Part 11 in our team-by-team preview where we try to answer these questions: how could they succeed, and how could they stumble?
Richmond Kickers
2022 was an exciting year in Richmond. The club all but cruised to the top of the table on the strength of a blitzkrieg of goals from Golden Boot winner Emiliano Terzaghi, backed by four others who put up at least five apiece: Jonathan Bolanos, Matt Bentley, Owayne Gordon, and Nil Vinyals. The defense was stingy as well, only conceding 35 goals, good enough for second-best in the league. This was a solid roster from top to bottom.
And then Chattanooga Red Wolves SC swept into town and put the hype to bed on the strength of brick-wall goaltending by Carlos Avilez and an absolute stunner of an 86th-minute goal by Rafa Mentzingen.
Such is life in a chaotic league with a playoff system.
The end-of-year accolades were plenty: Terzaghi won his third straight league MVP and was named to the All-League first team; Bolanos received an MVP nomination and was named to the All-League first team; Jalen Crisler was nominated for defender of the year, and named to the All-League first team; Akira Fitzgerald nominated for goalie of the year and named to the All-League second team; Ethan Bryant named young player of the year.
With this much talent, it was inevitable that a few would not return. Bolanos pursued the MLS, landing with Nashville SC’s MLS Next Pro team, Huntsville City. Ethan Bryant was sold to the Sporting Kansas City system. Defender Stu Ritchie to the Columbus Crew system. Jalen Crisler signed with expansion side One Knoxville SC and fellow defender Stephen Payne with rivals Forward Madison.
With some big holes to fill, the club quickly snatched up defender Michael Hornsby from Fuego FC, and a young midfielder who had already been on their radar, João Gomiero. They would go on to add midfielder Justin Sukow from Forward Madison before making a big splash late in the pre-season with the signing of USL Championship veteran forward Kharlton Belmar. Must of the rest of the core and support re-signed as well, including Terzaghi, Vinyals, and midfield anchor Zaca Moran. Bentley and Gordon had their options picked up.
Can Richmond make another strong run for the title in 2023? Or has the rest of the league achieved parity?
How the Richmond Kickers could succeed in 2023
Coach Darren Sawatzky knows what he’s doing
In 2022, we knew Terzaghi was something special coming in, having already won two MVPs and Golden Boots. But to have so many players increase production and contribution between 2021 and 2022 alongside of another MVP season for Terzaghi has to be attributed to coaching.
As in, 2022 USL League One coach of the year Darren Sawatzky.
And like 2022, he has a lot to work with, and a number of players due for better production in a system that might be a better fit. In addition to returning regulars Terzaghi, Bentley, Vinyals, and Morán, as well as defensive midfielder Dakota Barnathan and defender Nathan Aune, the club added Hornsby, another dependable regular from Fuego FC. Then there are the players no doubt looking to gain or return to regular minutes, Belmar, Gordon, and Sukow come to mind.
There’s a reason few are betting against Richmond making another playoff run despite the off-season losses, and that reason is Sawatzky.
How the Richmond Kickers could stumble in 2023
More of the league’s clubs achieve parity with Richmond
Obviously, Richmond had a working formula in 2022. But these things don’t happen in a bubble.
If you look around the rest of the league, you find a growing number of high-scoring strikers who threaten to take the crown away from Terzaghi: Kazaiah Sterling and Garrett McLaughlin return, while Dane Kelly and Steven Dos Santos bring their USL Championship goal-scoring prowess over for 2023. Forward Madison poached Christian Chaney, who is all in for the Golden Boot race. Jacob Labovitz, Irvin Parra, Tresor Mbuyu and Khori Bennett round out the double-digit goal-scorers from 2022 who return to the league. And then of course there is always the wild card factor of a new player coming in from overseas and becoming absolutely dominant, like Terzaghi in 2020 and Sterling in 2022.
There’s little indication that Terzaghi won’t compete for the top spot once again. But if he doesn’t quite put up the numbers, and others on the roster don’t develop like the 2022 squad, Richmond would probably struggle to make the playoffs given the increased talent pools across the league.
But then again, it’s difficult to bet against Sawatzky
The ability to develop and coax production out of his players, across the board, and a good deal of talent with which to work, point to another playoff run in Richmond. We’ll just have to see if he remains a step ahead or if the other clubs have figured out the formula.
Correction: the original post incorrectly listed Stu Ritchie as Stu Holden. Thanks to RiverCity93 for pointing that out.