Tagged: Sacramento Gold
NPSL Expansion: SO Samba FC
The NPSL may soon see its first Pacific Northwest member as SO Samba FC of Hood River, OR announces intentions to join the league for the 2014 season. Coached by former Corinthian member Thiago Samba, the club will looks to establish a ‘Brazilian’ identity by bringing in players from Brazil. The club hopes to establish itself as a player ‘incubator’ and is working with a local community college to help provide education opportunities for its players.
The club has hosted initial tryouts and has begun recruiting players with the goal of holding a series of friendly matches prior to joining the NPSL next season.
As the only club NPSL club in the Pacific Northwest, Samba FC would be forced to join the existing Golden Gate division of the West Region, a prospect which would mean a lot of travel for the first year club. The Sacramento Gold are almost a 10 hour drive from Hood River, and the other Bay Area and San Jose clubs are even further.
Commissioner Michael Hitchcock has expressed interest in expanding into the Pacific Northwest, but has indicated that such expansions could be contingent on finding enough clubs to make up a new conference due to travel concerns. What that means for SO Samba FC’s 2014 aspirations, only time will tell.
Weekend in Review 5/5
Brooklyn Italians 4 @ Rhode Island Reds FC 3 (NE Atlantic Flight): The Brooklyn Italians outscored the Rhode Island Reds in a high scoring and somewhat controversial thriller. The Reds showed dramatic improvement over last season, and could have stolen three points if it weren’t for giving up two goals off of penalty kicks. Despite the match drama, Rhode Island can feel good about playing the Italians so close and should feel confident that they have a team that can compete this year. Brooklyn can feel good about the three points, but will need to clean up their play if they want to separate themselves from the rest of the Atlantic Flight.
Miami United SC 3 @ Cape Coral Hurricanes 0 (S Sunshine Flight): Miami United SC took the lead in the Everglades Cup with a sound 3-0 win in the opening match of NPSL Sunshine Flight play. Miami now leads the four game series with 7 points to the Hurricanes 1. Miami scored the initial goal just two minutes in on a perfect through ball which Matthias Carizo easily punched pass the keeper. Miami added a second in the 31′ when Mario Gomez headed in a well placed corner. Cape Coral had a couple quality chances of their own, with Cody Antonini hitting the woodwork but the crossbar was as close as they were to get. R. Caciedo sealed the match with a third goal in the 55′. Each side picked up one yellow a piece.
Las Vegas Stallions 3 @ Orange County Pateadores 0 (W Southern Flight): Orange County Pateadores was forced to forfeit the match when a last minute agreement on a match time change could not be reached. This is the first loss for the Pateadores and the first win for Las Vegas.
FC Santa Clarita Storm 1 @ San Diego Boca 1 (W Southern Flight): Santa Clarita managed to extend their unbeaten streak to four straight games, while San Diego Boca will be glad to pick up a point and avoid another tick in the loss column. San Diego Boca brought a lot of pressure against the Storm and it seems to have paid off as they limited Santa Clarita to a single goal - the first time a team has been able to do that since OC Pateadores 2-0 victory. Santa Clarita’s lone goal came as the Boca keeper mishandled the ball and forward Andres Beun0 headed it in. Interestingly, the two clubs have played to a draw 5 times in the last three seasons.
Sonoma County Sol 2 @ Sacramento Gold 2 (W Northern Flight): Sacramento seemed to have the game safely in hand with a 2-1 lead and a man advantage as the clock ran down - until a masterful strike by Sol player Justin Ferriera from 25 yards out found its way home with only thirty seconds left in the match. Red cards and late game heroics seem to have become a story line in the Northern Flight, and with the draw the Sol managed to maintain a 1 point lead over the Gold in the standings.
CD Aguiluchos USA 1 @ Real San Jose 1 (W Northern Flight): After a scoreless first half, both teams found the back of the net once each as the match ended in a 1-1 draw. CD Aguiluchos will be happy to pick up another point, while the draw is a set back in San Jose’s attempt to chase down Sonoma and Sacramento. Forward Jorge Ruiz had the goal for the Aguiluchos while it was Jesse Kehoe who scored for Real San Jose.
