The regular season is in the books. All nine teams in the division have played their matches and we fared quite well. We finished second with an impressive 19 points. Often, that is enough points to win it all, but not this season. One team, FC Arlington, accomplished an undefeated season. Given the number of weeks, travel schedules, competition, etc, that's quite a feat.
We had 6 wins and a tie, same as DC Divided. But since we scored a league-leading 31 goals, with a differential of 2.1, we earn the 2nd spot and, therefore, the 2nd seed in the playoffs. All of that discipline during the season - the continued pressure on goal and the concentration - paid off. Note: FC Benchwarmers in the Premier Division was the other team to score 31 goals. They scored 2 goals in their last game, while we scored only one, so it's a tie in that category. Their goal differential (2.4) is slightly higher, having given up 12 goals to our 14.
More on the last game, and our playoff schedule, in future posts. I wanted to make sure to get this table posted because they clear it for the playoff bracket.
Let's look quickly at the other divisions too. The standings are mostly clear. Only two games are unreported. In terms of promotion/relegation, some things are already clear. FC Arlington will have the option of promotion to 2nd division, regardless of how they do in the playoffs. The other spot is open to the winner of the playoffs, but if that's FC Arlington too, the spot would go to us as the 2nd place finisher. Promotion is not guaranteed. From the 2nd division, we will see DC Thunder and Prism get relegated.
Wow, four teams with 30 or 31 goals.
ReplyDeleteAnd wow again, I didn't know we only beat DC Div by one goal in the goal diff category to take 2nd
Yeah, a ton of goals this season. We were actually disadvantaged in the race, because we took a forfeit win (3-0) versus one of the teams that gave up the most goals. Far Post beat Two Left Feet 8-0 I think.
ReplyDeleteAccording to DC Divided's captain, they actually scored an additional goal in their second to last match, but the ref didn't allow it, thinking it was side netting. I didn't do the math. I wonder if that would have made them tie us - going to the third tie-breaker then - or whether they would have edged their GD above us.