# 2021 Richmond Kickers season

The 2021 Richmond Kickers season was the club's 29th season of existence, their third season in USL League One, and their 17th season in the third tier of American soccer. The Kickers were led by second-year head coach, Darren Sawatzky, and looked to improve on their 4th-place finish in 2020.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated vaccination rollout, the season began on April 17, 2021. The season concluded on October 30, 2021. Due to the pandemic, the U.S. Open Cup was truncated and subsequently canceled due to the pandemic. The Kickers finished the USL League One regular season in 5th place, qualifying them for the USL League One Playoffs, making it their first appearance in the playoffs since 2016. There, the Kickers were eliminated in the first round against FC Tucson.

## Background

The 2020 season was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The season, originally slated to begin on March 28, 2020, did not begin until July 25, 2020. The season originally was slated to end on September 30, 2020, but concluded on October 24, 2020. The 28-match season was abbreviated to 16 matches, and the playoffs were reduced from a four-team playoff, to a single game championship. During the truncated season, the Kickers had a good turn of fortune, finishing fourth in the league table, and having a winning a record. It was the Kickers' best regular season performance since 2014. Despite the record, the club on the final day of the season failed to reach the USL Championship Game after losing at home to Chattanooga. Striker, Emiliano Terzaghi, scored 10 goals during the season, which was the best performance by a striker for the Kickers since Yudai Imura in 2016. Terzaghi had a 0.63 goals per game average, which was the best performance by a striker for Richmond since Robert Ssejjemba in 2006.
On October 30, 2020, Matt Spear stepped down as the club's president to focus on family reasons. Spear had been the club's president since 2019.

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| Date | Position | No. | Name | From | Fee/notes |
| February 9, 2021 | DF | 20 | Esteban Calvo | FC Tucson | Free |
| February 11, 2021 | MF | 10 | Nil Vinyals | Tormenta | Free |
| February 15, 2021 | GK | 44 | Austin Aviza | Orlando City B | Free |
| February 18, 2021 | DF | 15 | Jalen Crisler | Forward Madison | Free |
| February 18, 2021 | DF | 24 | Nathan Aune | Union Omaha | Free |
| February 22, 2021 | FW | 19 | Hernán González | Juventud Unida | Free |
| February 24, 2021 | MF | 6 | Zacarías Morán | River Plate | Free |
| March 4, 2021 | DF | 2 | Juan Pablo Monticelli | Orlando City B | Free |
| March 8, 2021 | MF | 88 | Cameron Vickers | FC Motown | Free |
| April 6, 2021 | GK | 13 | Austin Causey | New England Revolution II | Free |

### Transfers out

| Date | Position | No. | Name | To | Fee/notes |
| August 6, 2020 | DF | 5 | Conor Shanosky | Retired | Retired |
| December 31, 2020 | DF | 12 | Kyle Venter | Retired | Retired |
| December 31, 2020 | GK | 20 | Lee Johnston | | Released |
| December 31, 2020 | MF | 21 | Greg Boehme | | Released |
| December 31, 2020 | DF | 22 | Hassan Pinto | Loudoun United | Released |
| December 31, 2020 | MF | 80 | Mutaya Mwape | | Released |
| December 31, 2020 | MF | 93 | Gianluca Cuomo | | Released |
| December 31, 2020 | GK | 94 | Matt Broomall | Ballymacash Rangers | Released |
| December 31, 2020 | MF | 98 | Ryley Kraft | | Released |
| December 31, 2020 | MF | 77 | Charles Boateng | WAFA | End of loan |
| February 11, 2021 | DF | 18 | Wahab Ackwei | Loudoun United | Free |
| March 27, 2021 | MF | 8 | Amass Amankona | South Bend Lions | Released |
| April 6, 2021 | MF | 11 | David Diosa | New Amsterdam | Free |

## Competitive
### USL League One
#### Standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 3 | Chattanooga Red Wolves SC | 28 | 11 | 11 | 6 | 37 | 29 | +8 | 44 | Qualification for the play-offs |
| 4 | FC Tucson | 28 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 44 | 42 | +2 | 40 | Qualification for the play-offs |
| 5 | Richmond Kickers | 28 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 35 | 36 | −1 | 40 | Qualification for the play-offs |
| 6 | North Texas SC | 28 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 40 | 32 | +8 | 40 | Qualification for the play-offs |
| 7 | Toronto FC II | 28 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 34 | 32 | +2 | 38 | |

#### Results by matchday

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| Stadium | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Result | W | L | L | W | D | L | W | D | D | L | W | D | L | D | W | L | D | W | D | L | L | W | W | W | W | W | L | L |
| Position | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

#### Match results
### U.S. Open Cup

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only one team from USL League One (league champions), qualified for the 2021 U.S. Open Cup. However in July 2021, the Open Cup was canceled.

### USL-1 Playoffs
## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

Numbers after plus–sign (+) denote appearances as a substitute.
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | USL-1 | USL-1 | USL-1 Playoffs | USL-1 Playoffs | U.S. Open Cup | U.S. Open Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | JPN | Akira Fitzgerald | 22 | 0 | 22+0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | USA | Ian Antley | 1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | USA | Scott Thomsen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | BRA | Ivan Magalhães | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | USA | Conor Shanosky | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | USA | Matt Bolduc | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | GHA | Amass Amankona | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | BRA | Stanley Alves | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | ZAM | Mutaya Mwape | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | COL | David Diosa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | USA | Kyle Venter | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | USA | Luke Pavone | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | FW | VIN | Oalex Anderson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | USA | Zev Taublieb | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | USA | Jonathan Bolanos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | DF | GHA | Wahab Ackwei | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | GK | USA | Lee Johnston | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | USA | Greg Boehme | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | USA | Hassan Pinto | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | SWE | Victor Falck | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | FW | ARG | Emiliano Terzaghi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 67 | DF | USA | Devante Dubose | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 | MF | GHA | Charles Boateng | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 93 | MF | ITA | Gianluca Cuomo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 94 | GK | USA | Matt Broomall | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 98 | MF | USA | Ryley Kraft | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Last updated: October 24, 2020
* Source: Soccerway

### Top scorers

| Rank | Position | Number | Name | USL1 | USL1 Playoffs | U.S. Open Cup | Total |
| 1 | FW | 15 | Oalex Anderson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | MF | 17 | Jonathan Bolanos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | DF | 2 | Juan Pablo Monticelli | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* Last updated: April 20, 2021
* Source: Team Goals

### Top assists

| Rank | Position | Number | Name | USL1 | USL1 Playoffs | U.S. Open Cup | Total |
| 1 | MF | 6 | Hernán González | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* Last updated: April 20, 2021
* Source: Team Assists

### Disciplinary record

| No. | Pos. | Player | USL1 | USL1 | USL1 | USL1 Playoffs | USL1 Playoffs | USL1 Playoffs | U.S. Open Cup | U.S. Open Cup | U.S. Open Cup | Total | Total | Total |
| 6 | MF | Zacarías Morán | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | Jonathan Bolanos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
* Last updated: April 20, 2021
* Source: Team Discipline