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CARY, N.C. (Oct. 24, 2024) — North Carolina FC hosts Las Vegas Lights FC at WakeMed Soccer Park Saturday at 7 p.m. ET in a regular-season finale with major playoff implications for NCFC. The match will stream live on ESPN+.
Heading into the final weekend of the 2024 USL Championship regular season, NCFC sits just above the playoff line in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with 45 points. NCFC will clinch a spot in the postseason with a win. Both a loss and draw would require favorable results in other Saturday night games.
Other Eastern Conference games with potential playoff seeding implications for NCFC include Charleston Battery vs. Loudoun United (42 points), Pittsburgh Riverhounds (45 points) vs El Paso Locomotive, Oakland Roots SC vs Birmingham Legion (42 points), Orange County vs. Hartford Athletic (44 points), and Tampa Bay Rowdies (47 points) vs Indy Eleven. Both Birmingham and Hartford are on the road against their Western Conference opponents and will kick off at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday.
NCFC picked up a crucial, 2-0, win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies in a match relocated to WakeMed Soccer Park due to the impacts of the recent hurricanes in Week 33. Oalex Anderson and Evan Conway got the goals, with Anderson’s strike brining him level with Brian Shriver as the team’s all-competitions career scoring leader with 35 goals.
Las Vegas has already clinched a playoff berth and sits second in the Western Conference with a 13-9-11 record and 50 points, but just two points separate the lights from fifth-place Memphis 901 FC heading into the final match day.
The Lights’ attack runs through Khori Bennett and Valentine Noël, who have combined for 23 goals this season. The NCFC faithful will be familiar with Bennett, who spent the last two seasons with USL1 side Charlotte Independence and started for the inter-state rival in last year’s league championship game.
Bennett is far from the only familiar face on Las Vegas’ roster, with former NCFC Academy goalkeeper George Marks joining the team on loan from the MLS’ Charlotte FC and former NCFC midfielder Dre Fortune signing for the team midseason.
