We are now into the Home Stretch! And the Portland Thorns, for the second consecutive season, will start their playoff run at home, thanks to a big road win, and a couple other favorable results around the league. 4 teams claim biggest winner climbing 1 spot, while the biggest loser is FC Kansas City falling 2 after drawing Chicago at home.
COMPONENTS OF SFPI:
PERFORMANCE SCORE: 100% based on performance on the field made up of the following.
PPG Score: Total Points Per Game added to Points Per Game over Last Five with Last Five being given more weight. Single largest component of SFPI
Goal Difference Per Game: Total Goal Difference divided by games played
Home/Away Bonus: Bonus Points added for earning results (W/D) on the road, points subtracted for dropping results (D/L) at home. Accrues over entire season.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: Average Performance Score of all of a teams opponents to date. Accounts for road games by adding a percentage of a teams Home PPG to the performance score when faced on the road. Weighted at less than 100%
TOTAL SCORE: Performance Score is added to Strength of Schedule to form a teams Total Score. Teams are then ranked in order from highest to lowest.
(all times Pacific *In Playoff Position **Clinched Playoffs ***Clinched home game)
1 ***NORTH CAROLINA COURAGE (45pts 15W-6L-0D) SCORE: 10.6251 (-0.0067) PREV: 1 (NC) H1/L1
SCHEDULE: 8 (NC) REMAINING SCHEDULE: 5 (+1) OVERALL PACE: 51 (+1)
GAMES REMAINING: 3 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS AT #1: 4
LAST WEEK: W 1-0 vs Houston NEXT WEEK: at (7) Sky Blue Sun 9/24 3pm
2 ***PORTLAND THORNS (42pts 13W-5L-4D) SCORE: 10.0138 (+0.3915) PREV: 3 (+1) H2/L3
SCHEDULE: 10 (-1) REMAINING SCHEDULE: 2 (+3) OVERALL PACE: 46 (+1)
GAMES REMAINING: 2
LAST WEEK: W 1-0 at Boston NEXT WEEK: at (3) Orlando Sat 9/23 1230pm (Lifetime)
3 *ORLANDO PRIDE (36pts 10W-6L-6D) SCORE: 9.1995 (-0.7835) PREV: 2 (-1) H2/L3
SCHEDULE: 9 (+1) REMAINING SCHEDULE: 1 (NC) OVERALL PACE: 39 (-1)
GAMES REMAINING: 2
LAST WEEK: D 1-1 vs Seattle NEXT WEEK: vs (2) Portland Sat 9/23 1230pm (Lifetime)
4 *CHICAGO RED STARS (36pts 10W-6L-6D) SCORE: 7.4595 (+0.3185) PREV: 5 (+1)
SCHEDULE: 3 (NC) REMAINING SCHEDULE: 4 (-1) OVERALL PACE: 39 (-1)
GAMES REMAINING: 2
LAST WEEK: D 0-0 at Kansas City NEXT WEEK: at (8) Houston Sat 9/23 530pm
5 SEATTLE REIGN (31pts 8W-7L-7D) SCORE: 7.2334 (+0.4792) PREV: 6 (+1) H4/L7
SCHEDULE: 4 (+1) REMAINING SCHEDULE: 8 (-4) OVERALL PACE: 33 (-1)
GAMES REMAINING: 2
LAST WEEK: D 1-1 at Orlando NEXT WEEK: vs (6) Kansas City Sun 9/24 6pm
6 FC KANSAS CITY (22pts 7W-9L-6D) SCORE: 6.689 (-0.7616) PREV: 4 (-2) H4/L6
SCHEDULE: 6 (NC) REMAINING SCHEDULE: 7 (+1) OVERALL PACE: 29 (NC)
GAMES REMAINING 2
LAST WEEK: D 0-0 vs Chicago NEXT WEEK at (5) Seattle Sun 9/24 6pm
7 SKY BLUE FC (29pts 9W-11L-2D) SCORE: 5.2359 (-0.7621) PREV: 7 (NC) H6/L7
SCHEDULE: 5 (-1) REMAINING SCHEDULE: 6 (+3) OVERALL PACE: 31 (-2)
GAMES REMAINING: 2
LAST WEEK: L 2-1 vs Washington NEXT WEEK: vs (1) North Carolina Sun 9/24 3pm
8 HOUSTON DASH (23pts 7W-12L-2D) SCORE: 3.3722 (+0.143) PREV: 8 (NC) H8/L8
