After 31 weeks, the season is over for more than half the teams in the USL this season, with the end coming maybe sooner than might have been expected for some. Ahead of the start of the 2018 USL Cup Playoffs this Friday night, we’ll look at three key questions facing those teams that are not part of the postseason field as they enter their offseason, starting with four squads from the Eastern Conference.

North Carolina FC

Wednesday’s announcement that Colin Clarke wouldn’t return as North Carolina FC’s Head Coach after seven seasons at the helm set up a potential offseason of change at the club and it’s going to be interesting to see who gets tabbed as the replacement after a year during which the side had some memorable outings but lacked the consistency to finish in a playoff position.

For whoever does fill the new position, the first order of business is going to be figuring out where the goals are going to come from next season with leading scorer Daniel Rios heading back after his loan from Chivas de Guadalajara having accomplished the goals he set of putting himself in the window for Major League Soccer clubs, and potentially some in Liga MX after finishing tied for second in the league with 20 goals.

With both Rios and Donovan Ewolo, who finished tied for second on the team with seven goals, having been brought in on loan deals this year, the club’s offseason is going to need to be geared on not just getting its new Head Coaching hire right, but giving that person the attacking firepower that keeps the side in the top ten in scoring in 2019.

If there’s one thing you could point to as to why North Carolina FC isn’t in the postseason this year, it’s the club’s middling form in front of its home fans. NCFC went only 7-6-4 at Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park, putting it tied for ninth in home defeats and tied for 19th in home victories.

On the face of it, it’s hard to see how WakeMed isn’t one of the harder places to go and play in the league. It’s a tremendous facility, and the club has an excellent following led by the Oak City Supporters. You could certainly argue that given the playing conditions, it’s also a venue that opposing teams look forward to visiting each season with the field dimensions offering a chance at entertaining, expansive soccer.

For North Carolina to push its way above the playoff line next year, though, it’s going to have to make the venue built on a former whale burial ground – no, really, check it out – a place where its opponent’s hopes of picking up all three points go to rest.

After being acquired on August 24 by North Carolina on loan from Indy Eleven, Zach Steinberger became a centerpiece for the squad over the final third of the regular season as one of only five players to appear in all 10 of the club’s remaining games in that span. Recording four goals and three assists while completing 189 of 235 passes (80.4 accuracy rate), Steinberger quickly assimilated into the side and helped it claim five victories over that closing stretch.

The nature of Steinberger’s game would seem to make him a natural fit to try and find a permanent deal with NCFC this offseason, which should the club also retain the services of Kyle Bekker would give North Carolina two strong attacking playmakers to build its attack around for next season. Bekker also recorded four goals and three assists following Steinberger’s arrival, and the presence of both would likely ease in whoever becomes the club’s attacking focal point.

Charlotte Independence

The Charlotte Independence missed the USL Cup Playoffs for the first time since their inaugural season in 2015 mostly due to a lack of defensive efficiency that saw the club rank in the bottom 10 in the league in goals conceded (57) and shutouts (6) throughout the 2018 regular season.

Finding a way to address those issues is going to be key moving forward for Head Coach Mike Jeffries, with improving the underlying metrics that appeared to show a lack of competitiveness in winning possession one of the potential keys to a turnaround. Taken singularly, sitting below 50 percent in duel success (49.18) on the third-fewest duels (3,286) in the league, or posting a 45.4 percent success rate in aerial duels, or recording the lowest tackle-success rate (64.77) in the league wouldn’t necessarily be a problem. To have all three of those things, though, certainly looks as though it was.

Add in sitting in the bottom 10 in the league in both interceptions (434) and possession recoveries (2,010) – compare that number to Louisville City FC (2,431) or Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (2,421) – and it seems this is a side that just didn’t quite work hard enough when it didn’t have possession to contain opponents.

There’s no questioning that Jorge Herrera is an absolute marvel. At 38 years old, he continues to show a sharpness and passion for the game that is hard to find and is one of the USL’s iconic players as a result. Next season, he could easily overtake Dane Kelly for the modern-era lead in regular-season goals after notching another 13 tallies this season.

But for the Independence having the oldest player on the team also be the player who accounted for 29.5 percent of your team’s goals in the past season might be a problem if it’s looking to return to the playoffs next year. Arguably the biggest frustration watching Charlotte this year was seeing some of the great play they could put together and fine finishes that resulted from it, only for those moments to quickly disappear when the team went into one of its slumps in form.

Finding a consistent running-mate up front for Herrera in 2019 is going to be an important factor as to whether Charlotte can rebound.

