Minnesota United was winless on the field in its first month of Major League Soccer in 2017, but on the last day of March, the club secured its first significant victory of the season.

A league laughingstock, the Loons had been embarrassed twice on national TV and allowed 18 total goals in three losses and a tie. Further, the expansion franchise was training at the public Bielenberg Sports Center in Woodbury, where stunned coach Adrian Heath sidestepped kids on the way to the field house for that day’s triage.

Finally, as the month ended, front office leaders Manny Lagos and Amos Magee — working out of community education classrooms upstairs — finalized a key trade to bring in veteran defensive midfielder Sam Cronin.

Adding Cronin, the Colorado Rapids’ captain during its sterling defensive season in 2016, brought Minnesota experience, leadership and professionalism. It also helped the club move on from failed center back Vadim Demidov, the Loons’ highest-paid player who would soon be exiled back to Norway and bought out of his contract. United’s first official win came against Real Salt Lake on April 1, but acquiring Cronin the day before was its first victory. Lagos and Magee considered Cronin a cornerstone for the future.

But now, after a year and a half of health and injury problems, he’s gone. His time in Minnesota — and maybe in professional soccer — officially ended last Friday when the club bought out his guaranteed contract ahead of the league roster deadline for the 2019 season.

Cronin is “devastated,” Lagos said.

“I don’t think there is anybody that would expect anything less than that type of mentality from him,” Lagos added. “That’s the way he was on the field.”

United had been patient while Cronin battled concussions, neck injuries and vision issues. He played only 18 games for the Loons in 2017, missing the final nine. In February 2018, he was injured heading a ball during preseason camp and missed the entire season.

Like football, the soccer world is dealing with the growing science on concussions and the effects the brain injury can have on a player’s long-term health.

“We are in the beginning stages of how to navigate a complicated issue and a complicated injury,” Lagos said. “In my world, I just want us to grow and make sure that we are a club that has a process that takes care of the player first and foremost.”

Cronin, 32, reached a milestone by playing in his 250th regular-season MLS game in Minnesota’s 4-0 win against D.C. United in late July 2017. In the locker room afterward, a fit Cronin didn’t really pause for reflection, instead pointing to 300 games as the real achievement.

He played only three more games. “We’ve lost a great player for a year and a half,” Lagos said Wednesday. “He was really going to be a part of the plans for the future.”

Without Cronin last season, the Loons lacked a natural backup at his holding midfielder spot and were unable to escape the label of being one of the worst defensive teams in MLS history. Looking to fill the gap, the Loons traded with Seattle for esteemed defensive midfielder Ozzie Alonso.

Alonso was strong in the season-opening 3-2 win against Vancouver last weekend and is expected to be in the middle again Saturday for a 7 p.m. start against the Earthquakes in San Jose.

Lagos recalled how Cronin helped Abu Danladi as the striker went on to be runner-up for MLS rookie of the year in 2017, and Heath reflected on how Cronin understood the game plan — not only his job, but everyone else’s, giving him the high ground to hold teammates accountable.

“We’ve missed a very good, solid professional, and its disappointing for him,” Heath said. “But he’s a young guy and he’s got a lot of years ahead of him and he wants to be in a better condition to be able to spend that with … his wife and his kids.

“I have no doubt whatever he decides to do he will be a huge success. I would think he would stay in football in some way, whether it be coaching or front office. A super smart kid, and he goes with our best wishes.”