If there’s one thing the USL Championship Playoffs can often be relied upon for, it’s surprises.

That’s the nature of a single-elimination tournament, where what you do in the regular season sets you up for potential success over the final four weekends of the season but never comes with a guarantee.

Over the years, we’ve seen some spectacular upsets – we chronicled the best of the best over No. 1 seeds two years ago, and Rhode Island FC’s victory at Louisville City last year would rank very highly in that as well – but ahead of this year’s postseason, we’re going deeper.

Here are four underdog success stories the lower seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference will be hoping to emulate as they kick off this weekend.

4. Wilmington Hammerheads FC (2012)

With a defeat in their final game of the regular season, the Wilmington Hammerheads had missed out on an opportunity to improve from their No. 5 seed in the upcoming postseason.

It meant they had to run a gauntlet to have a chance at silverware, starting by visiting a Richmond Kickers side that had won two-thirds of its games at City Stadium since the start of the 2011 season. After going behind early, however, the Hammerheads rallied to take a second-half lead on goals by Hagop Chirishian and Steven Perry before the Kickers hit back with 11 minutes to go to tie the score. But with extra time in sight, Tom Parratt scored in the third minute of stoppage time to earn a 3-2 win and take Wilmington through to an even bigger challenge.

The Hammerheads’ next faced No. 1 seed Orlando City, which had earned a bye after finishing 16 points clear at the top of the standings and had lost only once in 27 games across two seasons at the Citrus Bowl. Nonetheless, Wilmington caught the Lions cold. Corey Hertzog and Luke Holmes both scored inside the opening 10 minutes before Chirishian found the net on the half-hour mark. Matt Luzunaris pulled a goal back for Orlando just before halftime, but Hertzog’s second of the game in the 59th minute set the Hammerheads on their way to a 4-3 victory as Orlando’s late rally came up short.

That was where the magic ran out for Head Coach David Irving’s side, unfortunately, as the Charleston Battery took a 1-0 victory in the Final, leaving the Hammerheads one win short of glory.

3. Harrisburg City Islanders (2014)

The Harrisburg City Islanders had advanced to the inaugural USL Championship Final in 2011, but despite rallying over the second half of the 2014 season the side had narrowly made it to the No. 8 seed in the postseason. In the opening round, that meant a trip to Orlando City SC, which in its final season before moving to Major League Soccer had gone undefeated at home, reeling off 13 consecutive victories to close the regular season at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex.

For the City Islanders – without, for a change, their lucky red socks (a psychological ploy Head Coach Bill Becher had cooked up in the middle of the season) – it proved no impediment. A first-half goal by Antoine Hoppenot proved the difference for the visitors as Nick Noble posted a shutout to send the side through in one of the biggest upsets in USL Championship Playoff history.

The City Islanders continued their march with a back-and-forth 3-2 victory against the No. 4 seed Richmond Kickers in the Semifinals at City Stadium, where the Kickers had lost only once all season previously while doubling up their opponents in goals 29-14. After first-half goals by Morgan Langley and Jamiel Hardware put Harrisburg up at the halftime break, Danny DiPrima’s finish 14 minutes from time provided the necessary insurance as the Kickers made it a one-goal game through Conor Shanosky three minutes later.

Harrisburg held on for victory in Richmond but were unable to come through in the Final against Sacramento Republic FC. That left Harrisburg as the second team to reach two USL Championship Finals, but without a trophy to show on either occasion.

2. Rhode Island FC (2024)

Having earned only one win in its first 14 league games, Rhode Island FC came into its own over the second half of its inaugural season, moving all the way up to the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference by the end of the season. With it having been eight years since the last first-year club reached the USL Championship Final, though, a deep run in the playoffs wasn’t on the cards, especially with the opponents that stood in that path.

Up first was an Indy Eleven side that had put together a solid if unspectacular league campaign, but whose knockout tournament bona fides had been established in the U.S. Open Cup, where the Boys in Blue advanced to the Semifinals, knocking off Atlanta United on the road to get there. With JJ Williams leading the way with a hat trick – and a key assist from Head Coach Khano Smith – the visitors earned a 3-2 victory at Michael A. Carroll Stadium.

Next, RIFC needed lightning to strike twice. But having been the only team to defeat Players’ Shield winner Louisville City FC at Lynn Family Stadium in the regular season – while LouCity won its other 16 games, setting league records for home wins and goals – the visitors were undaunted. They struck early through Williams, who then added a second late before Albert Dikwa capped a stunning 3-0 victory, eliminating Louisville City FC before the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in its history.

If Louisville City was the league’s gold standard at home in 2024, the Charleston Battery weren’t far behind. Like LouCity, the reigning Eastern Conference title-holders had lost only once at home in the regular season, racking up a 13-1-3 record, but Rhode Island’s momentum continued. Karifa Yao scored shortly before halftime before Noah Fuson added a second eight minutes into the second half, and while Juan David Torres pulled a goal back for the Battery, Rhode Island held firm for a 2-1 win at Patriots Point to win the Eastern Conference.

With a chance to become the first expansion club to win the league since Sacramento Republic FC in 2014, however, the magic ran out. A 3-0 defeat at Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC’s Weidner Field brought RIFC’s epic run to an end.

1. Phoenix Rising FC (2023)

Going winless in its final five games of the regular season, No.6 seed Phoenix Rising wasn’t the team being viewed as one that could make a run as the postseason arrived – No.5 seed Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, by contrast, had ended the year on a seven-game undefeated run. But when the chips were down, Phoenix rose up.

In every game, Head Coach Juan Guerra’s side had to battle. Visiting San Diego Loyal SC in the Western Conference Quarterfinals, Rising trailed twice in the first half before rallying to hit the front through Dariusz Formella’s goal six minutes into the second half. The drama wasn’t over, though, and in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time Ronaldo Damus completed his hat trick for SD Loyal to send the game to extra time. With a penalty shootout beckoning, however, Formella struck again in the 119th minute to lift Phoenix to its first playoff victory in three years.

Visiting No. 2 seed Orange County SC in the next round, Phoenix didn’t trail thanks to Danny Trejo’s early goal, but it once again had to work overtime after Thomas Amang’s equalizer for an OCSC side that had conceded only 14 times at home in the regular season. With time winding down again, this time it was Emil Cuello’s turn to deliver a winner with a finish in the 116th minute from the left side of the penalty area to earn a 2-1 victory.

Having defeated the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds, all that remained was to take on No. 1-seed Sacramento Republic FC, which after its run to the U.S. Open Cup Final the year prior had produced a monster home regular season, losing only twice and conceding only nine goals in 17 games. When Republic FC took the lead through Russell Cicerone just past the half-hour mark, it appeared on the way to victory having gone 13-0-1 when scoring the opening goal previously that season. Instead, Rising found a way back. An own goal caused by a dangerous free kick from Renzo Zambrano pulled the visitors level with 10 minutes to go before Cuello produced a piledriver from distance in the second minute of stoppage time to earn Rising its third Western Conference title.

Unlike lower seeds that had come before, though, Rising made history. In the USL Championship Final against the Charleston Battery, the side rallied back from a first-half deficit after Nick Markanich had put the hosts ahead at Patriots Point, while maintaining its flair for the dramatic. In the final minute of regulation, John Stenberg’s first goal of the season pulled Rising level to send the game first to extra time, and then a penalty shootout. In the shootout, Phoenix again trailed – this time by two goals after two rounds – before Zambrano got his side on the board. From there, the tide turned. As Rising made its final three shots of the five, the Battery were unable to convert, making Phoenix the first team to win a USL Championship title with four consecutive results on the road.