As a final record of 10-12-12 might indicate, the Independence had a rollercoaster ride of a season that saw it both be one of only two teams to defeat FC Cincinnati in regular-season action, but also go on lengthy downturns in form that ended up being a major factor in the side digging too deep a hole to emerge from down the final stretch.

The Independence had positioned themselves positively at 6-3-2 in the first third of the season, but the four-game winning streak that led to that position was followed by a run that saw the side win just once in its next 15 games. Achieving a greater level of consistency and turning some of its seven home draws this past year into victories is going to be a key to a return to the postseason next year.

Penn FC

The past three seasons haven’t been great for what was a regular championship contender at the start of the decade, and a big reason why has been the lack of a homefield advantage that the Skyline Sports Complex used to provide the then-City Islanders. The club was the second to reach the USL Cup on multiple occasions in 2014 as opponents from within the league and in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup found their trips to Harrisburg tough affairs, which provided the backbone of the then-City Islanders’ success.

Those sorts of moments still appeared every once-in-a-while at FNB Field over the past two years, but it was never going to be a permanent solution for the club. The plans that the club had to renovate Skyline are now a remote memory, but if they can be revived and put into action over the next 18 months then there’s a real opportunity for professional soccer to maintain its presence in Pennsylvania’s capital and help return the club to its former glory as part of USL League One.

Penn FC was a middle-of-the-pack side defensively this season, and it got there in part because of the stellar play of experienced center back Ken Tribbett. Making his return to Harrisburg, Tribbett led the team in interceptions, won more duels and aerial duels than any other player on the team and provided a threat from set pieces with six goals on the season.

Tribbett should be a player in demand this offseason as a player who’s in the prime of his career at 26 years old and brings experience from Major League Soccer as well as what he’s accomplished in the USL. It will be interesting to see which clubs become his major suitors, and whether there’s a potential move back to the top flight in the offing.

Arguably the biggest issue Penn FC faced in the past season was a lack of continuity in its lineup, which on paper had some pedigree had its best 11 been able to stay on the field game-in and game-out. As it was, only five players recorded more than two-thirds of potential minutes in the regular season, leaving Head Coach Raoul Voss having to consistently change lineups from one game to the next.

Voss earned a good reputation as an assistant at his previous stops and will have been delighted to take victories in both of his side’s games against former employee the Tampa Bay Rowdies over his first season as a Head Coach. One of the youngest coaches in the league, Voss will have learned from this experience, and it would be a smart move of Penn’s leadership to try and retain him ahead of the club’s anticipated return in 2020.

Toronto FC II

With the club’s struggles on the field and lack of a consistent home base in 2018 due to the small capacity at the Ontario Soccer Centre forcing the club to find something that met Division II standards this year, a move to USL League One for its inaugural year was a logical one that would provide more consistency for the team next season.

The bigger question, though, will be whether the club’s young standouts can find their footing and more consistency at the Division III level. Toronto has consistently had talented youngsters in its ranks, but the lack of consistency they’ve shown against more experienced opposition has regularly shown how big the step from the Academy to the USL is for some. Defensive errors led directly to seven goals against for TFC II this past season according to Opta, a sign of the growth that’s going to be needed to succeed on the field moving forward.

Bethlehem Steel FC is a side that has been similarly constructed to Toronto FC II, but the presence of James Chambers in the midfield for Steel FC has been a galvanizing factor that has helped Bethlehem reach the USL Cup Playoffs in each of the past two seasons.

Toronto has given its side veteran help in the past and throughout this year with goalkeeper Caleb Patterson-Sewell among the bright spots for the team in 2018, but it certainly feels like the acceleration in productivity for Steel FC youngsters like Brenden Aaronson and Anthony Fontana has been helped by Chambers’ presence alongside them in the middle of the field.

Picking out a key veteran that the club’s young players can learn from and lean on for leadership could be a good step forward to making TFC II more consistently competitive in 2019.

Named to the USL 20 Under 20 in both 2016 and 2017, there were high hopes that Shaan Hundal would break out and surpass the six goals he recorded in both of those seasons and reach a higher level this year. Instead, the 19-year-old had a frustrating campaign that saw his play affected by injuries that limited him to only 1,093 minutes of play and 13 starts in 24 appearances.

There’s no need to rush here, but it is looking like Hundal’s offseason and 2019 campaign is going to be important to get things back in the right direction. Should he be selected, a positive 2018 Concacaf U20 Championship next month would be a potential springboard toward that bounce-back season for a young forward who has bags of potential to fulfill.