2022 USL Championship playoffs

Main article: 2022 USL Championship season

The 2022 USL Championship playoffs (branded as the 2022 USL Championship Playoffs presented by Hisense for sponsorship reasons) is the post-season championship of the 2022 USL Championship. It is the twelfth edition of the USL Championship playoffs. The playoffs began October 22, and concluded with the USL Championship Final on November 13.^[1]

2022 USL Championship playoffs

Tournament details
Country	United States
Teams	14
Defending champions	Orange County SC (2021)
Final positions
Champions	San Antonio FC
Runners-up	Louisville City FC
Tournament statistics
Matches played	13
Goals scored	38 (2.92 per match)
Attendance	104,695 (8,053 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Santiago Patiño (5 goals)
← 2021 2023 → All statistics correct as of November 13, 2022.

San Antonio FC won the regular season.^[2] Defending title holders Orange County SC did not qualify for the playoffs.^[3]

Format

The top seven teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs; the top team from each conference earned a bye to the conference semifinals. After the opening round the tournament will be reseeded to ensure that the top team from each conference plays the lowest seeded team and hosting rights will be determined by regular season record.^[4] All playoff matches will be streamed live on ESPN+ except the Championship final on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, and Sirius XM FC.^[1][5]

Conference standings

Eastern Conference Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1 Louisville City FC 34 72 2 Memphis 901 FC 34 68 3 Tampa Bay Rowdies 34 67 4 Birmingham Legion FC 34 58 5 Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC 34 57 6 Miami FC 34 55 7 Detroit City FC 34 54 8 FC Tulsa 34 42 9 Indy Eleven 34 41 10 Hartford Athletic 34 36 11 Loudoun United FC 34 28 12 Charleston Battery 34 25 13 Atlanta United 2 34 23 14 New York Red Bulls II 34 15 Source: USL Championship Standings

Western Conference Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1 San Antonio FC (C, X) 34 77 2 San Diego Loyal SC 34 60 3 Colorado Springs Switchbacks 34 55 4 Sacramento Republic 34 53 5 New Mexico United 34 51 6 Rio Grande Valley Toros 34 49 7 Oakland Roots SC 34 46 8 El Paso Locomotive FC 34 46 9 Las Vegas Lights FC 34 45 10 Phoenix Rising FC 34 42 11 LA Galaxy II 34 40 12 Monterey Bay FC 34 40 13 Orange County SC 34 34 Source: USL Championship Standings (C) Champions; (X) Regular Season League Champion

Bracket

Conference Quarterfinals October 22–23

Conference Semifinals October 28–30

Conference Finals November 5–6

USL Championship Final November 13

E1

Louisville City FC (p)

2 (5)

E5

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

2 (3)

E4

Birmingham Legion FC

2 (7)

E5

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (p)

2 (8)

E1

Louisville City FC (a.e.t.)

1

Eastern Conference

E3

Tampa Bay Rowdies

0

E2

Memphis 901 FC

3

E7

Detroit City FC

1

E2

Memphis 901 FC

0

E3

Tampa Bay Rowdies

1

E3

Tampa Bay Rowdies

3

E6

Miami FC

1

E1

Louisville City FC

1

W1

San Antonio FC

3

W1

San Antonio FC

3

W7

Oakland Roots SC

0

W2

San Diego Loyal SC

0

W7

Oakland Roots SC

3

W1

San Antonio FC

2

Western Conference

W3

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC

0

W3

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC

3

W6

Rio Grande Valley FC

0

W3

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC (a.e.t.)

2

W4

Sacramento Republic FC

1

W4

Sacramento Republic FC

2

W5

New Mexico United

0

Schedule

Conference Quarterfinals

Tampa Bay Rowdies v Miami FC

October 22 East	Tampa Bay Rowdies	3–1	Miami FC	St. Petersburg, Florida
7:30 PM EDT	Antley  30' Guenzatti 50', 70' Law 59'	Report	Chapman-Page  39' Rivas 55' Ballard  84'	Stadium: Al Lang Stadium Attendance: 5,937 Referee: Calin Radosav

Memphis 901 FC v Detroit City FC

October 22 East	Memphis 901 FC	3–1	Detroit City FC	Memphis, Tennessee
8:00 PM CDT	Buckmaster  51' Allan 72' Smith 88' Goodrum 90+4'  90+5'	Report	Rodriguez  10' Bryant  75' Matthews 77' Lewis  85'	Stadium: AutoZone Park Attendance: 6,010 Referee: Elijio Arreguin

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC v Rio Grande Valley FC

October 22 West	Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC	3–0	Rio Grande Valley FC	Colorado Springs, Colorado
6:30 PM MDT	Amoh  29' Henríquez 84' Wheeler 90', 90+4'	Report	Ricketts  23'	Stadium: Weidner Field Attendance: 7,036 Referee: Mark Allatin

Sacramento Republic FC v New Mexico United

October 22 West	Sacramento Republic FC	2–0	New Mexico United	Sacramento, California
7:00 PM PDT	López  27' Foster 47' Keko 74'	Report	Yearwood  16' Moreno  42'	Stadium: Heart Health Park Attendance: 11,569 Referee: Elvis Osmanovic

