Where to begin on a weekend that saw several strange matches? This has become a bit silly if you ask me especially as we head to the land of Huskies, the former Whale, and those pesky Wolves. Somehow Minnesota came out the loser against last season's cellar dweller in an enthralling 1-0 shocker. Apparently it was enthralling because it seems like the Thunder were just watching as Bert Williams curved a free kick into the Minnesota net for the golden goal. The following night they decided to take in a match on Long Island.
Warren proved ineffective in the nets behind the Thunder defense as Michael Butler and Ben Diallo scored the second half goals that paved the way for their second consecutive defeat. Interestingly enough that means the Riders are off to a fantastic start so far which merely proves once again that it is too early for anything to start making any sense whatsoever.
San Diego's club faced off in a pair of Open Cup matches this weekend to make up for lost time from the previous San Diego fold. They struggled to a 1-0 overtime victory at Stanislaus to keep their modest success streak alive and yet they still fashioned themselves a tough path to the Open Cup by losing at Chico on Saturday 3-1. Two early goals were their undoing in this match as it appears the Rooks put San Diego in checkmate by attacking what seems to have been a very fatigued squad.
There was more interesting action in the Southeast again on Friday night as the Carolina Dynamo proved to be a little less than dynamic against the Battery in their Open Cup qualifier losing out to a Ball and company 2-0. Interestingly enough their opponents for Saturday faced off against the Wilmington Hammerheads in another Open Cup qualifier and pummeled their former D3 rivals 4-0 on the strength of goals from Leib and Swinehart not to mention a well taken spot kick from Watkins.
That led up to the home opener for the highly favored yet hardly convincing Charleston Battery who produced some terrific form over 90 minutes to pound Charlotte into a 3-0 defeat. John Ball led the way by constantly weaving between the Eagle defenders as if they were pillars of salt while Paul Conway had a goal sandwiched between the ex-Rhino's strikes.
Speaking of rematches in the South the D3 Greenville Lions won themselves a trip down to Atlanta during the off-season's scheduling raffle after having already faced them the week previously. After falling to the Wizard of Ig at home they ran into the 'Backs smooth forward again this week. Moleka put in a hat trick, and even pulled a rabbit out of it in front of the dazed Lion defenders, as he helped the 'Backs to a 5-1 Open Cup victory.
More Open Cup action awaited the Richmond Kickers as they faced off against the South Jersey BandBox Barons and the New Jersey Stallions. If it were not for some outstanding goalkeeping the Barons would've likely been blown out as their friends from further north, the Stallions, were. The Barons went down 1-0 to Cowlishaw's men who were unlucky to realize that they were only playing a half-field game in a late decision by the USL to stage some Open Cup qualifiers in this manner to give the lower division teams better chances or some such thing.
In the second match of their Jersey swing they took on the Stallions who hardly charged out of the gates, as the Kickers seemed thankful to be playing on a near regulation sized field once again. Supersub/banker Kwaku helped seal the deal against an overmatched Stallions squad in the 3-0 win. It also leaves the Kickers sitting fairly well on top of their Open Cup qualifying group with only Long Island posing anything resembling a threat… so long as they don't have to go back to South Jersey.
In yet another early season surprise the El Paso Patriots made the Portland Timbers feel uncomfortable in West Texas by winning in overtime 2-1. The Patriots are really beginning to look dangerous against the rest of the West considering their performances so far. The talented Timbers were unable to escape the border town with any points and if they don't make the playoffs this could wind up being one of the games they look back on if their hopes do indeed wind up under Boot Hill.
In other action we were able to find that the Indiana Blast are in prime midseason form already in dropping their first two games by a 5-0 aggregate. Saturday saw them losing out to the former MLS legions of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 1-0. The following day they seemed to have partaken of a few choice confections which may have greatly slowed them down in facing the Candy Cats as they went on to a rather convincing 4-0 loss. Things may or may not get better for the Blast when they travel to Minnesota this weekend to face a Thunder that looks a little less formidable than originally thought after their first two losses and the fact that four of their best will be playing with other squads.
In the other match on the weekend Milwaukee out-scored Cincinnati in an Open Cup qualifier that also counted in the league standings. The Rampage appeared to do just that in scoring 5 goals against the seemingly still hapless Riverhawks. The Hawks did show some promising flashes on the offensive end, though, in putting 3 past a still sieve-like Milwaukee defense. At least, so far, there's one consistent thing in Milwaukee. As for this past week things still appear screwy but this weekend we may see some of these trends getting straightened out, as it appears some of the league's teams are still waking from their winter hibernation.
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