As it began, Week 4 of the 2017 USL season looked like it would be an important one. It certainly lived up to – and might even have exceeded – the expectations. Here are 11 things we learned from a frenetic week.

1. NO PLACE LIKE HOME: FC Cincinnati set attendance records throughout the 2016 USL season, and on Saturday night added another to the list as a crowd of 23,144 became the highest attendance for a USL home opener in the league’s history. The attendance not only bested Sacramento Republic FC’s 20,231 attendance at Hughes Stadium for its inaugural game in 2014, but was also the second-highest attended game of the weekend in the United States and Canada as a whole, with only former USL club Orlando City SC’s crowd of 25,527 exceeding that total to see a thrilling 2-1 victory against the LA Galaxy. With two more big games coming up this week against the Tampa Bay Rowdies, and in particular its River Cities Cup rival Louisville City FC, Cincinnati could play a leading role in a record week in attendance for the USL.

2. THE FOUR TOPS: The crowd in Cincinnati was certainly impressive, but it was topped by the performance produced by the team itself. A 4-0 victory against previously undefeated Saint Louis FC saw a reformatted lineup click into gear fully for the first time this season, with Djiby Fall the main recipient. Fall’s four-goal game – which marked the first hat trick in FCC’s history – showed off the Senegalese’s opportunism and good off-the-ball movement, but was facilitated by a display that saw Cincinnati make the most of its opportunities to make a major statement to the rest of the league.