2023 Loudoun United FC season

Loudoun United FC

2023 season
Head coach	Ryan Martin
Stadium	Segra Field
USL Championship	Conference: TBD Overall: TBD
USL Cup	To be determined
U.S. Open Cup	To be determined
Home colors Away colors
← 2022 2024 →

The 2023 season was Loudoun United FC's fifth season of existence, their fifth in the second-division of American soccer, and their fifth in the USL Championship.

The club had originally planned to begin the season playing in MLS Next Pro,^{[citation needed]} the reserve league for Major League Soccer, however due to a legal agreement for leasing Segra Field, United is required to play in the second division, requiring the club to remain in USL Championship.^{[citation needed]}

On February 2, 2023, Loudoun United FC was sold to Attain Sports and Entertainment, which owns minor league baseball teams Bowie Baysox and Frederick Keys.^[1] D.C. United will continue to own a minority stake in Loudoun United.^[2] Furthermore, the change of ownership also means that Loudoun United will become eligible to participate in the 2023 U.S. Open Cup.

Background

Only four players from the previous year's squad (not including those signed to the first team in DC or members of the D.C. United Academy) remained with the team in 2023: Dane Jacomen, Isaac Espinal, Landry Nanan Houssou, and Abdoul Zanne (whose loan from ASEC Mimosas was extended through 2023). All other players who signed with Loudoun in 2022 were recalled by their loaner teams, or were out of contract and signed elsewhere. To make up for the roster shortfall, the team signed a whopping 16 players to different deals to replace the ones who left. From players with experience on other USL teams or reserve sides for MLS teams, to former D.C. United draft picks, to young international stars who showed promise.

With new ownership in place, the team could focus on building a cohesive unit and winning games as opposed to prioritizing the development of players for the first team in D.C. However, D.C. United still held a minority stake in Loudoun, and used the squad to give some of its academy players and reserve squad members some playing time: Jeremy Garay and Gaoussou Samake, who had spent most of their previous years playing with Loudoun even as they were signed to DC, were sent back to Loudoun on season-long loans. In addition, multiple Academy players trained with Loudoun and a handful (including Ethan Pendleton and Xavier O'Neil) were later added to the full roster.

Having new ownership separate from D.C. United allowed Loudoun to participate in the US Open Cup for the first time in their short history. Loudoun entered the second round as the home team against North Carolina FC, and emerged victorious with a 2–1 win in Extra Time. The team managed to draw a home game in the third round as well, with Flower City Union chosen as the visiting side.

Transfers

Transfers in

Date	Position	No.	Name	From	Fee/notes	Ref.
December 13, 2022	DF	—	Thomas Williamson	Minnesota United 2	Free	[3]
December 15, 2022	DF	—	Daniel Chica	George Mason Patriots	Free	[4]
December 23, 2022	MF	—	Juan Daniel Ramírez	AD Alcorcón	Free	[5]
January 10, 2023	FW	—	Wesley Leggett	St. John's Red Storm	Free	[6]
January 12, 2023	FW	—	Kalil ElMedkhar	FC Dallas	Free	[7]
January 13, 2023	DF	—	Koa Santos	Charlotte FC	Free	[8]
January 14, 2023	FW	—	Zach Ryan	New York Red Bulls	Free	[9]
January 17, 2023	DF	—	Kwame Awuah	St. Louis City 2	Free	[10]
January 18, 2023	DF	—	Yanis Leerman	Pittsburgh Panthers	Free	[11]

Transfers out

Date	Position	No.	Name	To	Fee/notes	Ref.
December 31, 2022	DF	3	Jacob Greene	D.C. United	End of loan
	DF	6	Gaoussou Samaké	D.C. United	End of loan
	MF	14	Jeremy Garay	D.C. United	End of loan
January 17, 2023	DF	4	Carson Vom Steeg	Memphis 901	Free	[12]

Club

Roster

As of October 4, 2023^[13]

No.	Pos.	Player	Nation
1	GK	Dane Jacomen	United States
2	DF	Koa Santos	United States
3	DF	Jake Morris (on loan from Columbus Crew)	United States
4	MF	Aidan Rocha	United States
5	DF	Yanis Leerman	France
6	DF	Kwame Awuah	Canada
7	MF	Abdoul Zanne (on loan from ASEC Mimosas)	Ivory Coast
8	MF	Abdoul Koanda	Ivory Coast
9	FW	Tommy Williamson	United States
10	MF	Chris Hegardt (on loan from Charlotte FC)	United States
11	MF	Jeremy Garay ([A])	El Salvador
12	DF	Jacob Greene ([A])	United States
13	DF	Nelson Martinez	United States
14	FW	Wesley Leggett	United States
15	MF	Alex Nagy	United States
16	DF	Cole Turner	United States
17	MF	Juan Ramírez	United States
18	DF	Harvey Neville (on loan from Inter Miami CF)	Republic of Ireland
19	MF	Landry Houssou	Ivory Coast
20	DF	Daniel Chica	United States
22	MF	Isaac Espinal	United States
23	MF	Kalil ElMedkhar	United States
27	DF	Bryce Washington	United States
28	FW	Zach Ryan	United States
30	GK	Hugo Fauroux	France
31	DF	Graham Jones ([B])	United States
32	DF	Dash Papez ([B])	United States
34	MF	Brian Chavez ([B])	United States
35	DF	Ethan Pendleton ([B])	United States
36	DF	Jace Clark ([B])	United States
37	MF	Ignacio Alem ([B])	United States
46	FW	Xavier O'Neil ([B])	Trinidad and Tobago
53	GK	Drew Hartman ([B])	United States

