USL Super League: Lexington’s debut and more

Takeaways from the second week of USL Super League action

Seven out of eight clubs in the USL Super League have now hit the pitch, leaving Brooklyn FC (in action next Saturday) as the lone holdout. In the meantime, another draw-heavy weekend saw Lexington debut.

What stood out for each club in Week 2? Let’s dig in.

Lexington SC

We’ll start at Memorial Stadium, where Lexington debuted under coach Michael Dickey. Running a 4-1-4-1 while out of possession, Lexington was defined by a highly aggressive defensive approach and a sharp fast-break offense.

Madison Parsons was an early standout, one that operated as the right-sided No. 8 in Lexington’s midfield. She set the tactical tone. Against a Carolina team that dropped two center mids into a double pivot, Parsons closed down extremely hard and showcased an ability to quickly turn takeaways into chances. Within the first 20 minutes, #20 had four or five tackles.

The height of the Lexington midfield and the depth of their back line - presumably meant to limit passes over the top - left a gap. It was an accepted risk. Dickey’s answer to mitigate breakthroughs? Allow your defenders to step up from the deep block against Ascent penetration.

As we’ll see in the Carolina section, the rotations weren’t always timely, and the Ascent found gaps in the first 30 minutes of the match. At that point, Lexington wisely re-oriented their lineup.Autumn Weeks, who started at left back, moved to the right. Right back Courtney Jones pushed up into a midfield spot. Most crucially, starting midfielder Nayeong Shin took over on the left - the main point of weakness in the early going.

Shin was resplendent in that deployment. Though she came off at halftime, the South Korean international put in two interceptions and two tackles in her 45 minute run and changed the tenor of the match. Shin’s back rotations behind Madison Perez - the left-sided center back most often charged with plugging holes - were timely, and her closing angles toward receivers halted Carolina’s progressive moves.

Perez herself deserves a shoutout for regularly applying pressure to Ascent receivers. Not only did she avail herself well at the back, but she also took Lexington’s set pieces. Perez clearly has skills, and I’m looking to see more from her as an initiator in open play.

Room to improve in general? Sure, but between the in-game adjustments and sizzling wing play from Kailey Utley and Cori Sullivan (who combined for 50% of their team’s shots), there was a lot to like for Lexington.

Carolina Ascent

On one hand, Carolina has two goals through two games and is third-from-bottom in the Super League with eight shot attempts per match. On the other, they took Lexington to task for long stretches of Sunday’s matinee matchup. Sustaining that success is the challenge now.

At times, Carolina folded under the pressure of a Lexington team that had a week of Ascent game tape to work with. Philip Poole still trusted his team to patiently find their rhythm. Carolina tended to start build-out with both Taylor Porter and Sarah Troccoli low in the pivot, only for Troccoli to push high once her team broke past the halfway line.

Porter, the team’s captain, ended up attempting 37 passes and shone when she took on single-pivot responsibilities. She was essentially the quarterback underlying Carolina’s offense. The former Portland Thorn had a particularly keen eye for runs in the right channel, those that she could switch toward on her stronger right foot.

Indeed, the Ascent started to punish Lexington down that side on the regular just before the first-half water break. Rylee Baisden - the right winger - would cut between two opposing defenders to draw them in, and Ashlynn Serepca - the right back - would then have space to follow on the overlap. You see the basic setup mapped above; the specific layout is taken from a 25th minute play that earned Serepca a shot on goal.

Even so, Lexington grew wise to those patterns and switched up their alignment to shut off the right-wing runs and give Porter less time to think in the pocket. From there, Carolina struggled to get back into the mix with consistency.

Even so, Audrey Harding was bright as a halftime sub. Harding, who I liked a lot coming out of Week 1, replicated that debut performance with a shot, two chances created, and eight touches in zone 14 this time out. 75% of those edge-of-the-box receptions came in the last 15 minutes. Lexington began to sit deep to preserve a draw, and Harding emerged as a dynamite hold-up presence to make them pay for it.

