United Soccer League 2018

United Soccer League 2018
master	Louisville City FC
Teams	33
Games	561  (of which 561 played)
Gates	1612  (ø 2.87 per game)
spectator	2,400,022  (ø 4278 per game)
Top scorer	Cameron Lancaster ( Louisville City FC ), 25 goals (regular season)
← 2017 2019 →
↑ Major League Soccer 2018 Division III (not assigned) ↓

The 2018 United Soccer League season was the eighth season of the league and the second as the official second division of the United States and Canada.

The regular season began on March 16, 2018 and ended on October 14, 2018. Then the play-offs were played.

FC Cincinnati won the regular season. Louisville City FC won the play-offs.

Changes compared to 2017

• Since the 2018 season, the USL has been the only official substructure of Major League Soccer . Until the 2017 season, this status was shared with the North American Soccer League .
• The league added four new franchises this season - Atlanta United 2 , Fresno FC , Las Vegas Lights and Nashville SC . In addition, Indy Eleven and North Carolina FC moved from NASL to USL.
• Orlando City B and the Rochester Rhinos had temporarily suspended their gaming operations.
• The Vancouver Whitecaps II have been withdrawn from gaming.

Rule changes

• From the 70th minute, a game was officially carried out. This meant that if the game was abandoned after the 70th minute, the result was counted.
• The 23-man squad had to be reported 48 hours before the start of the game.
• The squad that started on matchday was allowed to contain a maximum of five players who had signed a USL Academy Contract.

Regular season

Closing tables

Eastern Conference

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Cincinnati FC	34	23	8th	3	072:340	+38	77
2.	Louisville City FC	34	19th	9	6th	071:380	+33	66
3.	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	34	15th	14th	5	047:260	+21	59
4th	Charleston Battery	34	14th	14th	6th	047:340	+13	56
5.	New York Red Bulls II	34	13	13	8th	071:590	+12	52
6th	Bethlehem Steel FC	34	14th	8th	12	056:410	+15	50
7th	Indy Eleven	34	13	10	11	045:420	+3	49
8th.	Nashville SC	34	12	13	9	042:310	+11	49
9.	North Carolina FC	34	13	8th	13	060:500	+10	47
10.	Ottawa Fury	34	13	6th	15th	031:430	−12	45
11.	Charlotte Independence	34	10	12	12	044:570	−13	42
12.	Tampa Bay rowdies	34	11	8th	15th	044:440	± 0	41
13.	Penn FC	34	9	10	15th	038:470	−9	37
14th	Atlanta United 2	34	7th	10	17th	037:720	−35	31
15th	Richmond Kickers	34	6th	4th	24	030:800	−50	22nd
16.	Toronto FC II	34	4th	6th	24	042:770	−35	18th
As of October 16, 2018

Western Conference

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Orange County SC	34	20th	6th	8th	070:400	+30	66
2.	Sacramento Republic	34	19th	8th	7th	047:320	+15	65
3.	Phoenix Rising	34	19th	6th	9	063:380	+25	63
4th	Real monarchs	34	19th	3	12	055:470	+8	60
5.	Reno 1868 FC	34	16	11	7th	056:380	+18	59
6th	Portland Timbers 2	34	17th	4th	13	058:490	+9	55
7th	Swope Park Rangers	34	15th	8th	11	052:530	−1	53
8th.	Saint Louis FC	34	14th	11	9	044:380	+6	53
9.	San Antonio FC	34	14th	8th	12	045:480	−3	50
10.	Oklahoma City Energy	34	12	7th	15th	043:460	−3	43
11.	Colorado Springs Switchbacks	34	11	6th	17th	036:390	−3	39
12.	Fresno FC	34	9	12	13	044:380	+6	39
13.	Rio Grande Valley Toros	34	8th	14th	12	036:420	−6	38
14th	LA Galaxy II	34	10	7th	17th	060:670	−7	37
15th	Las Vegas Lights	34	8th	7th	19th	050:740	−24	31
16.	Seattle Sounders 2	34	6th	7th	21st	040:710	−31	25th
17th	Tulsa roughnecks	34	3	12	19th	036:770	−41	21st
As of October 16, 2018

After the regular season:

Participation in USL playoffs

Play-offs

	First round					Conference semifinals					Conference finals					USL Championship
	1	Cincinnati FC	1 (6)
	8th	Nashville SC	1 (5)
							Cincinnati FC	0
							New York Red Bulls II	1
	4th	Charleston Battery	0
	5	New York Red Bulls II	1
												New York Red Bulls II	1
	Eastern Conference
												Louisville City FC	5
	3	Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC	2 (7)
	6th	Bethlehem Steel FC	2 (8)
							Bethlehem Steel FC	0
							Louisville City FC	2
	2	Louisville City FC	4th
	7th	Indy Eleven	1
																	Louisville City FC	1
																	Phoenix Rising	0
	1	Orange County SC	4th
	8th	Saint Louis FC	0
							Orange County SC	1
							Reno 1868 FC	0
	4th	Real monarchs	0
	5	Reno 1868 FC	1
												Orange County SC	1
	Western Conference
												Phoenix Rising	2
	3	Phoenix Rising	3
	6th	Portland Timbers 2	0
							Phoenix Rising	4th
							Swope Park Rangers	2
	2	Sacramento Republic	1
	7th	Swope Park Rangers	2

