There are so many interesting stories when it comes to the Portland Hearts of Pine. But it’s important to remember that there are 16 other clubs in USL League One, each with its own narrative that helps explain how the season has gone.
Every Tuesday, The Hearts’ Beat will pull together a roundup of the most intriguing stories from around the league. Some have a connection to the Hearts; others are just information readers should know.
So let’s take a look!
The USL1 regular season has concluded, and what a last month it has been in the race for the playoffs.
Let’s start with the Charlotte Independence, which won the Players’ Shield as the club garnering the most total points in the regular season. After a brief late-season stumble, the Independence retook first place from Union Omaha over the final few weeks and pulled away, despite losing their final match of the season Saturday to Portland.
Charlotte coach Mike Jeffries’ 65th League One win made him the winningest manager in league history, while the Independence became the first team in league history to win 20 games in a single season.
How did Charlotte do it? With the greatest offense in the history of USL1, shattering the league’s single-season record for goals scored with 74 (the previous record was the 2023 Union Omaha club with 61). The next closest team in 2026 was Westchester SC with 55 goals.
The Independence’s high-flying attack also set the USL1 record for goals per game: 2.31. Charlotte was particularly dominant at home, scoring 45 goals in 16 games, for an imposing 2.81 goals-per-game average.
That means teams must go through Charlotte, where the Independence are 14-1-1 this season. Good luck with that.The club needing that luck is heavily involved in the other big news from the final regular-season standings. FC Naples chased down Fort Wayne FC for the eighth and final playoff spot. Naples hit a rough patch midway through the year, going 1-10-0, which led to the firing of coach Matt Poland on July 10. Andrés Ferrín scored a stunning stoppage-time winner against Spokane, and Naples clinched its playoff positioning when Fort Wayne fell to Boise the same night.
Naples has to be a team no one wants to play in the playoffs, as it has won six straight matches and hasn’t lost since Sept. 5. It will now head to Charlotte, where it lost 4-3 back in mid-June when the club was in the midst of its struggles.
Charlotte’s Souaibou Marou won the Golden Boot for most goals this season. From the league: A hat-trick from Marou in Charlotte’s penultimate match distanced him from the rest of the pack as the forward ended the campaign with 18 goals; Westchester SC’s Conor McGlynn finished second with 16 goals. The Cameroonian – who appeared in the 2022 World Cup – scored a goal every 121.3 minutes on average, leading Charlotte to a record-setting season as the club scored a total of 74 goals in 2026.
The Independence’s Jon Bakero finished with the most assists for the season, and it wasn’t close. He tallied 18 assists while the New York Cosmos’ Ajmeer Spengler was the closest with 11. It was a superlative season for Bakero, who broke USL1’s all-time career assist record, set a league record for most goal contributions in a single game (2 goals, 3 assists), and, unsurprisingly, led the league in total goal contributions with 26 (18 assists + 8 goals). Bakero has to be the leading choice for player of the year.
Union Omaha goalkeeper Cole Jensen took home Golden Glove honors as the league’s top keeper. From USL1: Jensen started 17 games for Union Omaha, where the 25-year-old racked up 54 saves on a 78.26 save percentage to win the Golden Glove award. Only conceding 15 goals in the season, Jensen posted five clean sheets to help Omaha finish in second place in the League One standings. After playing sparingly in his first League One season, the 6-foot-5 goalkeeper emerged in 2026 as one of the league’s top keepers.
Two Hearts players led the league in two other categories. Goalkeeper Hunter Morse, who was just named the MVP of the club, finished with the most saves in USL1 (107) while center back Brecc Evans led the league in clearances (178).
Portland’s Diogo Barbosa is a candidate for USL Goal of the Week, as the league wrote: Barbosa corralled a turnover near midfield with Charlotte’s Giorgos Tasouris off his mark, and made the keeper pay by doubling Portland’s lead to put the match out of reach.
In off-the-pitch news, Westchester and Corpus Christi will be leaving USL1, according to a report by League One Updater, which wrote, “Multiple sources close to the clubs and within the league have confirmed that Westchester SC and Corpus Christi FC will not be part of USL League One in 2027. The exact reasons for the departures were not confirmed, and the league typically does not share exit reasons.”
League One Updater also made a smart observation, writing, “Both clubs saw breakout performances from several players who should be in demand as free agents this off season. Corpus Christi was led by defender Blake Bowen, who tallied eight goals and nine assists, leading his squad in both. Meanwhile Westchester midfielder Conor McGlynn finished second in the Golden Boot race with 16 goals.”In terms of new additions to the league, let’s go back to League One Updater, which is reporting that Fort Lauderdale United, Port St. Lucie and Sporting Cascades in Eugene are confirmed to be joining. Ventura County is a strong possibility.
League One Updater puts the 2027 league at 17 or 18 clubs, writing, “There are constantly rumors of clubs and markets looking to join USL League One as expansion sides. But in our experience covering league expansions for the last few years, very few of them ever pan out. The number one reason we’ve found is a lack of investment, something we’ve heard the league is cracking down on after this season.”