What a week that was! With Forward Madison and NCFC taking a break, Hailstorm had the opportunity to move even further ahead at the top, and boy did they ever. Meanwhile, Greenville recovered after a midweek loss that broke their streak, Charlotte stumbled after a midweek win, and the bottom three of the table all took wins. Here’s a review and how we have the league stacking up moving into week 20!
- Knoxville 1-2 Omaha
- Charlotte 1-0 Greenville
- Charlotte 1-2 Fuego
- Lexington 3-0 Omaha
- Knoxville 2-3 Chattanooga
- Tormenta 1-2 Greenville
- Northern Colorado 3-1 Richmond
1) Hailstorm FC
Last week: 1
Record: 10-5-1 (1st)
Matches since last ranking: WIN vs. Richmond, 3-1
Next league match: at NCFC
Is there a club out there that can put a stop to Hailstorm FC? The undefeated streak now extends to twelve after taking care of Richmond at home on Saturday night. They gave up an unfortunate own goal early and went into halftime down 1-0, but when has that ever stopped this squad? A dominant second half performance led to goals from Lucky Opara, Marky Hernández and Billy King, with Arthur Rogers adding on to his league leading assists total on Opara’s goal.
They head to Cary, North Carolina on Wednesday for the first of three matchups between the 2023 powerhouse clubs, with a five point cushion at the top of the table.
2) Forward Madison
Last week: 2
Record: 8-5-4 (3rd)
Matches since last ranking: DRAW at NCFC, 2-2
Next match: vs. Tormenta
The Mingos had the week off after settling for a draw at NCFC last week. Even with the week off, the squad is still third in points per match and second in goal differential and has the second-best goals allowed per match. They’d love to score some more goals to avoid close wins and draws, but with that defense and goaltending, it hasn’t been completely necessary.
They’ll host Tormenta for a midweek matchup on Wednesday. With NOCO and NCFC in action on the same night, we may see a midweek top of the table shakeup.
3) Greenville Triumph
Last week: 4
Record (8-4-6, 4th)
Matches since last ranking: LOSS at Charlotte, 1-0; WIN at Tormenta, 2-1
Next match: at Madison
A goaltending duel in Charlotte that looked to be heading to a 0-0 draw suddenly broke for Charlotte in the 95th minute, and broke Greenville’s unbeaten streak. But they recovered quickly over the weekend. at Tormenta, as Leo Castro’s two first half goals were good enough to down the hosts 2-1. Castro now has eight goals and four assists as he continues to head his squad up the table.
Next up: a visit to Forward Madison. The clubs have split the series so far, with Madison winning 4-1 in April and Greenville winning 1-0 in July. Greenville currently sits one point behind Madison in the table.
4) North Carolina FC
Last week: 3
Record: 8-4-4 (5th)
Matches since last ranking: DRAW vs. Madison, 2-2
Next league match: vs. Northern Colorado
NCFC had the week off to prepare for what should be an exciting visit from top-of-the-table Northern Colorado on Wednesday. It will be the first of three matchups this season between the two, both of which have multiple league MVP candidates. If this is where Northern Colorado’s undefeated streak ends, we won’t be surprised. NCFC has the second best points per match rate and goals scored per match rate. Northern Colorado ranks above them in both categories. They’ll need to shore up the defense if they want to avoid getting into a goal-for-goal shootout.
5) Charlotte Independence
Last week: 5
Record: 8-6-7 (2nd)
Matches since last ranking: WIN vs. Greenville, 1-0; LOSS vs. Fuego, 2-1.
Next league Match: vs. Northern Colorado
Charlotte sits in second place after the weekend thanks to having a lot of matches in hand and a fairly efficient points per match rate. They broke through a defensive battle against Greenville in the 95th minute thanks to a Clay Dimmick goal, but following this with a home loss to Fuego should just not have happened. An early Tresor Mbuyu goal of the week candidate wasn’t enough, as the visitors would go on to score two unanswered in the first half.
The recovery match from that is none other than first place Hailstorm FC on Saturday, a club that handed Charlotte a loss on July 4th.
6) Union Omaha
Last week: 6
Record: 6-7-5 (6th)
Matches since last ranking: WIN at Knoxville, 2-1; LOSS at Lexington, 3-0
Next Match: vs. Tormenta
The good news is, Omaha exits the weekend in 6th place, as high as they could have gone. Unfortunately, they took a bad loss at Lexington on Saturday after defeating Knoxville midweek.
