The Swope Park Rangers (1-8-5, 8 points) took a 2-0 road loss to North Carolina FC (7-2-5, 26 points) on Saturday afternoon at Sahlen’s Stadium. The inaugural USL Championship meeting between the clubs saw Yamikani Chester and Andre Fortune score within the first 13 minutes as North Carolina FC provisionally jumped to third place in the Eastern Conference standings and kept SPR at the foot of the table.
SPR traveled an experienced squad to Cary, North Carolina, as head coach Paulo Nagamura handed starts to four Sporting Kansas City loanees—namely goalkeeper Eric Dick, center back and captain Graham Smith, and midfielders Gianluca Busio and Wan Kuzain Wan Kamal.