Houston Dutch Lions 1 (PDL) v Houston Hurricanes 1 (Friendly): The Houston Hurricanes played the Houston Dutch Lions of the PDL to a 1-1 draw last week. The Lions won the possession battle solidly for the first 65 minutes of the match, but some fresh legs in the last 20 minutes of the match changed the tempo of the game and the Hurricanes broke through in the 88′ to score the equalizer. You can check out a video of the match highlights here.
Regals SCA 2 v Houston Dutch Lions 6 (PDL) (Friendly): Unlike their flight rivals, Regals SCA did not fair so well against the Dutch Lions. Despite scoring two goals, the Regals defense could not fend off the repeated Lions attacks and allowed 6 goals by the time the final whistle blew. If these two matches against a common opponent are any indication, Regals SCA will need to find a way to tighten up the defense before they open league play.
NPSL Match Predictions 5/3
Credit: Rhode Island Reds FC
Brooklyn Italians @ Rhode Island Reds FC (NE Atlantic Flight): The storied Brooklyn Italians will travel north to Providence to open the season against sophomore club Rhode Island Reds FC. Brooklyn is a flight contender every year, and there is no reason to think this season will be any different. Rhode Island finished respectably in the middle of the table for their first season and saw twin brothers Paulo and Pedro Mendes sign contracts with the Atlanta Silverbacks of NASL - with Pedro even being named NASL Player of the Week after a 2 goal performance led the Silverbacks to a victory over the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. The Reds lost a US Open Cup qualifying match to Mass Premier Soccer Men’s Open team 1-0 earlier this year. Without many pre-season results to draw from, I predict Brooklyn wins 2-1.
Miami United SC @ Cape Coral Hurricanes (S Sunshine Flight): Miami United will travel to Cape Coral for the 3rd leg of the Everglades Cup and the opening match of Sunshine Flight play. After a blowout in the first leg Cape Coral managed a well played draw last weekend in the 2nd leg with a boost from signings just heading home from college. It’s always tough to play the same team so many times, and I give a slight edge to Miami as the home side - Miami 2-1, though I wouldn’t be surprised if that scoreline ended the other way around.
Las Vegas Stallions @ Orange County Pateadores (W Southern Flight): A languishing Stallions side will travel to Orange County to face a superior foe in Pateadores. The best Las Vegas can hope for is to garnish a point from a draw, but if past scorelines are any indication this match is tilted heavily in favor of the Pats. OC Pateadores win by a wide margin, 5-0.
FC Santa Clarita Storm @ San Diego Boca (W Southern Flight): Santa Clarita will look to continue their winning ways with a fourth in a row since a season opening loss to OC Pateadores. San Diego Boca has no wins and only 1 point so far from a tie with the Las Vegas Stallions. Santa Clarita wins 3-2.
Sonoma County Sol @ Sacramento Gold (W Northern Flight): Sonoma County will travel to Sacramento for a match with serious implications for the flight title race. These teams have traded wallopings this season, and there is a good chance this match could be another entertaining and high scoring affair. I think the Gold edge this one, 3-2.
CD Aguiluchos USA @ Real San Jose (W Northern Flight): After a great start, Real San Jose has had some unfortunate luck and finds themselves in a must win situation if they want to make a flight title run. Aguiluchos continue to struggle, scoring only 5 goals so far this season. The teams have met once already this season with San Jose winning 2-0. I expect a similar result for this match.
Georgia Revolution @ Colorado Rovers (USSSA): Georgia will travel to Denver to face the Colorado Rovers of the USSSA in a US Open Cup play-in game. The travel and altitude will certainly be factors in this match, but the Revolution proved last year they could hang with tough competition after a close 1-0 loss to NASL club Atlanta Silverbacks.
