Fort Wayne FC took a step – a very big step – toward clinching a third straight Valley Division championship with a 2-0 victory Wednesday over Lexington SC at Bishop D’Arcy Stadium.
Fort Wayne FC (7-0-1) has a five-point lead over second-place Lexington SC (5-1-2) with only four matches, and 12 potential points, remaining in the USL League Two season.
“It’s a great result, but as I just told the guys: ‘You may have one hand on the trophy now, but you haven’t won it yet,'” Fort Wayne FC coach Mike Avery said. “‘You have four games to go and you have to follow this up. We have (a match) on Saturday. There’s no time to celebrate; we’ve got to get right back to work.’”
Only one Valley Division team will qualify for the postseason, so Wednesday’s match was hugely important and Fort Wayne FC came out on top thanks to goals from Caio Oliveira goal in the 33rd minute and Anthony Hernandez in the 79th minute in front of a crowd of 1,521.
This is Fort Wayne FC’s final USL League Two season before moving to the professional ranks of USL League One in 2026, when the club will open a new state-of-the-art, soccer-specific stadium at Bass Road and I-69.
Fort Wayne FC’s Oliveira gave his team a 1-0 lead with a penalty kick, after teammate Aboubacar Traore was pulled down in the box by Morgan Marshall. Oliveira drove the ball into the top-left corner of the net on goalkeeper Griffin Huff.
“I knew I had to score the goal, so I see what the keeper is about to do and I just try to go against that,” said Oliveira, when asked about his mentality in the PK. “I can’t give my secrets away too much.”
It was Oliveira’s fifth goal of his first season with the club, already pulling him into a tie for fourth in Fort Wayne FC history for goals.
It was also Fort Wayne FC’s second goal off a penalty kick in the span of three matches; Venton Evans scored on one during a 4-2 victory at Bishop D’Arcy Stadium on June 7.
Hernandez’s goal came after he stole the ball from Lexington SC’s Dante Williams in the box and slipped a shot inside the left goalpost.
“I usually don’t ever score, so it felt good,” said Hernandez, a defender. “It’s been awhile since I’ve scored. …
“I felt good tonight. I had a lot of communication with (goalkeeper Aurie Briscoe) and the midfielders, and I had a lot of time and space with the ball.”
Briscoe had a huge stop early in the match – in the 12th minute – on a Williams chance from 25 yards out to give his club some momentum and fire up a crowd that had endured severe weather before the match. Despite pouring rain, intermittent lightning and even a tornado watch earlier in the day, the match started only 45 minutes late and in beautiful weather at Bishop D’Arcy Stadium, where Fort Wayne FC will host West Virginia United (1-4-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
In the 55th minute, Briscoe had another huge save on a low shot by Shuma Sasaki from 12 yards out, preserving Fort Wayne FC’s 1-0 lead.
Briscoe finished with two saves for his sixth clean sheet of the season, including a victory over Sueño FC in a friendly, and he has 20 in his three-season USL League Two career for Fort Wayne FC.
It was the second meeting of the season between Fort Wayne FC and Lexington SC; the teams played to a 1-1 draw May 23 in Kentucky.
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.