Birmingham Legion FC v Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

October 23 East	Birmingham Legion FC	2–2 (a.e.t.) (7–8 p)	Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC	Birmingham, Alabama
6:00 PM EDT	Kasim 72' Lapa 99'  100'	Report	Wiedt  57' Kizza 90', 116'  120+9'	Stadium: Protective Stadium Attendance: 10,227 Referee: Eric Tattersall
	Penalties
	Crognale Lapa Dean James Martinez Balarabe Rufe Lopez Kavita Dupont		Sims Griffin Dikwa Cicerone Eyang Ybarra Ordoñez Kelly Peters Kizza

San Diego Loyal SC v Oakland Roots SC

October 23 West	San Diego Loyal SC	0–3	Oakland Roots SC	San Diego, California
5:30 PM PDT	Guido  6'  79' Amang  76'  76' Stoneman  84'  88' Fissore  86'	Report	Nane  15' Martin  26' Dennis 36' Mfeka 53' Hernández  76' Barbir  78' Fissore 90+1' Klimenta  87'	Stadium: Torero Stadium Attendance: 5,719 Referee: Elton Garcia

Conference Semifinals

San Antonio FC v Oakland Roots SC

October 28 West	San Antonio FC	3–0	Oakland Roots SC	San Antonio, Texas
7:30 PM CDT	Adeniran 2' Khmiri  20' Garcia  56' Patiño 75', 90'	Report	Barbir  52' Rodriguez  76' Rito  89' Hernández  89'	Stadium: Toyota Field Attendance: 8,208 Referee: Elvis Osmanovic

Louisville City FC v Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

October 29 East	Louisville City FC	2–2 (a.e.t.) (5–3 p)	Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC	Louisville, Kentucky
7:30 PM EDT	Wynder  62' Perez 83'  88' Lancaster 85' (pen.) Dia  115'	Report	Cicerone 14', 47'  103' Rovira  45+2' Williams  54' Wiedt  84' Dikwa  90+4'	Stadium: Lynn Family Stadium Attendance: 8,509 Referee: Elijio Arreguin
	Penalties
	Totsch Wynder Jimenez Matsoso Moguel		Griffin Forbes Sims Dikwa

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC v Sacramento Republic FC

October 29 West	Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Sacramento Republic FC	Colorado Springs, Colorado
6:00 PM MDT	Ngalina 37', 96' Wheeler  106' Caldwell  114' Anderson  120+2'	Report	Lopez 18' LaGrassa  39' Gurr  45+2' Casey  65' Martínez  66' Archimède  120+2'	Stadium: Weidner Field Attendance: 7,075 Referee: Sergii Demianchuk

Memphis 901 FC v Tampa Bay Rowdies

October 30 East	Memphis 901 FC	0–1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Memphis, Tennessee
3:00 PM CDT	Goodrum  51' Kiddiedou  90+7' Paul  90+10'	Report	Guillén  29' Dalgaard  74' Guenzatti  80' Scarlett  90+3' Hilton  90+8' Fernandes 90+9' (pen.)	Stadium: AutoZone Park Attendance: 6,063 Referee: Elton Garcia
Note: Match rescheduled from October 29 due to weather.[6]

Conference Finals

Louisville City FC v Tampa Bay Rowdies

November 5 East	Louisville City FC	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Louisville, Kentucky
7:30 PM EDT	Totsch  48' Bone  82' Charpie  100' Wynder 108'	Report	Hilton  84' Harris  90+3' Dos Santos  106'	Stadium: Lynn Family Stadium Attendance: 11,563 Referee: Mark Allatin

San Antonio FC v Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC

November 6 West	San Antonio FC	2–0	Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC	San Antonio, Texas
7:30 PM CST	Maloney 23' Parano  66' Adeniran  75' Patiño  90+2' 90+11'	Report	Ngalina  10' Hodge  49' Henriquez  54' Wheeler  78' Herrera  87' Mahoney  89'	Stadium: Toyota Field Attendance: 8,245 Referee: Kevin Broadley

USL Championship Final

Similar to the 2022 MLS playoffs, the final featured the top seeds in the Eastern and Western Conferences, Louisville City FC and San Antonio FC, who were their conferences' regular-season and play-off champions. As overall regular-season champion, San Antonio FC had home-field advantage for the final.

For Louisville City, 2022 marks the fourth Championship final in five seasons, having won two of their previous three in 2017 and 2018. For San Antonio FC, this is a first USL Championship final.

San Antonio FC v Louisville City FC

November 13	San Antonio FC	3–1	Louisville City FC	San Antonio, Texas
7:30 PM CST	Patiño 45+3' (pen.), 70' Garcia  47' Delem  62' Adeniran 64'	Report	Lancaster  44' Faundez  61' Ownby 78' Mushagalusa  80'	Stadium: Toyota Field Attendance: 8,534 Referee: Lukasz Szpala

Championship Game MVP: Santiago Patiño (SAN)

^[7]

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Santiago Patiño	San Antonio FC	5
2	Samuel Adeniran	San Antonio FC	2
	Russell Cicerone	Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
	Sebastián Guenzatti	Tampa Bay Rowdies
	Edward Kizza	Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
	Michee Ngalina	Colorado Springs Switchbacks
	Aaron Wheeler	Colorado Springs Switchbacks

Awards

• Goal of the Playoffs: Charlie Dennis (OAK)^[8]
• Save of the Playoffs: Jordan Farr (SAN)^[9]