San Francisco Stompers v San Ramon Soccer: San Francisco has a bye week in NPSL play but will play a friendly against San Ramon Soccer. San Francisco is winless in league play, and a win in this friendly could be the confidence booster the club needs to take the next step.
Regals SCA v Houston Dutch Lions (PDL): The Houston Dutch Lions played the Houston Hurricanes to a 1-1 draw last week, and this week will take on Regals SCA in a friendly.
NPSL Draw & Preview for US Open Cup
The 100th edition of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup will feature 8 NPSL clubs: Georgia Revolution and FC Hasental will each feature in a play in match while FC Lehigh Valley United Sonic, Brooklyn Italians, Chattanooga FC, New York Red Bulls U23′s, Madison 56ers, and Sacramento Gold will enter in the 1st round. Here is the draw:
Georgia Revolution @ Colorado Rovers (USSSA): Georgia Revolution qualify for their second consecutive tournament and will be forced to travel to Colorado for a play in match to decide who will face the Real Colorado Foxes (PDL) in the first round. Last year the Revolution knocked off PDL club Mississippi Brilla 1-0 in the first round before falling to the Atlanta Silverback’s of the NASL 0-1 in a closely contested match. The Rovers have the distinction of being the first United States Specialty Sports Association club to enter the Open Cup after winning a 16 team play-in tournament.
FC Hasental @ Fresno Fire Future (US Club Soccer): FC Hasental feature in their first Open Cup after winning the NPSL West Region qualifying tournament this spring. Fresno Fire Future, according to TheCup.us are the US Club Soccer side of the better known PDL Fresno Fire. The winner of the play in match will travel to play Ventura County Fusion (PDL) who advanced to the third round last year after defeating NPSL’s Fullerton Rangers (now OC Pateadores) and USL Pro side LA Blues in the first and second rounds respectively before falling 1-0 to Chivas USA.
FC Lehigh Valley United Sonic @ Reading United AC (PDL): FC LVU Sonic enters the competition for a second consecutive time, only this year with the distinction of being the reigning NPSL champion. FC Sonic will hope to improve on last year’s first round loss to the Long Island Rough Riders of the PDL. Reading United are entering the competition for a 5th consecutive time. Last year they defeated NY Greek American Atlas before losing 2-1 to the Charleston Battery (USL Pro).
Icon FC (USASA) @ Brooklyn Italians: Two time Open Cup champions Brooklyn Italians will host first time entrants Icon FC of New Jersey. Last year Brooklyn defeated MPS Portland Phoenix (PDL) 3-2 in the first round before losing 0-3 to the Rochester Rhino’s (USL Pro) in the second round. Brooklyn is the only NPSL club to be hosting in the first round draw, a fact which seems suspicious in light of US Soccer’s announcement that all draws would be decided by coin toss. Statistically, this is highly unlikely. Assuming a fair coin and a total of 8 coin flips, the probability of occurrence for flipping 7 heads and 1 tails is as follows:
In other words, at approximately 3.125% this occurrence is not very likely.
Chattanooga FC @ Carolina Dynamo: Chattanooga FC return to the Cup after missing out on the 2012 addition. Chattanooga has seen great success at the NPSL level and has arguably the best (and certainly the largest) supporters of any amateur club in the country. Carolina Dynamo lost in the PDL championship to Forest City London 2-1 last year but also lost to the Agean Hawks 3-1 in last year’s Open Cup. This match-up has the potential to be one of the round’s most exciting.
New York Red Bulls U23′s @ Ocean City Nor’easters (PDL): The Red Bulls U23′s are in the tournament for the first time after a great NPSL performance last year. They will face an Ocean City club with past Open cup experience, though not since 2009. This will be another interesting match that will pit the NPSL against the PDL with implications being drawn on the quality of each league.
Madison 56ers @ Des Moines Menace (PDL): The 56ers will travel to Des Moines hoping for a different result than fellow Wisconsin NPSL club Milwaukee Bavarians achieved last year (a 3-1 loss). Both these teams boast long club histories, and neither are newcomers to the Open Cup competition. The Menace always put together a quality event, and the 56ers will not want to disappoint.