SCHEDULE: 7 (NC) REMAINING SCHEDULE: 3 (-1) OVERALL PACE: 26 (-1)
GAMES REMAINING: 3
LAST WEEK: L 1-0 vs North Carolina NEXT WEEK: vs (4) Chicago Sat 9/23 530pm
9 WASHINGTON SPIRIT (19pts 5W-13L-4D) SCORE: 3.01 (+1.0643) PREV: 10 (+1) H9/L10
SCHEDULE: 2 (-1) REMAINING SCHEDULE: 10 (NC) OVERALL PACE: 20 (+2)
GAMES REMAINING: 2
LAST WEEK: W 2-1 at Sky Blue NEXT WEEK: vs (10) Boston Sat 9/23 4pm
10 BOSTON BREAKERS (16pts 3W-12L-7D) SCORE: 1.3284 (-0.7304) PREV: 9 (-1) H9/L10
SCHEDULE: 1 (+1) REMAINING SCHEDULE: 9 (-2) OVERALL PACE: 17 (-1)
GAMES REMAINING: 2
LAST WEEK: L 1-0 vs Portland NEXT WEEK at (9) Washington Sat 9/23 4pm
THORNS ROOTING INTEREST:
Assuming a Thorns win, what games should we watch and how should we root?
Just like the Timbers, last week went very well for the Thorns. They needed Seattle, Chicago, and North Carolina to drop points. Seattle and Chicago did, allowing Portland to clinch a home semi-final. Although, neither dropped all 3 points.
Only one team matters at this point. North Carolina Courage, currently 2 points up on the Thorns, but with a game in hand.
North Carolina at Sky Blue: SKY BLUE
How would the table look? (Max Points Possible)
1 Portland 46 (49)
2 North Carolina 45 (51)
3-10 Who cares? None of them can catch either Portland or NC.
The long and the short of it is for Portland to catch North Carolina, the Thorns have to earn two more points in TWO games than The Courage do in THREE.
If Portland Gets 6 points (2W-0L-0D), North Carolina can not get more than 4 (1W-1L-1D)
If Portland gets 4 points (1W-0L-1D), North Carolina can not get more than 2 (0W-1L-2D)
If Portland gets 3 points (1W-1L-0D) North Carolina can not get more than 1 (0W-2L-1D)
If Portland gets 2 Points (0W-0L-2D) North Carolina can not get any (0W-3L-0D)
If Portland gets 0 or 1 point (0W-2L-0D or 0W-1L-1D) They can not catch North Carolina
Should the teams finish tied on points the first tie breaker is head to head, the teams split the season series both winning 1-0 at home.
The next tiebreaker is Goal Differential, which Portland Currently leads 15-13, and since the easiest scenario is for Portland to win both of their games while North Carolina has to lose at least one, it is likely that this is as far as they will go, and Portland will win, but let's run through them all.
Next is total goals (Portland leads 34-31).
Should they STILL be tied at that point the tiebreakers get interesting, starting with Away Record. The Courage currently have 18 road points (6W-4L-0D) while Portland has 15 (4W-4L-3D) Portland only has one more road game so the most they can get is 18 while North Carolina has 2 (Sky Blue and Houston) if the Courage earn even 1 point in those two matches Portland can not catch them on this tiebreaker.
This is followed by Road Goal Differential, then Road Goals Scored. (I have neither the time nor the inclination to find this out).
If after all this, the teams are STILL tied you repeat the process but only for home games.
Total points earned at home (Portland Leads 28-27, and both teams have one home game remaining).
Home Goal Differential.
Home Goals Scored.
Then finally coin toss.