Recap: Loudoun allow first half to doom them in 3-0 loss to Memphis

The weather served as a metaphor for Loudoun United’s play as of late, with rain and lightning delaying the start of the game by 86 minutes, then a second round of storms delayed the second half by an additional XX minutes. This did not deter Memphis 901 FC, winners of five of their last six, as they scored early and maintained the game en route to a 3-0 win in front of 1,106 at Segra Field, pushing Loudoun’s losing streak to eight.

Loudoun had more than the usual number of loan down players from D.C. United, with Ted Ku-DiPietro, Griffin Yow and Jackson Hopkins starting next to the usual duo of Jeremy Garay and Jacob Greene; Kimarni Smith and Hayden Sargis were on the bench for the Red-and-White, as Joe Rice started for the injured Luis Zamudio.

Memphis found the net early as Laurent Kissiedou scored for the visitors:

Chances for Yow and Skage Simonsen were saved by John Berner, in his first start since a June 2021 ACL injury:

Joe Rice responded with a save of his own, with former D.C. player Chris Seitz sitting feet behind him:

Rice was unable to save Jeremy Kelly’s effort for Memphis moments later, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead:

As the game’s first half came to an end, ominous clouds on the horizon resulted in the second half being delayed an additional 2 hours and 39 minutes, after which Sargis and Smith came on as substitutes, but Memphis extended the lead:

“The soccer gods didn’t make it easy tonight,” Ryan Martin said after the game. “We didn’t have a chance to train (the newer loanees) and some of those guys haven’t played a lot of minutes in a long time, regardless of coming down from an MLS bench to the USL Championship, it’s tough for guys to find their rhythm and their spacing, so there was a lot to juggle but for us, I was please with the attitude and the energy the guys showed, they kept fighting throughout the whole match and went for it.”

The next game for Loudoun (2-8-1, 7 pts) stays at Segra Field, as they host the Charleston Battery next Saturday at 7:00 pm.

Box Score

USL Championship Regular Season - Game 11
Loudoun United FC 1 (Guediri (PK 28))
Memphis 901 FC 3 (Kissiedou 5, Kelly 29, Goodrum 55)

Lineups:
Loudoun (343): Joe Rice; Rio Hope-Gund (C), Nicky Downs, Grant Lillard (Hayden Sargis 45); Griffin Yow, Jeremy Garay (Landry Houssou 70), Michael Gamble (Azaad Liadi), Jacob Greene; Jackson Hopkins (Kristian Fletcher 63), Skage Simonsen (Kimarni Smith), Ted Ku-DiPietro

Memphis (442): John Berner; Rece Buckmaster, Niall Logue (C), Graham Smith, Patrick Seagrist; Luiz Fernando (Christopher Allan 65), Aaron Malloy, Leston Paul (Zach Carroll 89), Jeremy Kelly (Derek Dodson 65); Phillip Goodrum (David Egbo 74), Laurent Kissiedou (Lucas Turci 75)

Bookings:
Loudoun - Lillard 27, Yow 55, Sargis 64, Houssou 76, Ku-DiPietro 90+2
Memphis - Paul 55, Kissiedou 66, Allan 67