Sacramento Gold @ Portland Timbers U23′s (PDL): Sacramento enters the Cup for the first time as the other NPSL West Region tournament qualifier. They blitzed opponents by a combined margin of 10-1 and will hope that success carries over against a tough Portland team. Portland is famous for its supporter culture, and playing this match at JELD-WEN Field is sure to be a boost to the home side who will be anxious to do better than their 3-1 defeat last year at the hands of USASA’s PSA Elite.
With the exception of the Georgia Revolution v Colorado Rovers play-in match, the first round draw features some great regional cross league matches that can hopefully turn into budding regional rivalries. And despite the suspicious number of away venue draws for NPSL clubs, this years tournament is a great opportunity for the league to give a good account of itself and raise the stature of its quality in the eyes of the US soccer community. For more Open Cup information and a complete first round preview check out TheCup.us.
*Many of the statistics draw from TheCup.us and I would be remiss not to credit Josh Hakala (@joshhakala) in any piece about the US Open Cup.
Weekend in Review 4/28
San Diego Boca 0 @ OC Pateadores 8 (Southern Flight): Boca suffered a humiliating 8-0 route at the hands of Pateadores, and their woes continued off field as it is reported that Yan Skwara has stepped aside as President leaving head coach Karim Ben Mazuk with additional responsibilities. Scoring opened in the twenty-second minute and continued throughout the match as Pateadores narrowed the goal differential previously separating the from FC Hasental at the top of the table. With the victory and the weekend loss by Hasental, OC Pateadores take sole possession of first place in the flight while Boca maintain their place at the bottom along side the Las Vegas Stallions.
Sacramento Gold 3 @ San Francisco Stompers 1 (Norther Flight): For the first forty-two minutes things were going well for the Stomper’s home opener at Boxer Stadium. One minute later Sacramento were awarded a penalty, but San Francisco’s David Varela stepped up and made the save to keep things scoreless entering the break. Entering the second half San Francisco seemed unable to regroup and quickly conceded the first goal in the forty-eighth. The Stompers responded with a goal of their own ten minutes later to level at one all. The game appeared to be headed for a draw when San Francisco’s Liam Whelan was sent off in the ninety-first leaving the Stompers to finish out the match with ten men. Sacramento pressed their man advantage and managed two goals in stoppage time to secure the victory. Much better showing by San Francisco this week, but they have to secure that point with only minutes left in the game. The three points puts Sacramento in good stead heading into a bye week, but they should not feel content at how they got them. For a more in depth match report check out SoccerNation.com.
FC Santa Clarita Storm
FC Hasental 1 @ FC Santa Clarita Storm 2 (Southern Flight): Santa Clarita continues to surprise and this week downs FC Hasental to jump into second place in the Southern Flight only one point behind undefeated OC Pateadores. The Storm notched the first goal in fourteenth minute taking advantage of Hasental’s poor defending. They started the second half the same way and made it 2-0 in the forty-seventh. It looked as though Santa Clarita might shut out the prolific Hasental offense, but a bad challenge in the box awarded Hasental the penalty which was easily converted. This is an important victory for Santa Clarita as they try and gain some separation from the rest of the flight, and it highlights the defensive cracks Hasental has shown - and will need to fix if they want to seriously challenge Pateadores.
San Diego Flash 5 @ Las Vegas Stallions 0 (Southern Flight): The spark finally came in the twenty-seventh minute and the Flash offense exploded with three goals in four minutes to go up 3-0 before halftime. The Flash continued to dominate possession and added two more in the fiftieth and seventy-second minutes to put the game out of reach. The Flash remain in fourth place in the flight, but the win brings them within one point of third place Hasental. Las Vegas continued to struggle and remain at the bottom of the table.
