2025 Richmond Kickers season
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| 2025 season | |
|---|---|
| Chairman | 22 Holdings, LLC |
| Manager | Darren Sawatzky |
| Stadium | City Stadium |
| USL League One | 13th |
| Jägermeister Cup | Group stage |
| U.S. Open Cup | First round |
| Top goalscorer | League: Darwin Espinal (9 goals) All: Darwin Espinal (9 goals) |
| Highest home attendance | 5,542 (v. AV Alta, 22 March 2025) |
| Lowest home attendance | 2,827 (v. Union Omaha, 9 April 2025) |
The 2025 Richmond Kickers season was the club's 33rd season in existence, their seventh season in USL League One, and their 21st season in the third tier of American soccer. The Kickers were led by sixth-year head coach, Darren Sawatzky. Their USL League One season started on March 7, 2025. This is the first season since 2020 without Zacarías Morán, Nathan Aune, Chris Cole, and Nil Vinyals.
The Kickers worsened in their regular season, finishing 13th in League One, and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2023. They also finished 13th their worst position in their USL League One era since their move to the league in its inaugural season, it also their worst since 2023, which in that season they finished 11th.
Background
[edit ]The 2024 season was the club's 32nd season of existence, their fifth season in USL League One, and fourth year under head coach Darren Sawatzky. The Kickers improved from the previous season getting of 6 wins, fifth-teen losses, and eleven draws. With Chandler O'Dwyer leading the club with only eight goals.
Outside of USL League One, the Kickers participated in the U.S. Open Cup, and the league playoffs, which they qualified with an 8th place finish during the regular season. The Kickers reached the third round in the U.S. Open Cup losing to Loudoun United on penalties. The Kickers began the Playoffs on November 3, but would get eliminated in the Quarterfinals.
Players and staff
[edit ]As of 10 July 2025[update] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Technical staff
[edit ]| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head Coach & Technical Director | Darren Sawatzky |
| Head Assistant Coach | Mika Elovaara |
| Assistant Coach | Conner Cappelletti |
| Goalkeeping Coach | Evan Munn |
Transfers
[edit ]Transfers in
[edit ]Transfers out
[edit ]| Date | Position | No. | Name | From | Fee | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1, 2024 | MF | 33 | United States Gabe Cox | United States Furman Paladins | Free | |
| DF | 39 | United States Noah Hiort-Wright | United States College of William & Mary | |||
| MF | 37 | Jamaica Nicholas Simmonds | Richmond Strikers | Academy Contract expired | ||
| December 1, 2024 | MF | 6 | Argentina Zacarías Morán | Spain CA Pulpileño | Free | |
| MF | 8 | Brazil João Silva | United States Northern Virginia FC | |||
| FW | 15 | United States Tony Pineda | United States Carolina Core | |||
| MF | 19 | United States Justin Sukow | Retired | |||
| FW | 9 | United States Arthur Bosua | ||||
| DF | 24 | United States Nathan Aune | Unattached | Free | ||
| DF | 3 | United States Chris Cole | ||||
| FW | 15 | United States Tony Pineda | United States Carolina Core | |||
| January 5, 2025 | GK | 13 | United States Ryan Shellow | Retired | ||
| January 6, 2025 | FW | 11 | United States Ryan Sierakowski | |||
| February 21, 2025 | MF | 10 | Spain Nil Vinyals | United States Spokane Velocity | Free | [12] |
Non-competitive
[edit ]Preseason
[edit ]Friendlies
[edit ]Competitions
[edit ]USL League One
[edit ]Table
[edit ]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Forward Madison FC | 30 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 31 | 43 | −12 | 35 |
| 11 | Greenville Triumph SC | 30 | 8 | 14 | 8 | 38 | 43 | −5 | 32 |
| 12 | Texoma FC | 30 | 7 | 14 | 9 | 35 | 55 | −20 | 30 |
| 13 | Richmond Kickers | 30 | 8 | 17 | 5 | 43 | 53 | −10 | 29 |
| 14 | Westchester SC | 30 | 5 | 16 | 9 | 43 | 59 | −16 | 24 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) total wins; 3) total goal differential; 4) total goals scored; 5) points earned against top four finishers; 6) disciplinary points; 7) drawing of lots.
Matches
[edit ]Attendance: 956
Referee: Joe Surgan
Assistant referees: Max Smith
Assistant referees: Audra Fullen
Fourth official: Lauren Aldrich
Attendance: 4,576
Referee: Deny Kulasinac
Assistant referees: Sarah Gaddes
Fourth official: Nicholas Karnovsky
Attendance: 2,827
Referee: Ryan Homik
Assistant referees: Patrick Slane
Fourth official: Arman Becan
Henderlong 22' Report Espinal 35' Stadium: Paradise Coast Sports Complex
Attendance: 4,005
Referee: Amin Hadzic
Assistant referees: Alexandru Focea
Fourth official: Kyle Cividanes
Referee: Muhammad Kaleida
Assistant referees: Brian Marshall
Fourth official: Amin Hadzic
Peláez 44' Report Stadium: One Spokane Stadium
Attendance: 2,644
Referee: Calin Radosav
Assistant referees: Ryan Jung
Fourth official: Serghei Celan
Asanté 73' Stadium: City Stadium
Attendance: 3,908
Referee: Servando Berna Rico
Espinal 70' Tunbridge 19' (pen.)
