Once again the week provided some surprising results which continued the trend of first place in each of the conferences resembling a game of musical chairs. This week the teams left looking for a chair as the music wound down happened to be San Diego in the West and Nashville in the Central. Meanwhile in the Northern Conference Hershey increased their conference lead over the surprising Wolves thanks in large part to Connecticut collapsing at home against Long Island and Rochester. Of course there was much more action on display across the league so let's get moving as the music starts.
Charleston had an interesting week what with a 5-0 drubbing of D3 Carolina to wrap up an Open Cup slot only to go to Charlotte and drop an entertaining match 2-1 on a Ryan Leib golden goal. This is becoming a disturbing trend for Charleston as they exhibit a tendency to allow their game to drop on less than ideal surfaces. Either way they'll likely need to get over that effect fairly quickly as they travel to Cincinnati and Nashville this weekend with a second trip to Richmond on the schedule for Wednesday.
The Metros had a similar weekend as they wrapped up an Open Cup spot against D3 Greenville on Friday only to drop a 2-1 decision to Cincinnati. The Metros were busy giving people the Fenger but they still came up with this split and now they'll look to upend Charleston as they visit Ezell on Saturday. Cincinnati will be busy dealing with Indiana and Charleston this weekend in a bid to steal some points from those clubs.
Coming into Saturday night's game with the Battery, Charlotte had already sewn up elimination from the Open Cup by losing out to D3 Wilmington 2-0. The Hammerheads were able to knock off the Eagles in their home park as the two clubs battled it out like old rivals. This weekend they get to take on the Silverbacks who happen to be on a bit of a downward spiral after losing games they could have easily won in the past weeks. Charlotte will play a home and home series on Friday and Saturday against Atlanta as the 'Backs attempt to regain some of the magic from the first weeks of the season that was wielded by the Wizard of Ig.
Rochester was another club that only emerged from the week with a split for its efforts. The Rhinos were beaten by surprise leader Hershey 1-0 at the 'Cats hollow on Friday but then were able to travel to Connecticut to down the Wolves 1-0 on Wednesday. Hershey, on the other hand, grabbed two victories on the week that was by dealing the Rhinos the 1-0 defeat and beating up on the Rage to the tune of 4-0. Both Northern Conference clubs will attempt to strengthen their positioning this week as the Wildcats get a double dose of Canadian Bacon with away games at Montreal and Toronto. Rochester will play host to the 'Hounds in their lone match of the week.
Connecticut, who have been much of the opposition to the Wildcats so far this season, slumped to back to back defeats against both Long Island and Rochester. The two defeats also came on their home field which won't do much for their confidence, then again with the roster these guys are sporting it's hard not to be pretty confident anyway. The Wolves will be looking to rebound against Montreal on Sunday with a win against the Impact almost critical to maintain the momentum they were able to build in the opening weeks of the season.
Meanwhile Long Island dropped their match against Montreal 2-0 on the weekend. Moussa Sy was unable to prove as deadly in this match as he was against the Wolves but he will have more opportunities this weekend. The Riders will face Richmond in another rematch from earlier this season as two of the better keepers in the league face each other in Mike McGinty and Oscar Mejia. Mejia has proved to be a revelation in goal for Long Island and should provide more confidence in the defense for the Rough Riders which should free up some people to do a bit of extra attacking. Many will watch for Long Island to develop from here on out, as this could be the piece of the puzzle that truly makes them contenders.
On the other hand Richmond didn't do so bad over last week themselves after posting a 3-1 win over South Jersey to tune up for this week's match-up with the Riders. They'll look to remain steady in their efforts in this young season and hope to keep the potent Rider attack at bay.
Pittsburgh will face Rochester this weekend coming off yet another split in which they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Lynx yet did manage an 8-0 drubbing of the Northern Virginia Royals. They'll likely be wishing for a couple of those 8 goals back, though, when they face the Rhinos so that they could have at least a minor chance to take home some points from the always lovely Double F Ranch.
On the other side of the League, last week saw San Diego drop back to earth as they lost to both Seattle and Portland by one goal each. The Sounders took a 2-1 victory over the nouveau Flash on their bouncy turf with strikes from Leighton O'Brien and Scott Jenkins. Chugger Adair tried once again to save his club but his lone tally was not enough to keep them from defeat. San Diego will be disappointed to have not gotten any points last week but they know this week could be crucial if they want to maintain their challenge for the top of the conference.
San Diego will play Milwaukee who have already proven their Western aptitude by downing Vancouver 1-0 but this time they'll be the ones travelling. If jet lag isn't too harsh on the Rampage it should provide a decent opportunity for them to make up for their disappointing season opener against San Diego.
Vancouver also dropped their match against Minnesota last weekend giving the club their first A-League win of the season in the 1-0 victory. The Whitecaps will likely not be quite as giving this weekend as the Thunder come to Swangard. The Thunder will be disappointed at their slow start to the season after seemingly breaking the spell against the Whitecaps last weekend. Unfortunately they've gone right back into the tank with a 3-1 loss to Portland Wednesday night. They'll be hoping to gain a point or so in Seattle on the bouncy stuff but that's become an increasingly difficult task as the Sounders have proven nearly unbeatable on their home turf advantage.
In other matches this week Vancouver will take on Portland on next Wednesday as well as a pair of matches for Utah against A-League opposition. The Blitzz bring their double Zs to Seattle and Portland on Friday and Saturday in the closing action in their Open Cup group. Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver could all do a lot to up their stock this weekend but they could also quickly drop. Meanwhile, Minnesota is waiting for the tune to change before things get beyond their reach.
Either way the music's tuning up and the fun is about to begin so get yourself a comfy chair and watch the action unfold this week. It should be exciting as the further we get into the season more and more things begin to work themselves out. We're almost ready to get into the Open Cup in earnest with the draw coming up soon so things should continue to be exciting in the coming weeks but if results go the wrong way some may find that when the music stops they'll have nowhere to sit.
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