CD Aguiluchos USA 1 @ Sonoma County Sol 3: Aguiluchos scored first in the seventeenth, but conceded a penalty a minute later to hand the equalizer to the Sol. With the momentum from the goal Sonoma County tallied another less than two minutes later to go ahead 2-1. The nail in the coffin came in the sixty-seventh on a through ball to Tyler Hurst who blasted a shot into the roof of the goal. With the win Sonoma County lead the Northern Flight with ten points. Sacramento Gold are second (9) followed by Real San Jose (7), CD Aguiluchos USA (3) and San Francisco Stompers (0).
Miami United 2 @ Cape Coral Hurricanes 2: In Sunshine Flight action Miami United traveled to Cape Coral to take on the Hurricanes for the second leg of the Everglades Cup. The first leg saw Miami score almost at will and take the match 6-0. This time, the Hurricanes were ready and scored just ten minutes in to take the lead 1-0. Cape Coral added a second just eleven minutes later in the twenty-first to go up 2-0. Miami continued to pressure and scored with thirty seconds left in the first half to bring the score to 2-1 heading into halftime. Cape Coral stayed strong most of the second half but again gave up a critical goal in stoppage time to end the match in a 2-2 draw. Miami United leads the 4 leg Everglade Cup series 4 points to Cape Coral’s 1.
Junior Lone Star v Hosa FC: Junior Lone Star FC traveled to North Carolina for a two match series against Hosa FC. Lone Star continued a solid pre-season performance posting a 2-0 win in the first leg and a 2-1 win in the second leg.
OK City FC (PDL) v LFC Warriors: The Liverpool Warriors faced Oklahoma City FC of the PDL in a pre-season tune up match. It was a high scoring affair for both sides and ended in 4-4 draw.
NPSL Match Predictions
Alongside of the weekly ‘Weekend in Review’ column posted on Mondays, I am adding a weekly match prediction column to be posted each Friday ahead of the weekend games.
Sacramento Gold @ San Francisco Stompers (Northern Flight): After three consecutive road losses the Stompers will host the Gold in their home opener at Boxer Stadium. The Stompers have struggled at both ends of the pitch this season, scoring only three goals while allowing twelve. Last weeks two goal performance against Sonoma County Sol was a marked improvement, and if they can repeat it - without the giving up the soft goals - they stand a chance of at least drawing a strong Sacramento side that is coming off of back to back wins against table leader Real San Jose and league newcomer CD Aguiluchos USA. My prediction for this match is a 3-0 win for Sacramento.
FC Hasental @ FC Santa Clarita (Southern Flight): Santa Clarita enters the game with momentum from a quality road victory over the San Diego Flash last week that puts them within one point of table leaders Hasental and OC Pateadores. Hasental and Pateadores played to a grueling 2-2 draw last weekend that saw Pateadores score the go ahead goal late into the second half while playing down man only to have Hasental equalize in stoppage time. Neither has defense has been spectacular over the first three games, though both have been sufficient. I anticipate another high scoreline with FC Hasental winning 4-2.
San Diego Flash @ Las Vegas Stallions (Southern Flight): San Diego will be looking to climb the table with a victory over the winless Stallions, who will be looking to build on the point gleaned from a 0-0 draw against San Diego Boca last week. The Flash have so far under performed this season after losing several key players from last years squad, but I expect they will handle Las Vegas without too many problems. Final score 2-0.
CD Aguiluchos USA @ Sonoma County Sol (Northern Flight): The enigmatic and unpredictable Aguiluchos travel to Sonoma County to take on a strong Sol side. Aguiluchos have struggled to score with all four of their goals coming in the lone victory over San Francisco - a trend I expect to continue against the Sol. Always strong at home, I predict a 3-1 win for the Sol.
San Diego Boca FC @ OC Pateadores: OC Pateadores has made the most of a re-branding effort and undefeated after three regular season matches. Boca are at the other end of the spectrum, winless still after a 0-0 draw with Las Vegas. The Pateadores defense has been stifling, and they nearly emerged with a victory last week over the highly touted FC Hasental offense - playing a portion of the match with only 10 men. San Diego will struggle to penetrate Pateadores defense, I predict a 2-0 win for the Pats.
