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March 19, 2025 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)

Lexington SC takes a bow after a dominating Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup win(Lexington Sporting Club)

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Lexington Sporting Club secured a 5-0 win over Southern Indiana FC inside Lexington SC Stadium in the club's debut match in the 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

After a two-goal performance on the road, there was no delay in action with the first goal being rocketed into the back of the net by Cory Burke in just the 13th minute of play. The goal was Burke's first with the club, making his debut in the match. He was assisted by Alfredo Midence.

Things would go back and forth for much of the first half with a yellow card to Eliot Goldthorpe, but the Englishmen made up for it in the 42nd minute with the second goal of the night. The goal was unassisted.

"Eliot's been fantastic," Head Coach Terry Boss said. "He came in a touch late to preseason and it took him a little to get up and running - he's a guy that, as a staff, we're just constantly asking how do we get him on the field because he can beat you to the line, he can come inside, his ability to finish is fantastic. He's been a hard worker. He's a guy we're really thankful to have a part of the group."

Before long, the halftime period came and went with the Greens coming out with energy.

Proof of this energy was on display in the 46th minute as Midence secured the third LSC goal just one minute into the half.

The momentum didn't stop there, however, as, following in his teammate's footsteps, Lucas Stauffer launched a ball into the net, securing the fourth goal in the 53rd minute. The goal was the Kentucky native's first in Lexington.

Things would get chippy with a pair of cautions, but the Greens weren't done scoring as, wrapping up the game in a thrilling way, Braudilio Rodrigues joined in on the action, securing the team's fifth and final goal in the 80th minute.

The full-time whistle would bring about Lexington's advancement in the cup competition.

"It's special. It's the first year for us in the USL Championship as well and we've come in and we've set goals that we want," Goldthorpe said. "We want to win trophies this year. We don't want to be a team that's going to build for a couple of years and then wait to win stuff. We want to win right off the bat. I think we inspired fans tonight and we played really well."

Lexington SC controlled the possession in the match, holding onto the ball 82.3% of the time while also winning in expected goals with a 2.82-0.18 advantage.

Up next, the Greens stay on their home turf to face off against Indy Eleven, looking to secure back-to-back wins and stay undefeated in the USL Championship. The action kicks off at 7 p.m. ET from Lexington SC Stadium on Saturday, March 22.

POSTGAME QUOTE SHEET

Lexington SC vs. Southern Indiana FC // March 19, 2025 // Lexington SC Stadium

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Match 1

Head coach Terry Boss

On the result:

"We, as a group, are competing against our own standard, win, lose, or draw. We want to perform well, we want to inspire people, we want to inspire the fans. We started a touch on the slow side, but came into the game nicely. I got to give the guys a lot of credit for coming into this game with the right mentality."

On Eliot Goldthorpe:

"Eliot's been fantastic. He came in a touch late to preseason and it took him a little to get up and running - he's a guy that, as a staff, we're just constantly asking how do we get him on the field because he can beat you to the line, he can come inside, his ability to finish is fantastic. He's been a hard worker. He's a guy we're really thankful to have a part of the group."

On looking ahead to Indy Eleven:

"We made some rotations here in this midweek game to make sure we're fresh and ready to go for Indy. We've already started preparing for them and we're confident that we'll be able to put together a game plan that's going to ask them questions. They're a good team and we're excited about the game."

Eliot Goldthorpe

On scoring and assisting in the match:

"Obviously it's nice to get on the score sheet and help the boys out, but I think it's just a team performance there, I think we've really nailed what the gaffer is looking for, we had a fantastic display. Credit to Southern Indiana, they came out to play, but we were too good tonight and I think that showed with the result."

On winning the first U.S. Open Cup match in club history:

"It's special. It's the first year for us in the USL Championship as well and we've come in and we've set goals that we want. We want to win trophies this year. We don't want to be a team that's going to build for a couple of years and then wait to win stuff. We want to win right off the bat. I think we inspired fans tonight and we played really well."

