It’s the rise of the West! Three of the top four spots are now Western Conference clubs, as Chattanooga struggles to get its footing. We’ll see what happens next week, for now, let’s get to the ranking.

10 AC Syracuse Pulse (SAME)

Look, we’re thrilled to see the Pulse actually take the field and play matches, that’s a step in the right direction. But a 1-0 loss to Strikers only solidified the continued strength of the West vs East and without much else to go on, we have to question how good the Pulse are or will be for the rest of the season. Here’s to better days!

9 Los Angeles Force (-1)

After two weeks in the 8 spot, LA drops a spot after a draw with Valley United. Force have to find a way to score and, given the defensive play of VUFC, that’s a hard thing to do. The reality is, this is a problem that the Force have had all season and they clearly miss some of the attacking threats of last season. Until they solve this problem, hard to see them making up the necessary ground to get back up top.

8 Albion San Diego (-2)

After a promising performance on April 10th, when they beat Force 3-1, Albion has lost two straight. First 3-0 against Valley (where a red card really hindered any chance of coming back) and then surprisingly 3-1 against Bay Cities. Albion needs to find ways to get Malango the ball, but they also need players to get into the box around the target forward. If it’s just hoofing it to #19, the defense collapses on him quickly, snuffing out chances. Albion has plenty of talent in attack, let’s see if it gets back on track in two weeks.

7 Flower City Union (+2)

Lukas Fernandes, who scored the game-winner against CFC.

Not even sure what to say. Literally no one saw this one coming. FCU heads to Finley and knocks out mighty CFC 1-0 on an 84th minute goal. Yeah, shocking. The question is, can this club continue to play solid defense and get the counter strike when the opportunity comes. A season this long demands consistency, so let’s see what we get from their upcoming matchup against West powerhouse California United Strikers.

6 Michigan Stars FC (+1)

After a win against Flower City Union, Stars were handed three points via the Pulse forfeit. Hard to get much credit for those six points. Last weekend, Michigan headed to Maryland to take on the Bobcats and got a hard-fought point from a 1-1 draw. That’s the gritty sort of performance we expect from this side and one that they can grab some more momentum heading into the another match (in two weeks) against Pulse. Every reason to assume that Stars could be top of the table in two weeks, depending on Maryland’s performances over the same time frame.

5 Chattanooga FC (-2)

Hard to understand how Chattanooga lost to Flower City Union. FCU had the hallmarks of an expansion side that struggled to match up against the better teams in the East (see Maryland’s 6-1 drubbing two weeks ago). Maybe CFC overlooked the club? Maybe it was a USOC hangover? Hard to say, but Rod Underwood needs to get this team back to their winning ways and quick. Way too much talent on this squad to accept a loss like that. Even worse, the loss came in front of a 3k+ crowd, the first of that size in a long time. Fans need to be rewarded with excellent performances.

To compound things, the team now faces Maryland Bobcats on the road. Maryland has played well all season and earned points in every match so far.

4 Bay Cities FC (+1)

The little team that could climbs another spot. Bay Cities jumped two spots last week (after a loss against Strikers), so it only makes sense that a strong performance against Albion earns the NISA expansion side another move upward. Bay Cities’ offense looks to be firing on all cylinders after consecutive weeks of scoring three goals against its opponents. Orendain now has three goals and two assists in the season and looks to be the center of the BCFC attack. The OrenTRAIN is rolling and Bay Cities is following his lead. This weekend they’ll face LA Force and have a chance to establish themselves against last year’s third place club.

3 Maryland Bobcats FC (-2)

After a less than impressive win over Flower City Union two weeks ago and a 1-1 draw with visiting Michigan Stars, is it time to worry in Maryland? Probably not, given the club’s ability to get points, even in tough matches. In fact, the Bobcats are unbeaten in league play this season, providing a consistency we haven’t seen out of the rest of the league. This week will be the club’s biggest challenge at home so far, with Chattanooga visiting Maryland for a rematch of the opening match of the season. This is definitely the match of the weekend and should set the mark for where both of these clubs are this season.

2 Valley United FC (Same)

After a disappointing 0-0 draw with LA Force, maybe Valley should be more heavily penalized, but that’s not how it worked out. Valley continues to be one of the toughest outs in the league, undefeated so far, and looking every bit as dangerous as the other front-runners. Valley is now on a three week hiatus till its next match, thanks to a Strikers’ postponement (due to USOC).

1 California United Strikers FC (+3)

Maybe we should have seen this coming, given the Strikers figuring out how to score goals again. CUSFC is scoring goals and looking solid elsewhere, leading us to believe they are, in fact, the real deal. Tony Lopez looks every bit the compliment to the excellent form of Omar Nuño (noon-yo). When Strikers are dangerous on offense, the rest of NISA better look out, because they can score. Tonight Strikers will take on FCU, which will be another chance for the Rochester club to take down a front-runner. We shall see if Strikers allow that.