A cursory glance at the Valley Division standings reveals the importance of Wednesday’s 7 p.m. match at Bishop D’Arcy Stadium.
Fort Wayne FC is atop the table with a 6-0-1 record. Its opponent, Lexington SC, is just two points behind with a 5-0-2 record. No other division team is within 10 points of Fort Wayne FC.
“There’s going to be a lot at stake and I hope there’s a huge crowd out to support us,” Fort Wayne FC coach Mike Avery said heading into Youth Soccer Night at Bishop D’Arcy Stadium, where kids wearing their youth soccer jerseys will get in free with a paid adult ticket (limit two kids per adult) and the first 1,000 fans will get a free team poster presented by Más+.
With a victory Wednesday, Fort Wayne FC would have a five-point lead over Lexington SC with only four matches (and 12 potential points) remaining in the USL League Two schedule.
“It should be a great game, and a totally different one than what we saw (Saturday),” Avery said, referencing the 1-0 victory at Kings Hammer FC Cincinnati that was decided by a Tiago Dias goal in the 82nd minute. “(Lexington is) a team that really likes to play and they play an attractive style. We like to play and we play an attractive style.”
Fort Wayne FC and Lexington SC played to a 1-1 draw on May 23 in Kentucky, where Aboubacar Traore’s goal in the 56th minute for Fort Wayne FC finalized the scoring. It was the first ever meeting between the clubs.
Since then, Fort Wayne FC has won five straight matches while Lexington SC has gone 4-0-1.
“The first time we played them, it was a great game, and I hope that it is again,” Avery said. “There’s a lot on the line in terms of the league race – two teams that are unbeaten and at the top of the table are going to be facing each other for the second and last time this season.”
Fort Wayne FC is looking to win the Valley Division for a third straight year before moving to the professional ranks of USL League One in 2026, when the club will open a state-of-the-art, soccer-specific stadium at Bass Road and I-69. With only one team from the Valley Division qualifying for the playoffs this year, the players are certainly aware of the stakes but also keeping things in perspective.
“It’s the biggest game of the season not because it’s against Lexington, but because it’s the next game,” said Dias, Fort Wayne FC’s captain.
On Saturday, Fort Wayne FC will host West Virginia United (1-3-1) at 7 p.m. at Bishop D’Arcy Stadium. In the only previous meeting this season between the clubs, June 4 in West Virginia, Fort Wayne FC emerged with a 3-0 victory.
Make sure you check out Fort Wayne FC’s latest feature, on defender Anthony Hernandez.
And the club’s photo page is always worth a look.
About Fort Wayne FC
Fort Wayne FC, founded in 2019, is currently a pre-professional club in USL League Two’s Valley Division in the Central Conference. The club won Valley Division championships in 2023 and 2024. Fort Wayne FC is moving to the professional ranks of USL League One in 2026 at a new state-of-the-art stadium. www.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.
