The final day of this USL Championship regular season gave us plenty that we had hoped for.

There were clubs that proved absolutely adequate, such as Phoenix Rising FC coming through with a road shutout and draw against Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC to ensure its postseason berth.

There were also those that flopped at the worst possible moment. Imagine being a player in Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC’s hotel in Tulsa on Saturday night watching Lexington SC crash out even harder in Oakland than you had two hours earlier, somehow getting the defending title-holders into the playoff field.

There was deep emotion, especially for the Tampa Bay Rowdies as their slim playoff hopes failed to come to fruition, bringing the careers of Leo Fernandes and Forrest Lasso to an end in the process.

Most importantly, there were clubs that rose to the occasion to either secure a playoff berth or make a significant move in the standings ahead of the postseason’s arrival. Here are three teams that came out the biggest winners.

1. San Antonio FC

Having failed to score in the prior five games, going down early at home against Copa Tejas rival El Paso Locomotive FC was the last thing San Antonio might have needed. The response SAFC produced was outstanding as it racked up a 5-2 victory to sail into the playoffs at Toyota Field while regaining the rivalry trophy with a sweep of the season series.

Not only did four different players find the net – plus an own goal – but they were the players you’d want to see lifting their confidence before a potential playoff run. Santiago Patiño and Nicky Hernandez both got their first goals since September, while Luke Haakenson bagged his first since July, giving three of SAFC’s attacking quartet goals to go with Jorge Hernández’s two assists. As a lower seed, San Antonio’s going to go into the playoffs as an underdog, but Saturday showed they can’t be underestimated.

“When we’re determined, when we’re pushing, when we don't give up, we can create the chances and we can score,” said SAFC Head Coach Carlos Llamosa. “Scoring five today – we scored three in set pieces – we can find a way to score goals. The guys are confident that we can score goals one way or another.”

2. North Carolina FC

In terms of final position in the standings, no team helped itself more on Saturday than North Carolina, which vaulted from sixth place in the Eastern Conference to third with its 1-0 win against Loudoun United. The result – combined with Hartford Athletic’s defeat in Louisville and Pittsburgh’s draw at home to Phoenix – saw Oalex Anderson’s second-half goal make the difference at Segra Field and earn NCFC a home game to start the playoffs.

The trick now for NCFC will be repeating the same feat twice. Thanks to the sequence of results from the past weekend, Head Coach John Bradford’s side will get an immediate rematch against Loudoun at First Horizon Stadium. In what proved one of the most even series of the regular season – United took a 2-1 win when it visited North Carolina earlier in the season, and the sides played to a draw in the USL Jägermeister Cup group stage before Loudoun won in a penalty shootout, this could be one of the best and tightest opening weekend games.

3. FC Tulsa

This season has been at least in part about resetting expectations and breaking unwanted streaks at FC Tulsa. On Saturday night, the Scissortails rounded out the campaign that’s sent them to the top of the Western Conference for the first time in club history with an emphatic 3-0 victory against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC to earn their first win in the series since the 2020 season.

Why does that, and what else happened at ONEOK Field on Saturday such as the hosts producing a 2.67 to 0.92 advantage in Expected Goals, matter? First, it meant that Tulsa will enter the postseason with momentum, having taken 10 of 12 possible points from its last four games while seeing Taylor Calheira cap his club record season with 15 goals. Second, it set up an immediate rematch between Tulsa and the defending title-holders, who squeaked into the playoffs as the No. 8 seed.

An immediate return trip to Tulsa won’t have been what Colorado Springs was looking for as it tries to defend its crown. It’s also a great opportunity for the Scissortails to secure another first – their first postseason victory.