Cory Burke

On winning the first U.S. Open Cup match in club history:

"That's the goal for me, for the coaching staff, for the fans, for everyone. I've been in this competition before, went all the way to the final, my experience is really good. Thankful to get this (one)."

On looking ahead to Indy Eleven:

"We have to take it step by step, game by game, (have) the right preparation and training. Stick together and put everything we learn in practice into the game. (If we) work together as a team I'm sure we will do great things in the USL."

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Former White Knoll Middle School teacher, Brenda Inabinette, announced the filing of a civil rights lawsuit against Lexington School District One and the Lexington County Sheriff's Department. (WACH)

LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. (WACH) — On Wednesday, a former White Knoll Middle School teacher announced she filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of South Carolina against Lexington School District One and the Lexington County Sheriff's Department.

Brenda Inabinette and her attorney, Tyler Bailey, made the announcement at the Bailey Law Firm Wednesday morning.

In August 2022, Inabinette was charged with third-degree assault and battery after an incident with a student.

She was later acquitted at trial.

“Her reputation was she was thrown in the media, she was put in a jumpsuit, fingerprinted and her reputation and her stellar work so hard in earning over decades was immediately crumbled," said Bailey.

Inabinette added, "‘I began at first not wanting to go out, not wanting to go anywhere."

She was accused of grabbing the student's ID lanyard, which was around the student's neck, and saying "you make me want to strangle you."

Inabinette contested the charges at her trial in August 2023.

After 20 minutes of deliberation, a jury of five women and one man acquitted her of all charges.

“Administrators and a school resource officer will decide by the end of the day that I had done what a student had accused me of doing," said Inabinette. “They know I will never bring harm or hurt to any student in my care because protection and security are woven into the fabric of my DNA."

In her lawsuit, Inabinette claims the defendants obtained a warrant for her arrest under false pretenses and maliciously prosecuted her.

Inabinette has taught in the South Carolina public school system for 30 years.

After her arrest, she was placed on administrative leave and asked to resign, but she refused and maintained her innocence.

She was reinstated after her acquittal and assigned to a different school, where she still teaches today.

Read the full complaint below:

Brenda Inabinette Complaint by Dejon Johnson on Scribd

Riverhounds wrapped up their preseason schedule with a battle that had a regular-season feel, playing to a 0-0 draw at USL Championship newcomers Lexington SC at the team’s new Lexington SC Stadium in Lexington, Ky.

The game had its share of ebbs and flows throughout, and scoring chances were scarce for both teams. The hosts seemed to have fresher legs and more of the ball through the opening stages, but the Hounds (4-1-1) responded to the challenge.

“I thought we grew into the game,” Bob Lilley, Riverhounds head coach, said.

“They had a lot of possession, and we found it difficult to get on the ball the first 20 minutes. We worked hard to get ourselves on more even terms, and we finished the half pretty well. There were not a lot of big chances for either team in the first half, or in the game, for that matter, but both teams had some good spells.”

As the final tune-up for the regular season, a number of the Hounds regulars recorded 90-minute shifts, including captain Danny Griffin, Jackson Walti, Sean Suber and Eric Dick, while many of the other regulars took on a 60- to 75-minute workload.

It was the team’s fourth clean sheet of the exhibition schedule, and the first time Dick logged the full 90 for the shutout. The zero on the board was matched by Lexington goalie Logan Ketterer, who Lilley would have liked to see his team test more.

“The second half, we put a lot of pressure on them. We had some chances blocked in the box and didn’t get a lot of clean looks on their keeper, but we pressed well and got on the ball in their half,” Lilley said.

Lexington did have one excellent chance late, as longtime Louisville City striker — and often Hounds nemesis — Cameron Lancaster got on the end of a cross with 10 minutes remaining, only to head the ball off the bar.

Despite that, Lilley came away from the match pleased to get a result on the road. With the Hounds opening the 2025 season with two straight road matches — the first at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 8 at North Carolina FC — the preseason finale served as a fitting dress rehearsal for the Hounds.