Miami United @ Cape Coral Hurricanes (Sunshine Flight): This will be the second leg of the Everglades Cup as well as the final match of the pre-season for these two clubs. The first leg saw Miami cruise to a 6-0 shutout over Cape Coral. Miami may very well be the most underestimated side in the NPSL this season as they have quietly assembled a professional squad. I anticipate this leg will yield a similar result, as Cape Coral have struggled to score all against NPSL competition having also been defeated by a 2-0 margin by the Tampa Marauders on two occasions this pre-season. Prediction: 5-0 in favor of Miami United.
Junior Lone Star FC @ Hosa FC (Non-league pre-season friendly): Junior Lone Star continue their full pre-season line up by travelling to North Carolina for a 2 game series against Hosa FC. Lone Star have posted some good results so far this pre-season and will hope to solidify a starting 11 this weekend.
NPSL Weekend in Review 4/21
Regular season action continued in the West Regions while several South and Northeast Region clubs continue to finalize rosters and hold pre-season friendlies in anticipation of their May start.
The Sunshine Flight (South Region) saw the second leg of the Gulf Coast Cup as hosts Tampa Marauders defeated the Cape Coral Hurricanes by the same 2 - 0 margin as the first leg. Cape Coral has now been held scoreless in three consecutive matches versus NPSL opponents (vs. Tampa 2-0, 2-0, and vs. Miami United 6-0).
Tampa Marauders vs. Cape Coral Hurricanes [photo credit: Cape Coral Hurricanes]
The West Region slate was full and the action intense as every match ended with only a goal difference or less. In the Southern Flight the Santa Clarita Storm soured the home opener of San Diego Flash and leapfrogged them in the standings to claim sole possession of third place. The West region also saw a battle of the undefeated as FC Hasental hosted OC Pateadores in a thrilling 2 - 2 draw. OC Pateadores proved their mettle by going ahead 2 - 1 late in the game and playing with only 10 men, but the high octane Hasental offense wasn’t to be held to one goal and scored the equalizer deep into stoppage time to salvage the draw. The teams remain tied atop the Flight, though Hasental leads in goal differential by a significant margin. At the other end of the table the Las Vegas Stallions notched their first league point holding visitors San Diego Boca FC to a scoreless draw. After a blowout in their opening match the Stallions have have progressively improved, though the point is also the first for a SD Boca side that has a long way to go to live up to pre-season expectations.
In the Northern Flight (Golden Gate Conference) table leaders Real San Jose suffered their first loss away at Sacramento Gold in a hotly contested match which is being protested by Real San Jose. Blood was drawn after a reckless Sacramento challenge only minutes into the match, which set the stage for the rest of the game. With the win, Sacramento creeps into third place only one point behind Real San Jose and Sonoma County with a game in hand over San Jose. Rounding out the Golden Gate action the Sonoma County Sol hosted the San Francisco Stompers. Having been outscored in their first two matches 9-1, San Francisco had significant work to do on both ends of the field to come away with a victory. The Stompers did well until the 44th minute when Sonoma tallied their first to take a 1 - 0 lead into halftime. San Francisco returned from the break and equalized early in the 50th minute only to to give up an own goal and a penalty kick within the next five minutes to give Sonoma a 3-1 lead. San Francisco kept pressing and pulled one goal back in the 82nd, but couldn’t get any closer as the match finished with a final score of San Francisco 2 Sonoma County 3.
Back on the East Coast, Junior Lone Star FC played friendlies away at Mid-Atlantic expansion club Chesterfield United and to aspiring NPSL club Electric City in Scranton, PA. Junior Lone Star scored the only goal of the match vs. Chesterfield in the 15th minute and held off several quality attacks and a penalty kick to seal the victory 1 - 0. The match versus Electric City proved a bit more exciting with a flurry of second half action. Lone Star took the lead just before the break in the 44th minute. Electric City came back from half time and equalized, only to go down again after another Lone Star goal. JLSFC’s lead was short lived however as Electric City capitalized on a poorly handled back pass to make it a 2 - 2 game. Lone Star was finished, and scored the final goal of the match in the 85th minute to clinch the game 3 - 2.