First round

Eastern Conference

October 20, 2018 4:00 PM EDT	Cincinnati FC	1: 1 (0: 0, 0: 0) 6: 5 n.e.	Nashville SC	Nippert Stadium Spectators: 20,217 Referee: Farhad Dadkho
	Bone 95 ′	report	Bourgeois 115 ′

Oct 20, 2018 7:00 PM EDT	Charleston Battery	0: 1 (0: 1)	New York Red Bulls II	MUSC Health Stadium Spectators: 1,687 Referee: Rosendo Mendoza
		report	Barlow 21 ′

Oct 20, 2018 7:00 PM EDT	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	2: 2 (1: 1, 1: 0) 7: 8 n.e.	Bethlehem Steel FC	Highmark Stadium Spectators: 5,189 Referee: Michael Radchuk
	Zemanski 25 ′ Roberts 105 ′	report	Ngalina 70 ′ Chambers 109 ′

Oct 20, 2018 7:30 PM EDT	Louisville City FC	4: 1 (2: 0)	Indy Eleven	Louisville Slugger Field Spectators: 6,763 Umpire: Mark Allatin
	McCabe 29 ′ , 48 ′ Ilić 42 ′ Lancaster 73 ′	report	Saad 67 ′

Western Conference

October 19, 2018 7:30 PM MST	Phoenix Rising	3: 0 (1: 0)	Portland Timbers 2	Phoenix Rising FC Soccer Complex Spectators: 7,511 Referee: Rubiel Vazquez
	Drogba 28 ′ , Johnson 62 ′ , Asante 90 ′	report

October 20, 2018 3:00 p.m. MDT	Real monarchs	0: 1 (0: 0)	Reno 1868 FC	Greater Nevada Field Spectators: 4,342 Umpire: Victor Rivas
		report	Brown 90 + 2 ′

Oct. 20, 2018 7:00 PM PDT	Orange County SC	4: 0 (2: 0)	Saint Louis FC	Championship Soccer Stadium Spectators: 3,360 Referee: Ramy Touchan
	Seaton 11 ′ , 29 ′ , 64 ′ Bjurman 66 ′	report

Oct 20, 2018 7:30 PM PDT	Sacramento Republic	1: 2 (1: 2)	Swope Park Rangers	Papa Murphy's Park Spectators: 11,569 Umpire: Joseph Dickerson
	Bishev 16 ′	report	Kuzain 27 ′ , Barry 31 ′

statistics

Goal scorers (Regular Season)

space	player	nation	club	Gates
1	Cameron Lancaster		Louisville City FC	25th
2	Thomas Enevoldsen		Orange County SC	20th
	Daniel Rios		North Carolina FC
4th	Hadji Barry		Swope Park Rangers	17th
	Chris Cortez		Phoenix Rising
	Cameron Iwasa		Sacramento Republic
7th	Brian Brown		Reno 1868 FC	16
	Emmanuel Ledesma		Cincinnati FC
9	Neco board		Pittsburgh Riverhounds	15th
	Ataulla Guerra		Charleston Battery

Source:

Templates (Regular Season)

space	player	nation	club	templates
1	Emmanuel Ledesma		Cincinnati FC	16
2	Aodhan Quinn		Orange County SC	14th
3	Kyle Bekker		North Carolina FC	13
	Antoine Hoppenot		Reno 1868 FC
5	Jared Stroud		New York Red Bulls II	11
6th	Ilija Ilić		Louisville City FC	10
	Oscar Jimenez		Louisville City FC
8th	José Barril		OKC Energy FC	9
	Maikel Chang		Real monarchs
	Thomas Enevoldsen		Orange County SC

Source:

Individual evidence

1. ↑ US Soccer grants USL 2nd-division status . In: Chicago Tribune . 17th January 2018.
2. ↑ Indy Eleven Joins USL for the 2018 Season . United Soccer League (USL). January 10, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
3. ^ North Carolina FC announces exit from NASL; club to join USL . In: Neil Morris . WRAL Sports Fan. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
4. ↑ Orlando City B Elects to Forgo 2018 USL Division II Season . Orlando City SC. January 12, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
5. ^ Rhinos to take one-year hiatus, host 'several' USL matches . In: Jeff DiVeronica , Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, November 30, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2018. 
6. ^ Vancouver Whitecaps FC announce new USL affiliation with Fresno FC . Whitecaps FC. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
7. ↑ ^{a b c} USL Announces Rule Changes for 2018 . United Soccer League (USL). January 31, 2018. Accessed February 27, 2018.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Standings. In: www.uslsoccer.com. United Soccer League, accessed October 16, 2018 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b} 2018 USL statistics . Retrieved October 16, 2018.