“We left early (Thursday) and trained in Lexington, and our plan is to train at North Carolina next week. We had the Indy trip and Columbus earlier, but now we have our group together, and this is a similar distance (to North Carolina),” Lilley said.

“It was a positive result at this point, but we have a lot to work on. I think we could’ve taken more advantage of opportunities in the final third, but the guys worked hard and, for the most part, defended well.”

(Attached photos courtesy of Tommy Quarles/Lexington SC. Pictured are 1. Goalkeeper Eric Dick; 2. Midfielder Jorge Garcia; and 3. Defender Beto Ydrach)

Photo courtesy Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

After a little more than a month of preseason training, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC and just about all of the USL Championship teams will be kicking off the 2025 season this coming weekend.

For the Hounds, they’ll kickoff Saturday, taking on North Carolina FC, at WakeMed Park in Cary, NC (7 p.m. kickoff).

Monday proved to be an opportune time to visit Riverhounds training, which included interviews with team captain Danny Griffin, the club’s most decorated and tenured player — Kenardo Forbes — and Head Coach Bob Lilley.

Lilley had plenty to say in an extended sit-down interview with Pittsburgh Soccer Now, as we’ll share even more in the coming days ahead.

The veteran Head Coach will embark on his 26th season of coaching professional soccer with the start of the 2025 campaign.

“It’s exciting because we, you know, it’s a new season,” Lilley said on Monday, as the team completed a short collective training session, before they were left to get in some individual work, treatment, then stick around for film session and get a little pep talk from one of Lilley’s former players.

“The team’s progressing, even though we’re making changes tactically and we’re bringing in new players, I think it’s an opportunity for all of us to grow, including the staff, and to challenge ourselves to be better.”

Lilley spoke extensively about changes that he felt he and the coaching staff needed to implement during the preseason. The coaches and players put in the work in the preseason toward a new approach that the team will be taking on the pitch, looking to improve and move more aggressively to have more of the ball this year, with many of the new additions to the roster brought in to join a strong core to see things through.

“We definitely got on the same page pretty quick,” Griffin added.

“New guys did a great job and the guys who’ve been here helped them along very well. We handled all the tests well. Style of play was good. We have to make chances count so we’re not dropping points. Every play in this league matters.”

FROM HOUNDS TRAINING..@riverhoundssc @danny_griffin10 looking forward to season opener this Saturday at @northcarolinafc — discusses with @johnkrysinsky how the team has progressed

Look for more from this interview and John’s visit to training to come in coming days pic.twitter.com/oc8XQ9DZdX

— Pittsburgh Soccer Now (@pghsoccernow) March 3, 2025

The Hounds will start the season with a few players who are hobbled, as Lilley even acknowledged that he “hasn’t had the whole group yet”.

The team will formally post an injury report before the first match, but Lilley shared key off season signee, Bertin Jacquesson, who suffered a hamstring injury early in the preseason loss to Loudoun United FC, is likely going to be held out along with Bradley Sample for the season opener. Lilley also noted that Aiden O’Toole is coming back from an injury too and newcomer Charles Ahl is questionable.

Still, the Hounds’ gaffer is excited about some of the younger players who are competing for spots, alluding that some will jump right into the mix and may even be in the starting lineup as soon as Saturday’s opener at WakeMed Park.

“We have enough experience and quality with guys who’ve been in the league. It’s going to be how well we grow and how well we gel,” Lilley said and added that in last week’s final preseason scrimmage at Lexington (a scoreless draw), his team was without a number of key veterans, but the younger players stepped up.

“There’s a lot of talented teams with a lot of good players. This was big moment for some guys and they did fine. Every great, great player, was a young player at one point. They all have big upside and for me, I’m excited as it’s better than the group we had last year and they are guys who are already pushing. There will be some starters in that lineup who are there on merit and would be in the lineup even if everyone was healthy. And that’s not easy to do because most of the 12 (returning players) we brought back have all started games and yet we expect there to be more competition between jobs.”

The season for the Hounds will start with two road matches (they’ll head to San Antonio for a week two match-up on Saturday, March 15) before coming back for the home opener on March 22 against Hartford Athletic FC.

