Coach Tom Soehn go 10 days prior and was under the stewardship of interim Head Coach Eric Avila.

What appears to be the problem?

Hartford’s attack has, to put it mildly, really struggled to mount a consistent attacking threat. The side sits last in the league with four goals, 52 total shots and 12 shots on target, and is second-last in Expected Goals at 5.78xG – one of only four teams to average less than 1.00xG per 90 minutes this season. The lowest goals total a side coached by Burke has recorded previously in a full season was 32 in Bethlehem Steel’s first year in 2016. This side is currently on pace to score 17, an incredibly uncharacteristic pace.

What’s the Solution?

The fundamental thing feels like getting this side into an attacking rhythm and some confidence it’s going to be able to deliver against the Championship’s opposition. Michee Ngalina hasn’t looked like himself yet this season despite the talent we know he possesses, and while Jack Panayotou had a sparkling debut on loan from the New England Revolution in the side’s opening win against Portland Hearts of Pine in the USL Jägermeister Cup, he’s not followed that up in the league. There’s still plenty to play for here but getting some confidence and an attacking spark is going to be essential to getting things back on track.

Indy Eleven (1-2-4, 7pts)

In an Eastern Conference that has already splintered in two, Indy Eleven sits above the playoff line thanks to four drawn outings in addition to its lone win on the road against Miami FC to open the season. The Boys in Blue are the only team in the East to have drawn more than 50 percent of its contests in the regular season, joining Colorado Springs (five draws in nine games) out West. On the bright side, they’re also one of only five teams in the East with a positive Expected Goal Differential (+0.57).

What appears to be the problem?

The short answer is Indy is leaking goals. It’s allowed 13 goals on 7.99 Expected Goals Against, with the latter currently a top four mark in the league. The longer answer is Indy is leaking goals at the least opportune moments. No club has allowed more goals in the opening 15 minutes of games than Indy’s four so far this season, and the side has also allowed six goals in the final half-hour of games. That latter number has resulted in the side winning only once out of five occasions this season when it has scored the opening goal, dropping nine points from winning positions. Only its companion out west in Colorado Springs has dropped more points (10) this season.

What’s the Solution?

It sounds simple, but coming out of the gate sharply and maintaining focus late in contests is the easiest fix to what ails the Boys in Blue. While there haven’t been errors that have directly led to goals this season per Opta’s definition, this is a side whose numbers say they should be a postseason contender at the end of the year. To get there, they’re going to have to take care of the details and start defending more cleanly to get results across the line.

Lexington SC (1-4-4, 7pts)

Lexington SC got out to a flying start to life in the USL Championship with a 2-0 win against Hartford Athletic, but since then things have not gone to plan. The side is winless in its last eight regular season games to sit last in the Western Conference with its only win since opening night coming against amateur opposition in the U.S. Open Cup.

What appears to be the problem?

There are a few things here – as with Colorado Springs and Indy, Lexington hasn’t been good at holding leads, dropping eight points from winning positions, sitting tied for the league-high with five goals conceded in the final 15 minutes. Ultimately, though, it comes down to how Lexington is performing in both penalty areas. LSC has scored nine times on an 11.39xG mark and conceded 15 goals on a 10.28xGA mark. So, it’s at a +1.11 Expected Goal Differential and a -6 actual goal differential. That’s the difference its seven points and the 13.24 Expected Points mark it sits at in American Soccer Analysis’ metrics, ninth-best in the league.

What’s the Solution?

If the underlying numbers are good – and they are – then it’s really about this team coming together and starting to live up to the sum of their parts. Marcus Epps’ goal on Saturday was his third of the season, but only Cory Burke has recorded multiple goals otherwise in Lexington’s lineup. Starting to fire consistently in the attacking third – where the side has below-average numbers in shooting accuracy (45.5%) and shot conversion rate (13.6%) – and performing more strongly in the second half of games overall – where the side has a -5 goal differential – can help LSC turn things in the right direction.

Tampa Bay Rowdies (1-6-1, 4pts)

After six consecutive postseason appearances, and a trip to the Eastern Conference Semifinals last year, the Rowdies have stumbled hard out of the gate to start the season. The club’s lone victory came on March 22 on the road against Miami FC – in which Miami missed a second-half penalty kick – and since then the side has parted ways with Head Coach Robbie Neilson as it looks for its veteran-laden lineup to find its rhythm.

What appears to be the problem?

There have been problems at both ends of the field. Tampa Bay has conceded 14 goals in the regular season on a 13.18xGA mark – the third-highest in the league – and has given up a league-high four penalty kicks, three of which opponents have converted. The side’s eight errors leading to shots are also a league high, with three goals coming from those opportunities. In attack, it’s not been pretty either. While the Rowdies are tied for fifth in the league with 109 shots, they also have the second-lowest shooting accuracy rate in the league (35.6%) and the lowest shot conversion rate (9.2%), resulting in only eight goals on a 10.14xG mark.

What’s the Solution?

Having conceded multiple goals in their past five league outings, the Rowdies may need to consider moving back to the three-player back line that served as its foundation in prior successes. Individually, Aarón Guillén and Blake Bodily appear to have been hit notably hard by being asked to play at full back – Guillén’s -0.78 Goals Added Above Average mark ranks third-last among full backs in the Championship this season, and Bodily is second-last at -0.84 in the same metric – while Forrest Lasso (+0.39) and Robert Coronado (+0.41) are two of the side’s highest rated players at their conventional center back positions. Add more consistency in hitting the target by the club’s attacking pieces – and a resulting uptick in conversion rate – and things could turn around in time to continue the club’s playoff streak.