Cabral 31'
Reid-Stephen 73' Stadium: City Stadium
Attendance: 4,094
Referee: Atayan Yaya
Diene 53' Stadium: Covenant Health Park
Attendance: 4,126
Referee: Trevor Wiseman
Johnson 45+1' Stadium: The Stadium at Memorial Field
Attendance: 1,209
Referee: Izlen Peksenar
Reid-Stephen 20', 76'
Gray 69' Seufert 53'
Kirkland 72' Stadium: Tormenta Stadium
Referee: Drew Klemp
Schenfeld 40' Brown 34' Stadium: City Stadium
Attendance: 5,509
Referee: Carlos Rodriguez
Attendance: 1,576
Referee: Muhammad Hassan
Villalobos 61' Stadium: Lancaster Municipal Stadium
Attendance: 5,251
Referee: Matthew Thompson
U.S. Open Cup
[edit ]Jägermeister Cup
[edit ]Group stage
[edit ]| Pos | Lg | Team | Pld | W | PKW | PKL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USLC | Loudoun United FC | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | USL1 | Charlotte Independence | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 9 | |
| 3 | USLC | Louisville City FC | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 9 | |
| 4 | USLC | Lexington SC | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 4 | |
| 5 | USLC | North Carolina FC | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 5 | |
| 6 | USL1 | Richmond Kickers | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 11 | −10 | 0 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points earned in group play; 3) total wins in group play; 4) goals for in group play; 5) goals against in group play; 6) disciplinary points; 7) coin toss.
Matches
[edit ]Moshobane 51'
Ousmanou 90+5' Stadium: American Legion Memorial Stadium
Attendance: 628
Referee: Luis Arroyo
Statistics
[edit ]Appearances and goals
[edit ]- As of November 24, 2025. Numbers after plus–sign (+) denote appearances as a substitute.
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | USL1 | USL.1 Playoffs | U.S. Open Cup | Jägermeister Cup | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
| 1 | GK | Chile CHI | Pablo Jara | 9 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 |
| 2 | MF | United States USA | Dakota Barnathan | 29 | 1 | 25+0 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 |
| 3 | MF | United States USA | Hayden Anderson | 30 | 2 | 7+19 | 2 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | United States USA | Simon Fitch | 35 | 0 | 30+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | Chile CHI | Maxi Schenfeld | 27 | 1 | 19+5 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | United States USA | Ryan Baer | 10 | 0 | 4+6 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | United States USA | Landon Johnson | 18 | 2 | 4+11 | 2 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | United States USA | Josh Kirkland | 33 | 8 | 22+7 | 8 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | Germany GER | Nils Seufert | 32 | 5 | 26+2 | 4 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 3+0 | 1 |
| 11 | MF | Haiti HAI | Rivendi Pierre-Lewis | 5 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | Brazil BRA | Guilherme França | 21 | 0 | 10+6 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | Canada CAN | Klaidi Cela | 21 | 1 | 16+2 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | England ENG | James Vaughan | 20 | 1 | 7+10 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | Uganda UGA | Jonathan Kanagwa | 11 | 0 | 1+8 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | Honduras HON | Darwin Espinal | 29 | 9 | 25+1 | 9 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | Germany GER | Adrian Billhardt | 24 | 3 | 7+15 | 3 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | United States USA | Marcelo Lage | 7 | 2 | 6+0 | 2 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 27 | FW | England ENG | Chandler O'Dwyer | 31 | 4 | 23+5 | 4 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 32 | FW | Argentina ARG | Emiliano Terzaghi | 26 | 4 | 19+5 | 4 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 33 | MF | United States USA | Matt Bolduc | 17 | 1 | 7+7 | 1 | 0+0 | 0+0 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 34 | DF | United States USA | Beckett Howell | 25 | 0 | 15+6 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 |
| 35 | GK | United States USA | James Sneddon | 27 | 0 | 27+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 38 | DF | United States USA | Griffin Garnett | 25 | 0 | 17+4 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 |
| 39 | DF | United States USA | Brendan Dobzyniak | 1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 40 | FW | United States USA | Nick Sarantakos | 1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 41 | MF | United States USA | Andrew Richman | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 42 | DF | United States USA | Grafton Kahl | 3 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 43 | MF | United States USA | Jonathan Gomez | 1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
References
[edit ]- ^ McGinley, Mannion (December 18, 2024). "Richmond Kickers sign Rivendi Melvin Pierre-Louis". Richmond Kickers.
- ^ McGinley, Mannion (January 22, 2025). "Golden Ball winner Darwin Espinal signs with the Kickers for 2025". Richmond Kickers.
- ^ McGinley, Mannion (January 23, 2025). "Hayden Anderson brings his talent to the Kickers, signs with the club for '25". Richmond Kickers.
- ^ McGinley, Mannion (January 24, 2025). "Richmond Kickers add German motor to the midfield". Richmond Kickers.
- ^ McGinley, Mannion (January 27, 2025). "James Sneddon Goes Pro". Richmond Kickers.
- ^ a b c d McGinley, Mannion (January 31, 2025). "Richmond Kickers sign new Academy class for 2025". Richmond Kickers.
- ^ McGinley, Mannion (February 6, 2025). "Kickers sign VCU grad, A10 Champ Jonathan Kanagwa". Richmond Kickers.
- ^ "Players' Shield winner Matt Bolduc returns to Richmond". USL League One. February 18, 2025.
- ^ McGinley, Mannion (May 6, 2025). "Jonathan Gomez joins Kickers 2025 Academy Class". Richmond Kickers.
- ^ Mannion, McGinley (July 9, 2025). "Kickers sign Ryan Baer on loan from Seattle Sounders". Richmond Kickers.
- ^ McGinley, Mannion (July 10, 2025). "Marcelo Lage signs with the Kickers, bolsters backline". Richmond Kickers.
- ^ "Velocity FC Lands a Vaunted Veteran with Midfielder Nil Vinyals". USL Spokane. February 21, 2025.