Junior Lone Star returns to pre-season action next weekend with a pair of friendlies against Hosa FC before they travel to Greater Binghamton FC on May 11th for their season opener.
In other news around the league:
- Mark Lavery of the Georgia Revolution signed a professional contract with the Atlanta Silverbacks of the NASL.
- Daniel Casey has a new NPSL Weekly column at Soccer Newsday.
- Jersey City Eagles have relocated and re-branded as the Clarkstown SC Eagles. Click the link for the full story published last week.
NPSL West Region - Golden Gate Conference Preview
The Northern Division (nicknamed the Golden Gate Conference) of the NPSL West Region started regular season play this weekend after several weeks of US Open Cup Qualifying. While making pre and early season predictions is often nothing better than rolling dice, here is a brief look at each club and where we might expect them to finish based on last years results and the first few matches played this year.
1. Sonoma County Sol: 2012 PR = 1.605, 2013 PR (to date) = 1.221
Having finished on *top (actually second behind Bay Area Ambassadors - see note below) of the division last season with an outstanding +12 goal differential over 6 games gives the Sol the nod for my division pre-season #1. So far the Sol have started out OK, avenging a 1-5 Open Cup qualifying loss to Sacramento with a 4-1 victory to open the regular season this weekend. Right now the gap between the top two in the division is too close to call, leaning in favor of the Sol based on last seasons merits. But based on the early season results so far Sonoma had better find some consistency if they want to take home the division title.
2. Sacramento Gold: 2012 PR = .978, 2013 PR (to date) = 1.437
With the exception of the loss to Sonoma County, Sacramento has started the season strong. Unfortunately, if they want to challenge Sonoma for the title they will have to find a way to repeat their Open Cup heroics during the regular season. This Sacramento team is much improved over last season and they have pieces in place to challenge Sonoma for the title. If Sacramento can forget the last game and get back to pre-season form I wouldn’t hesitate to give them the #1 ranking.
3. Real San Jose: 2012 PR = .866, 2013 PR (to date) = 1.0o0
Real San Jose finished 2012 nipping at the heals of Sacramento. They finished with 1 less loss than the Gold but also managed only 1 win (to Sacramento’s 2). The three draws showed they are a scrappy team, but the power rankings punish draws as much as reward them. Aside from a 0-2 Open Cup qualifying loss to Sacramento, San Jose claimed a 2-0 victory over league newcomers CD Aguiluchos USA. Real San Jose seems to have returned a scrappy team this season, and if they can find a few more goals and turn a couple draws into victories, I think they could compete for the division title.
4. San Francisco Stompers: 2012 PR = .483, 2013 PR (to date) = .285
San Francisco finished *bottom of the division table (actually 5th of out 6 teams, see note below) last season mostly due to the fact that they only managed to score 3 times over the course of the season while allowing 17 goals over the same 6 game span. The good news is that they scored 2 goals in their only match so far this season. The bad news is that the defense allowed 5 in that same match. The Stompers will need to find a way to plug the holes on defense if they want to have any chance of finishing in the top 3.
5. CD Aguiluchos USA: 2012 PR = N/A, 2013 PR (to date) = 0.001
CD Aguiluchos has made a bit of noise leading up to the start of the season for an experiment that is reminiscent of MLS club Chivas USA. It may be too early to fairly place them at the bottom of the table, but they have been held scoreless in two matches so far this season. Until we see something more from them, I have to place Aguiluchos at the bottom.
*NOTE: It should be noted that both the North Coast Tsunami and the Bay Area Ambassadors participated in the division for the 2012 season and finished 6th and 1st respectively. However because both teams are not fielding an NPSL team for the 2013 season I have ignored them in the above analysis.
