Finally some regular season NISA soccer. With all the drama of the offseason - Detroit City’s exit from the league, Laurence Girard’s pizza giveaways, rumors swirling around Stumptown - it’s just nice to be able to watch some actual soccer. Week 1 gave us four matches and each delivered a ton of information for fans of the league. The power rankings are an average of the rankings from the three hosts of the Knights Who Say NISA podcast. So without much else to say, let’s get into the Week 1 Power Rankings.

10 Flower City Union

Flower City Union’s match against AC Syracuse was a battle of two expansion sides and, at times, it was obvious. FCU struggled to generate much offense against Pulse, only generating .25 xG on 10 shots (6 on target). The team looked like what it is, a group of local, talented players, but not up to the challenge of its opponent. As of Week 1, Flower City Union is ranked 10th.

9 Albion SC San Diego

Albion wasn’t in action on Week 1, so we may see a big rearrangement come Friday, when they face off against Valley United. As of now, we haven’t seen anything.

8 Michigan Stars FC

Michigan Stars took Week 1 off, just like Albion, but unlike Albion, Stars is taking Week 2 off as well. We will see the Stars take on Detroit City early next week in the USOC, but nothing to gauge as of yet. This ranking might lead some to question putting FCU below two non-playing clubs, and that’s fair. However, Stars will almost certainly move up this ranking, given the quality of their roster and their track record of competitiveness. We shall see.

7 Bay Cities FC

Bay Cities played well against LA Force in its opening match, but the stats tell the tale. BCFC generated .12 xG, second lowest of all the teams in action Week 1, and only took 4 shots against Force. On the other side of the field, while the defense didn’t give up a goal, it was certainly tested by a shot-happy Force side, who took 14 attempts at goal in the match. Bay Cities is what we thought they were - an expansion side that needs to work hard to get up to speed against the better clubs in this league.

6 AC Syracuse Pulse

Kyle Neul delivered the game-winning assist and was a beast on defense.

The surprise club of Week 1, Pulse showed up to play against Flower City Union. The visiting side put together the best week of any NISA side, generating the second highest xG of the weekend and being the only team to take 3 points. Kyle Nuel’s service on Jackson’s goal was one of the best looking plays of the weekend and ACS made that goal stand up for the win. It will be interesting to see what this team does against a better opponent, which we’ll see on Sunday when Pulse host Chattanooga FC.

5 Valley United FC

Coming into the weekend, Valley United was a mystery to us, but we’ve got some answers now: a tough team that outshot Strikers 12-8 in a draw. One negative, none of those 12 shots were on target. That’s a problem. Regardless, VUFC sits midway on our Week 1 Power Rankings after a great draw against the second best team in NISA last season.

4 California United Strikers FC

You can see the Week 1 result as one of two things: a disappointing showing from a club we all expect to finish top of the table or a tougher-than-expected expansion side showing up in a big way for the season opener. Maybe a little of both? Strikers were outshot by VUFC and only managed two shots on target. Gotta be better, but a point is better than no points.

3 LA Force

Force took it to Bay Cities in a big way and has to be disappointed to not get three points. Credit to BCFC for keeping LA from scoring, but Force were clearly the better team in that Week 1 matchup. Samuel Villava was the primary scoring threat, putting 3 shots on frame in the match. LAF was hunting in packs in the match, just couldn’t seem to connect. They’ll have Week 2 off to figure out the solution, heading into their USOC match with Orange County SC.

2 Maryland Bobcats FC

Bobcats keeper Felix Annan goes up to fist a ball away. Photo credit: @raysoldano

We went into Week 1 hoping to figure out which of the top 2 would win the weekend and we got a draw. Needless to say, Maryland heads home, happy with a hard-won point. The reality was that CFC probably should have won that match, coming short on some big chances, but Maryland wasn’t outclassed and earned the draw. Playing on the road may have contributed some to the gap between the two sides, so their Week 2 matchup with Flower City Union at home should give us a fresh look at the Bobcats. Second best ain’t so bad.

1 Chattanooga FC

Chattanooga showed themselves to be vastly improved coming into Week 1, with new additions to the club playing big roles in its draw with Maryland. Former Chicago House midfielder Ian Cerro scored the only goal for the homeside, but Bret Jones may have the play of the day, putting the ball off the woodwork after a spectacular bit of footwork. What was clear from Week 1 is that Chattanooga is the best team in this league, but Maryland is a close second. Things may change as the season goes on, but these two sides will be battling for the top spot all season long. Week 1 to the homeside, CFC is tops in our Power Rankings.