Richmond visits Northern Colorado, while Madison visits Chattanooga.

Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC vs. Richmond Kickers

Hailstorm FC visited Richmond in April and battled to a 0-0 draw on the strength of respective defenses and goalkeepers. In this matchup, third place in the table is on the line, as a Hailstorm win would propel them above Richmond, while a Richmond win or a draw would maintain Richmond’s spot.

Wednesday, June 7th, 7:00 PM MST (9:00 PM EST)
Future Legends Field, Windsor, CO

Hailstorm FC

Northern Colorado has seen a successful first quarter of the season, going 4-1-3 in its first eight matches. It’s good enough for fourth in the table with three matches in hand over third place Richmond.

They’re off a 2-2 draw at Lexington, a match in which Billy King and Bruno Rendón found the back of the net.

The club is flying high in most statistical categories, including being tied for first in goal differential with Charlotte Independence with +8, best in goals scored per match with 1.88, second-best in points per match, and third-best in goals allowed per match with a stingy 0.88.

Trevor Amann leads the squad and the league with seven goals on only 17 shots, indicating a dangerously efficient attack when given an opportunity. This is a big reason why the entire team leads the league in shot conversion rate at 19%.

Hailstorm has goal contributions from six others besides Amann, with Billy King leading the rest of the pack at three. Arthur Rogers leads the team with three assists and 20 chances created, but King has also created 16.

Defensively, center back Rendón leads the backfield with 26 tackles won, 65 duels won and 21 aerial duels won. Rendón also contributed a goal over the weekend and was recognized with team of the week honors.

Lalo Delgado has started every minute in goal, only conceding seven goals in eight matches with four clean sheets.

Absent / Questionable: none reported

Richmond Kickers

Richmond has also seen relative success in its first 11 matches, going 4-2-5. It’s sometimes uneventful, with three 0-0 draws, but it’s been good enough to sit in third place going into the week.

They’re coming off a 1-0 win against a struggling Chattanooga Red Wolves SC side in which Emilano Terzaghi bagged his first open-play goal of the season for his second overall.

Richmond has seen the toughest overall schedule so far this season, having already faced Charlotte and Tormenta twice, and faced NCFC and Northern Colorado once each. The squad is ranked fourth in points per match, goal differential, and goals allowed per match, and ranks seventh in goals scored. However, they are ranked third in shot conversions, at 17%.

Midfielder João Gomiero leads the squad with three goals, all scored during week 11. Terzaghi, Justin Sukow, Kharlton Belmar and Nathan Aune each have two, with Luke Pavone and Owayne Gordon contributing one apiece.

Belmar leads in assists, Nil Vinyals in chances created and Terzaghi leads in shots.

Michael Hornsby leads the defense with 21 tackles won and 64 duels won, while Nathan Aune leads in aerial duels won and clearances. The defense has been without Aune’s fellow center back Dakota Barnathan due to injury, with Chris Cole stepping into the role.

Akira Fitzgerald has effectively retaken his starting keeper role since missing three matches earlier in the season with the birth of his first child. He has three clean sheets and eight goals conceded in eight matches.

Absent / Questionable: Dakota Barnathan, Ethan Vanacore-Decker

Head to Head

Last match: Richmond 0-0 Northern Colorado

Chattanooga Red Wolves SC vs. Forward Madison

This is the first meeting between Forward Madison and Red Wolves SC in 2023. The visitors currently sit just outside the playoff bubble and could move as high as fourth place with a win. The hosts fell to last place in the table with a loss at Richmond but could move as high as 9th with a win.

Wednesday, June 7th, 7:30 PM EST (8:30 PM CST)
CHI Memorial Stadium, Chattanooga, TN

Chattanooga Red Wolves SC

The Wolves currently sit in last place in the table, after a 1-0 loss to Richmond last weekend. The squad is winless since April 29th, with one draw and four losses since that 3-1 win over Lexington. All four losses were shutouts, but they exploded for three goals in a come-from-behind draw against Union Omaha.

Granted, the stretch has been one of the more difficult, with losses to Tormenta, One Knox, Charlotte, and Richmond, all top-seven teams. But throughout the season, the Wolves are last in points per match, tied for last in goal differential, goals scored per match, and goals allowed per match.

They’re led by Ropapa Mensah, a USL Championship veteran who has two goals. Six others have contributed one goal. Shots come from Walter Varela (12), Mensah (11), Mayele Malango (10) and Ryley Kraft (10), while Aaron Lombardi leads in chances created with 14.

Returning veterans Nico Cardona and Ualefi lead the defense with 18 and 14 tackles won respectively. Cardona shares the lead in duels won with Varela with 57 each, and Lombardi leads with 17 aerial duels won.

Ricardo Jerez and Carlos Avilez have shared goaltending duties, with Jerez taking seven of the ten starts. Jerez has conceded 13 goals, with Avilez conceding 4 with one clean sheet.

Absent / questionable: Christian Enriquez, Manuel Madrid, Yahir Paez, Andrew Paoli

Forward Madison

The Mingos have shown flashes of brilliance this year but had an unfortunate stumble last weekend with a home loss to then-last-place Fuego FC. They’ll look to recover against the new last-place team, Chattanooga.

They currently sit in seventh place but with 2-3 matches in hand on five of the six clubs above them in the table. A win could propel them as high as fourth place, and a draw potentially into the top six.

Madison is tied for fourth in points per match, and second-best in the league in goals allowed per match at 0.78. The offense has been inconsistent at times, placing the squad at 8th best in goals scored per match.

The offense is led by Christian Chaney, with four goals on 28 shots. Five others have one goal each. Jayden Onen and Stephen Payne have two assists each, while Isidro Martinez leads with 19 chances created.

Jake Crull leads the defense with 18 tackles won, 50 duels won and 19 aerial duels won.

Bernd Schipmann has played all minutes in goal and is an early contender for goalkeeper of the year with only seven goals conceded on 34 shots, and four clean sheets.

Absent / Questionable: Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu

Head to Head