Staff

As of June 10, 2023^[14]

Executive
Executive Business Officer	Doug Raftery
General Manager	Stewart Mairs
Assistant General Manager	Clarens Cheridieu
Technical staff
Head Coach	Ryan Martin
Assistant Coach	Mattar M'Boge
Assistant Coach	Garland "GR" Cannon
Goalkeeping Coach	Jack Stefanowski
Head of Performance	Claudio Altieri
Head Athletic Trainer	Teresse Rehwoldt
Equipment Manager	TJ Salzberg

Non-competitive

Preseason exhibitions

Richmond Kickers v Loudoun United

February 11	Richmond Kickers	1–1	Loudoun United	Midlothian, VA
1:00 p.m. EDT	Gomiero 62'	Report	Williamson 54'	Stadium: River City Sportsplex Attendance: 100

Midseason exhibitions

Loudoun United v Ethiopia

August 5	Loudoun United	2–4	Ethiopia	Leesburg, Virginia
1:00 p.m. EDT		Report	Dagnachew 30' Bekele 54' Tamene 63' (pen.) Endeshaw 76'	Stadium: Segra Field

Competitive

USL Championship

Standings

Match results

Memphis 901 v Loudoun United

March 11 1	Memphis 901	1–3	Loudoun United	Memphis, TN
5:00 pm EST	Kissiedou 37',  63' Ward  41' Nascimento  47' Smith  71'	Report	Williamson 8'  27' Ryan 11', 90+4' Armenakas  49' Houssou  63'	Stadium: AutoZone Park Attendance: 4,001 Referee: Eric Tattersall

Loudoun United v San Antonio FC

March 19 2	Loudoun United	1–1	San Antonio FC	Leesburg, VA
4:00 pm EDT	Ryan 35',  90+1' Turner  53'	Report	Bailone 55'	Stadium: Segra Field Attendance: 3,411 Referee: Joshua Encarnación

FC Tulsa v Loudoun United

March 25 3	FC Tulsa	3–0	Loudoun United	Tulsa, OK
8:30 pm EDT	Dyer  28' Ferri 45+1' Yosef 46' Corrales  53' Bourgeois  90+3' Epps 90+5'	Report	Turner  29' Williamson  36'	Stadium: ONEOK Field Attendance: 4,565 Referee: Matthew Corrigan

Loudoun United v Colorado Springs Switchbacks

April 1 4	Loudoun United	0–1	Colorado Springs Switchbacks	Leesburg, VA
4:00 pm EDT	Samaké  44'	Report	Williams 5' Herrera  19'	Stadium: Segra Field Attendance: 2,379 Referee: Jeremy Scheer

Loudoun United v Birmingham Legion

April 15 5	Loudoun United	3–0	Birmingham Legion	Leesburg, VA
6:00 pm EDT	Leggett 32' ElMedkhar 42' Houssou  50' Ryan 69',  90+4' Rocha  81'	Report	Rufe  54'	Stadium: Segra Field Attendance: 2,505 Referee: Luis Arroyo

Loudoun United v Oakland Roots

April 23 6	Loudoun United	2–0	Oakland Roots	Leesburg, VA
4:00 pm EDT	Ryan 30' (pen.) Armenakas 58' Williamson  60' Leerman  64' Zanne  90+1'	Report	Tamacas  27' Morad  29' Mfeka  39' Reid  75' Kohler  75' Murray  90+1'	Stadium: Segra Field Attendance: 2,061 Referee: Cristian Campo Hernández

U.S. Open Cup

Match results

Loudoun United (USLC) v North Carolina FC (USL1)

April 5 Second round	Loudoun United (USLC)	2–1 (a.e.t.)	North Carolina FC (USL1)	Leesburg, VA
7:00 pm EDT	Ryan 8' ElMedkhar  72' Leggett  86', 117' Garay  120+1'	Report	Servania 68' Lue Young  86' Garcia  93' Fernandes  120'	Stadium: Segra Field Attendance: 2,779 Referee: Kenneth Rojas

Loudoun United (USLC) v Flower City Union (NISA)

April 26 Third round	Loudoun United (USLC)	5–0	Flower City Union (NISA)	Leesburg, VA
7:00 pm EDT	Williamson 6', 35' Garay  20' Ryan 39' Zanne 49' ElMedkhar 61' Leggett  89'	Report	Calfo  12'	Stadium: Segra Field Attendance: 250 Referee: Melvin Rivas

Loudoun United (USLC) v Columbus Crew (MLS)

May 10 Round of 32	Loudoun United (USLC)	1–5	Columbus Crew (MLS)	Leesburg, VA
7:00 pm EDT	Samaké  10' ElMedkhar 86' (pen.) Leggett  90+1'	Report	Yeboah 6' Zawadzki 18' Parente 24', 27' Ramírez 36' Morris  65'	Stadium: Segra Field Attendance: 3,201 Referee: Luis Arroyo

Statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Position	No.	Name	USLC	US Open Cup	Total
1	FW	11	Zach Ryan	10	2	12
2	MF	23	Kalil ElMedkhar	8	2	10
3	FW	9	Tommy Williamson	5	2	7
4	MF	12	Jackson Hopkins	4	0	4
	FW	14	Wesley Leggett	3	1	4
6	4 players with 1 goal
Total				31	8	40

Top assists

Disciplinary record

No.	Pos.	Player	USLC			USL Cup			Total
Total			0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Clean sheets

See also

• 2023 D.C. United season

References

External links

• Loudoun United FC