You want more consistency, but the early weeks are about finding chemistry. Carolina is in the uniquely disadvantageous position of playing Lexington and Brooklyn in a state of information asymmetry, and they fared well enough after one go; if they can take a point at Coney Island and keep building, it’ll be a successful start.

DC Power

Jorian Baucom is good, y’all. With 1.71 xG and 0.24 xG per shot through two matches, the 28-year-old striker is setting the tone for a DC Power side that finally hit their stride against Tampa Bay on Saturday. Frederic Brillant experimented along the way, and his tactics let Baucom cook as a line-leading presence that could put the Sun to the sword.

DC was in a 4-2-3-1 early on, and they hoped to use #5 (an insane pick for your striker’s kit number!) as their anchor in attack. The hope was that Baucom could draw defensive attention and allow the wingers to make runs over the top. The problem? Tampa Bay’s high press didn’t let it happen. Baucom got just two touches in zone 14 and the box in the opening 60 minutes as the Power put one single shot on target.

Fast forward to the 60th minute, when Brillant made a triple change. His subs moved DC into an attacking 3-2-5 shape - almost like a classic “Inverting the Pyramid” style W-M in practice - that turned the tables.

Madison Murnin, the starting left back, remained on the field and was revelatory as an initiator from the left half space in the new formation. Murnin’s entry passes could hit Yuuka Kurosaki or Katrina Guillou (who combined for 11 passes and four shots in the final half hour), or she could take the ball herself and find an edge around the Sun press.

With Baucom able to stay closer to the net rather than holding play up, the Power attack was supercharged. Tampa Bay sat in, and DC ended the game with a season-high 2.3 xG, almost all of which came after the formation change. The dynamic between Murnin and right back-turned-winger Anna Bagley (three cross attempts, additional chances created off the bench) was the reason why. It could be a roadmap for future matches where DC needs an injection of offense.

Tampa Bay Sun

Ashley Orkus, profiled excellently by Dan Vaughn over at Protagonist, has set the Super League on fire through two weeks of action. Tampa Bay has faced 13 shots on goal in their opening two matches, and Orkus has saved 12 of them. A penalty stop more than 80 minutes in to this weekend’s clean sheet against DC Power was icing on the cake for the breakout star of the 2024 season to date.

Per American Soccer Analysis, Orkus has already saved 2.8 goals above expected, and she’s allowing 0.26 goals per expected goal. For comparison, Johan Peñaranda ranks first in that category in the USL Championship, and he’s sitting at 0.6 - twice as high a ratio as Orkus. The former Ole Miss standout has been historically good.

Less good: pretty much everything else for the Sun, who took a shellacking against the Power on Saturday. The first 60 minutes weren’t bad, necessarily, but Tampa Bay still struggled in build. This team is underperforming their expected passing completion percentage by almost 4%, far and away the worst in the league. They feel disconnected.

Shape-wise, the Sun started the match in the same formation as in Week 1. You defend in a 4-2-3-1, but you shift to a 3-5-2 in possession by pushing your right back high. Given the poor returns, Denise Schilte-Brown decided to simplify around the 60th minute, but Tampa Bay barely improved in a boilerplate back four. Access to the pivot was particularly strained; bounce passes weren’t on the menu, and the center mids didn’t do enough to seek out the ball.

The Sun mustered just 0.57 xG (an improvement on 0.46 against Dallas, at least?) and got their best looks when they prioritized tempo. Riley Parker’s field-stretching runs at striker were one route to success, and Sydny Nasello was probably the player of the game because of her daring end-to-end dribbling on the right. Nasello has real verve on the ball in tandem with sharp body control; with four successful dribbles so far in 2024, she’s doubling all of her teammates.

I suspect Tampa Bay simplifies the shape from the get-go next time out, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see fresh faces down the middle. So long as Ashley Orkus keeps dominating, the Sun won’t lose too much ground as they find their footing.

Cover photo credit: DC Power / Instagram