GARDEN CITY, Idaho – Fort Wayne Football Club is making the rest of USL League One take notice.
The Autumn Gold & Black extended their unbeaten streak in league play to six matches with a 3-1 victory Saturday night at Athletic Club Boise, another first-year pro squad that came into the night with a similar amount of momentum.
Lilian Ricol scored the first and final goals of the match – his second two-goal performance of the season – and Taig Healy also found the back of the net, his sixth time scoring in the last eight matches if Prinx Tire USL Cup games are included.
“Simply an incredible performance by our boys tonight,” Fort Wayne FC head coach Mike Avery said. “AC Boise is a top team; their fans are a legitimate 12th man; and we’ve had a challenging week with three games in the span of eight days, a long trip, hot weather, and a short bench due to illness.
“Yet, as we talked about (Saturday) morning, these are all the ingredients for an epic story. I couldn’t be more proud of this group.”
Fort Wayne FC improved to 4-2-3 this season, including a 2-2-1 record in road matches. In its last six league matches, Fort Wayne FC is 3-0-3.
AC Boise is 4-3-2 in USL League One, including a 3-1-1 record at Athletic Club Boise Soccer Stadium, where a crowd of 7,201 was on hand Saturday.
Ricol opened the scoring in the ninth minute, after a feed from Kabiru Gafar, who made the first start of his professional career. Healy unleashed a shot from the box in the 58th minute, after his first attempt was knocked down by a defender, to make it 2-0 Fort Wayne FC.
After AC Boise’s Dominic Gasso scored in the 69th minute, Ricol completed the brace by using his speed to get behind the defense in the 83rd minute – with an assist from Emerson Nieto.
“I’m really happy to score two goals. It was a hard game,” said Ricol, who is in a five-way tie for the USL League One goal-scoring lead along with Healy. “They controlled the game more than us, but at the end we were just able to be together and be strong defensively. Once they left some space behind, I just was able to take advantage of the space to score two goals. I’m very happy to be one of the top scorers in the league, so we have to continue this way. To be unbeaten in six matches is really great and we just have to keep going.”
Ricol, a first-year pro (as in Healy), also scored twice in 3-0 victory over Portland Hearts of Pine on May 6.
Fort Wayne FC came into the match Saturday missing multiple key players due to injury or illness, including Ryan Becher and Jayden Smith, then Javier Armas left the match in the 30th minute due to injury.
Fort Wayne FC goalkeeper Bernd Schipmann came up big, stopping 5 of 6 shots on net. AC Boise’s Jonathan Kliewer stopped 1 of 4.
With 15 points, Fort Wayne FC moved to fifth place in the 17-team USL League One standings with its next match Saturday, May 30, at Ruoff Mortgage Stadium against AV Alta FC (3-2-4). Tickets are on sale now and fans are reminded that parking is prepay only. It’ll be the only home match for Fort Wayne FC until July 4.
“We have to keep doing what we do, work a lot, train, and be strong together. We can do something big this year,” Ricol said.
Match photos
Video highlights
Box score
ATHLETIC CLUB BOISE 0-1—1
FORT WAYNE FC 1-2—3
May 23, 2026
At Athletic Club Boise Soccer Stadium, Garden City, Idaho
Attendance: 7,201
RECORDS: FW 4-2-3; ACB 4-3-2
GOALS: FW—Lilian Ricol 2, Taig Healy; ACB—Dominic Gasso.
ASSISTS: FW—Kabiru Gafar, Emerson Nieto; ACB–Philip Mayaka.
SAVES: FW—Bernd Schipmann, 5; ACB—Jonathan Kliewer, 1.
POSSESSION: FW—36.8% ; ACB—63.2%.
YELLOW CARDS: FW—Bernd Schipmann, JP Jordan, Michael Rempel; ACB— Moussa Ndiaye, Omar Yehya, Denys Kostyshyn.
RED CARDS: FW—None; ACB—None.
REFEREE: Justin St. Pierre
About Fort Wayne Football Club
Fort Wayne Football Club, founded in 2019, is a professional soccer club playing its first season in USL League One in 2026. The club plays home matches at Ruoff Mortgage Stadium, which opened May 2, 2026, and is a soccer-specific venue. In pre-professional USL League Two, Fort Wayne Football Club won division titles in 2023, 2024 and 2025. For more information, visit FortWayneFC.com.
About United Soccer League
Founded in 1986, the United Soccer League (USL) is the largest and fastest-growing soccer organization in the United States, impacting more than 200 communities nationwide. The USL is the first and only organization to offer a comprehensive youth-to-professional pathway for both men and women under one ecosystem. This structure includes four men’s leagues: the newly announced, top-tier professional Division I league, the USL Championship (Division II), USL League One (Division III), and USL League Two (pre-professional). The women’s pathway includes the top-tier USL Super League (Division I), which debuted in 2024, and USL W League, the country’s leading pre-professional women’s league. The USL also oversees USL Academy, a progressive talent development platform, and USL Youth, a premier national youth platform.