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USL Championship Power Rankings – Week 27

By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 09/08/25, 5:00PM EDT

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Lexington’s second-half surge has it in position to host a playoff game with early season challenges firmly in rearview mirror

With one win in its first 12 games in the USL Championship, things were not looking promising for Lexington SC.

In fact, it was easy to make the call-back to a season ago when the team that brought in a plethora of new faces couldn’t find any consistency as it missed the USL League One Playoffs before its move up.

Since the middle of June, though, things have turned for the better.

Starting with the club’s 2-1 victory against New Mexico United on June 14, Head Coach Terry Boss’ side has gone 7-2-2 in regular season play.

There have been missteps – most notably, the late disappointment against Commonwealth Cup rival Louisville City in the USL Jägermeister Cup and its defeat on the road to Las Vegas to end August – but after Friday night’s 2-1 win at home to North Carolina FC, Lexington is into the top four in the West.

“It’s a testament to the work that the group's been putting in,” said midfielder Nick Firmino, whose goal proved decisive against NCFC. “Over our last 10 games, we've been in good form, and we felt like we had to come out here and redeem ourselves for the game in Vegas.”

The middle of the Western Conference standings are remarkably congested, setting up what could be a final stretch of the season that should deliver some twists and turns.

After LSC’s slow start, there’s a home playoff game there to be claimed.

“I know that every one of them is not content with just making the playoffs,” said Boss. “We want to make sure that we get a home game in front of our fans too. And so that’s the ambition for the group, and for us it has been about controlling your destiny the whole time. If we can stay as a collective unit, which we saw tonight, I think the group is really tough to beat.”

Here are this week’s rankings.

Biggest Movers

6 IND 5 OC, SA, TBR

Rank

 