Though they have back-to-back home matches in March, the Hounds still still start with five of its first seven and seven of its first 10 matches away from home.

We are looking forward to getting off on a good foot this week too — as Pittsburgh Soccer Now‘s coverage includes but will not be limited to:

In addition to the Hounds, college teams Spring seasons are underway — but most have taken or will be taking a break — as it’s their respective Spring Breaks this coming week.

Some of the teams have posted their full Spring schedules including Pitt women’s and men’s teams and Robert Morris women’s.

Saturday, March 8

7 p.m. Riverhounds SC at North Carolina FC — Cary, NC

Friday, March 14

7:30 p.m. West Virginia at Pitt — Ambrose Urbanic Field

Saturday, March 15

8:30 p.m. Riverhounds SC at San Antonio FC — San Antonio, TX

A national coffee company that has been particularly popular in the western U.S. is looking to open a new shop in Lexington, but it hit a hurdle Tuesday night with a town of Lexington board.

Dutch Bros. Coffee, which has nearly 1,000 locations across the U.S., with particularly strong representation in states such as Texas, California, Oregon and elsewhere, is planning a 950-square-foot drive-thru and walk-up location at 5211 Sunset Blvd. in Lexington. It would be constructed in a portion of what is currently the parking lot of a Lidl grocery store.

On Tuesday evening, the town of Lexington’s board of appearance, which hears appeals from town’s staff as to whether proposed projects fit the town’s architectural and appearance standards, voted unanimously to deny the current design proposal for the coffee shop. However, it invited the project’s developers to adjust the plan and resubmit the proposal.

Among issues with the design of the proposed building, a town staff planning committee said in board of appearance paperwork that it “felt that the design of this building did not adequately incorporate the general physical character of its adjacent neighbors, which are primarily constructed of red or brown brick, tan stucco or tan/brown stone.” The staff also noted that the “individual corporate image dominates the overall design of the building,” rather than complementing the architectural styles of nearby properties.

“I think the architect needs to go through and say, ‘What do you do to make a building that looks like Lexington?’” board of appearance member Wayne Rogers said. “I think we’re softer colors, we’re brick. The nearby buildings say something about all that. I would look at the exterior materials and say, ‘How do I tone this down?’”

Steven Knudsen, of North Carolina’s Durban Development, spoke on behalf of the Dutch Bros. project at Tuesday’s board meeting. He signaled a willingness for the company to work with the town on refining details of the proposed coffee project.

“We’re certainly willing to go back to the drawing board as far as materials, incorporate a little more brick,” Knudsen said. “Obviously trying to keep with some of the colors and branding that go with the corporation. But, I understand the concerns.”

The proposed Dutch Bros. site is along a busy commercial thoroughfare with a wealth of commercial businesses nearby. A shopping center anchored by a Lowes Foods store is directly across the street. Meanwhile, the Hope Ferry Center, a brick shopping center that features McAlister’s Deli, Learning Express and other businesses, is a short distance to the east.

Another issue the board and staff members mentioned is the need for greater detail about a potential three-foot fence or wall on the property that, along with landscaping, would be used to “screen” or buffer it from Sunset Boulevard and the neighboring road Tom Corley Place. Specifically, staff cited in its report a need for detail about the materials that would be used to construct such a fence or wall.

Board of appearance members noted Lexington is amenable to new businesses, but said they also wanted to make sure developments adhere to town standards.

“I want to truly celebrate new businesses coming and being interested in investing in our town,” board member Amelia Pocta said. “That’s awesome. But, we also have to be protective of making sure that we maintain the town.”

This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 12:29 PM.

The State

Chris Trainor is a retail reporter for The State and has been working for newspapers in South Carolina for more than 20 years, including previous stops at the (Greenwood) Index-Journal and the (Columbia) Free Times. He is the winner of a host of South Carolina Press Association awards, including honors in column writing, government beat reporting, profile writing, food writing, business beat reporting, election coverage, social media and more.