In Knoxville, it was another win where Omaha came back and won after going down a man. Luca Mastrantonio took a straight red in the 82nd minute, but Dion Acoff put it away in the 94th minute to seal the improbable win. But in Lexington a few days later, there was no such magic. Ahmal Knight stopped five shots on target, and the Owls gave up three of four shots for an embarrassing shutout loss to a bottom-tier club.
They will look to recover, and remain in contention on Saturday when they host Tormenta.
7) Richmond Kickers
Last week: 7
Record: 6-7-6 (7th)
Matches since last ranking: LOSS at Northern Colorado, 3-1
Next match: at Lexington
The adjustments that led to a 2-2 draw last week against Charlotte were no match for a seemingly unstoppable Hailstorm side. After taking an early lead when a Michael Hornsby cross deflected into the net off of Northern Colorado defender Leo Folla, Richmond found themselves completely outmatched in the second half, giving up three unanswered. There’s still time, and with Knoxville and Tormenta also losing this week, they’re still in the pack of playoff contenders, just outside the bubble. But Richmond continues to struggle with points from the top part of the table.
If the top of the table is a struggle, this weekend at Lexington is a must win. And Lexington might be getting hot at the wrong time for Richmond.
8) Tormenta FC
Last week: 8
Record: 6-3-8 (9th)
Matches since last ranking: LOSS vs. Greenville, 2-1
Next match: at Madison
Tormenta had a chance to jump Knoxville in the standings and seriously challenge Richmond and Omaha for the final playoff spot. Unfortunately, they gave up two early goals to Greenville and could not recover, despite a second half goal from Matheus Cassini. They remain four points out of sixth place, and need to notch some more wins to get back in to defend their 2022 title.
They’ll travel to Madison on Wednesday and Omaha on Saturday.
9) Fuego FC
Last week: 10
Record: 5-1-11 (11th)
Matches since last ranking: WIN vs. Lexington, 2-1
Next match:
We’re hardly believing that we’re able to write this, but Fuego just took two wins in a row for the first time this season. Without the services of José Carerra-García, serving a red card suspension, they went down only four minutes in. But it doesn’t seem to be a problem these days with Maximus Ekk getting his third start in a row, and sending home the equalizer only 15 minutes later. Jordan Chavez would send one home before the first half ended, chipping in a cross from Billy Forbes. The defense would hold off the hosts for the second half to take the upset road win.
We’ll continue to monitor to see if this is a new leaf, or a new-coach, hot-new-academy-player bump. Next up is a visit from struggling Knoxville on Saturday.
10) One Knoxville SC
Last week: 8
Record: 5-7-8 (8th)
Matches since last ranking: LOSS vs. Omaha, 2-1; LOSS vs. Chattanooga, 3-2
Next match:
To say things have collapsed in Knoxville since that brief moment in June when they shot up the table may be putting it lightly. After the five match undefeated streak, which included a win over Charlotte, One Knox has now lost four in a row. Fan favorite Seba Andreassen left the team, along with Ahinga Selemani. While neither found a constant place in the roster, losing two highly touted forwards without replacements can’t help morale. Or maybe there were things we don’t know about, and it will? We’ll have to wait and see. In any case, a club looking to recover and move back up can’t take losses at home to Chattanooga, a team that previously had not won on the road all year.
They’ll look to bounce back at Fuego FC on Saturday, a team that is suddenly red hot.
11) Lexington SC
Last week: 11
Record: 4-5-9 (10th)
Matches since last ranking: WIN vs. Omaha, 3-0
Next match: vs. Richmond
Whatever happened over the last week at practice did the trick, as a rejuvenated Lexington scored more than two goals in a match for the first time all season with a 3-0 drubbing of Union Omaha. Amal Knight once again made some brilliant saves, and this time the offense returned the favor with goals from Nico Brown, Ates Diouf and Khalid Balogun, two assisted by Terique Mohammed.
There’s still a ways to go to break into contention, but if this sort of play keeps up, who knows how far they can go. They face Richmond on Saturday.
12) Red Wolves SC
Last week: 12
Record: 4-4-10 (12th)
Matches since last ranking: WIN at Knoxville, 3-2
Next match: vs. NCFC
Chevone Marsh notched two more to extend his team lead to seven on another penalty conversion and goal, while Riley Kraft netted a brilliant free kick, and the Red Wolves took down a struggling Knoxville side 3-2. It was also the first road win for the last place club. With the three goals, they also finally broke over 1 goal per match, leaving Fuego as the only club scoring below 1 per match. There’s still a long way out of this hole, but you have to start somewhere.
It won’t be easy, as the next match is against NCFC.