Team

Change

Summary
1 Louisville City FC
(16-1-6)
Week 28: @ PIT
Last Week:
1		 For the first time on record, Louisville City FC didn’t record a shot inside the penalty area in a regular season game. It still didn’t matter thanks to Aiden McFadden’s thunderbolt.
2 Sacramento Republic FC
(10-5-7)
Week 28: vs. PHX		 1
Last Week:
3		 Republic FC has picked up consecutive two-goal road wins to close the gap to FC Tulsa for first. The battle for first place is starting to heat up.
3 Hartford Athletic
(9-9-5)
Week 28: @ MB		 1
Last Week:
2		 Athletic got caught in a bit of a trap game on Wednesday night, but they still put in a credible performance despite the defeat. Winning in Miami on Saturday was a nice bounce-back.
4 FC Tulsa
(12-4-7)
Week 28: @ NM
Last Week:
4		 The Scissortails haven’t dropped many points this season when scoring first, but they couldn’t close out a win against Legion FC after failing to add to Taylor Calheira’s penalty kick.
5 Charleston Battery
(16-5-2)
Week 28: vs. OAK
Last Week:
5		 The Battery were holding on against Indy on Saturday night but managed to preserve a 10th consecutive home victory in league play. They’re still in with a chance to reel in Louisville.
6 Loudoun United FC
(11-8-4)
Week 28: vs. SA		 1
Last Week:
7		 Loudoun got the jump on El Paso with Ben Mines scoring its earliest goal of the season after just 95 seconds. Very good road win, two in a row to solidify a top-three position.
7 Lexington SC
(8-8-7)
Week 28: vs. OC		 3
Last Week:
10		 Kentucky is the hottest state in the USL Championship right now, with Lexington having picked up 12 points from its last five games. Only LouCity (13) has more.
8 Detroit City FC
(8-7-8)
Week 28: @ NM		 3
Last Week:
11		 Any concern there was over Le Rouge not making the playoffs should have been assuaged. Getting Darren Smith going again with three goals and an assist in the past four games is great.
9 North Carolina FC
(10-9-3)
Week 28: vs. ELP		 1
Last Week:
8		 NCFC isn’t in danger of missing the playoffs, but consecutive losses have Detroit and Hartford snapping at their heels for fourth. That’s not ideal.
10 El Paso Locomotive FC
(8-6-8)
Week 28: @ NC		 4
Last Week:
6		 Locomotive’s slow start came back to bite them against Loudoun United. They’ve now conceded seven goals in the opening 15 minutes, the most of any team in the Championship.
11 Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
(8-8-6)
Week 28: @ TBR		 1
Last Week:
12		 The Switchbacks have two wins in a row and are above the playoff line. There’s still more to do, but would you go against the proposition they’ll end up in the top four?
12 Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
(8-8-7)
Week 28: vs. LOU		 5
Last Week:
17		 Augustine Williams passed the 100 goal contributions mark in the USL-C in style and is now the league’s leading active scorer. Important result and performance in Oakland.
13 Indy Eleven
(7-11-5)
Week 28: @ RI		 6
Last Week:
19		 The Boys in Blue’s victory against Hartford Athletic was massive, and they looked dangerous despite having precious little of the ball in Charleston. With Rhode Island and Tampa Bay also losing, Indy’s back in control.
14 Orange County SC
(8-9-4)
Week 28: @ LEX		 5
Last Week:
9		 There are injuries, sure, but conceding four goals in consecutive games should be raising some alarm bells at OCSC. Friday’s trip to Lexington isn’t going to be easy, either.
15 Phoenix Rising FC
(7-7-9)
Week 28: @ SAC		 2
Last Week:
13		 On one hand, Rising is undefeated in its last four games. On the other, it’s only won once in that span and is now in a four-way tie on 30pts with the fewest games remaining of the quartet.
16 New Mexico United
(9-9-3)
Week 28: vs. TUL		 5
Last Week:
21		 Big moment for Luther Archimede to score his first goal in the USL Championship in almost two years. New Mexico still labored against 10-player San Antonio but found a way through.
17 Oakland Roots SC
(7-12-3)
Week 28: @ CHS		 3
Last Week:
14		 Tough setback for Roots against Pittsburgh. It’s not over, but having to visit Charleston and Tulsa over the next two weekends could end up pushing Oakland closer to the edge.
18 Rhode Island FC
(6-11-6)
Week 28: vs. IND
Last Week:
18		 After playing the top two in the East back-to-back, RIFC Head Coach Khano Smith talked about the fine margins in both games. If you’re not going to score more than one goal a contest, though, they become even finer.
19 Birmingham Legion FC
(4-9-10)
Week 28: ---		 1
Last Week:
20		 Legion’s third consecutive draw was well earned in Tulsa. Next Wednesday’s game against Tampa Bay is looking like a must-win for both teams now.
20 San Antonio FC
(8-8-6)
Week 28: @ LDN		 5
Last Week:
15		 When San Antonio slid out of the playoff picture last season, it didn’t have as long a winless run as the current six-game streak the side is on. Everyone should be on edge.
21 Tampa Bay Rowdies
(6-13-3)
Week 28: vs. COS		 5
Last Week:
16		 No team has conceded more goals from outside the penalty area this season than the Rowdies with nine. Rodrigo Lopez’s deflected strike was the latest, a horrible piece of back luck.
22 Las Vegas Lights FC
(6-11-6)
Week 28: vs. MIA
Last Week:
22		 The Lights had the best chance of the night in Phoenix but Vaughn Covil couldn’t put it away. A finish there could have given the side a major boost.
23 Monterey Bay FC
(6-12-6)
Week 28: vs. HFD
Last Week:
23		 Monterey Bay looked excellent in the first half in Colorado Springs but didn’t take full advantage. Now it’s at the tipping point – six points out with six games to play.
24 Miami FC
(5-13-5)
Week 28: @ LV
Last Week:
24		 Miami almost found a late equalizer against Hartford when Tobías Zárate hit the woodwork, but that’s four consecutive defeats and a season that feels like it’s petering out.

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Tag(s): Power Rankings  San Antonio FC  CO Spring Switchbacks  Orange County SC  Phoenix Rising FC  Sacramento Republic FC  FC Tulsa  Charleston Battery  Louisville City FC  Pittsburgh Riverhounds  Tampa Bay Rowdies  Las Vegas Lights FC  Birmingham Legion FC  North Carolina FC  Indy Eleven  El Paso Locomotive FC  New Mexico United  Loudoun United FC  Hartford Athletic  Miami FC  Oakland Roots SC  Detroit City FC  Monterey Bay FC  Rhode Island FC  Lexington SC 

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