Of the last 5 regular season games, 4 are away games. The unbalanced schedule means there is ample time between all the games (except the last home game), but after a point that can be a negative. Hopefully the coach will be able to make things interesting for the team during the one long layoff. Here’s a brief look at how things shape up. July 5th, a Sunday, at 3pm, at the Freedom. Washington will have played a game just 4 days before that, while LA will have 8 days since their last game. The teams have played 2 games so far, both wins for the Sol with an aggregate score of 5-1, but both were home games. July 8th, a Wednesday, at noon, hosting the Athletica. St. Louis will be playing on 2 days rest, just like the Sol. LA has won 2 and tied 1 so far, with 2 having been away games. The Sol have scored 4 goals and given up 1. July 23rd, a Thursday, at 7pm, visiting FC Gold Pride. The Bay Area team will have just played Boston on the 19th, so they will be a bit tired, facing a Sol team coming off a 15-day break. LA has won all 3 games, 2 at home, by a total score of 5-0. August 2nd, a Sunday, at 3pm, traveling to Chicago. The Red Stars will have played the Freedom on the 26th, giving LA 3 more days of prep time. The Sol won both games against Chicago by a 5-1 margin, but they were home games. August 9th, a Sunday, at 3pm, to meet Boston at Harvard Stadium. The Breakers will be the 1st team to have more rest (albeit only a 1 day advantage), having faced the Athletica in St. Louis. The Sol will want to finish the regular season on a high before they sit out things until the championship game on the 19th. They also will want to show that they can defeat Boston, the only team to have out-scored LA. The 2 teams haven’t met since the 0-0 tie on May 10th, so maybe those results will not count for much. As noted by Star City Fan in this thread, the most points any of the other teams can get by the end of the season is 42 (Boston). So the Sol, with 3 wins, can clinch things no matter what others do. If any of those wins involve the Breakers or Athletica, 2 wins might do the trick.
Another way of seeing how far ahead the Sol is - if the Sol gets just 3 points out of the last 5 games, Boston would need to win 6 of their last 8 and tie one just to tie the Sol on points. St Louis would need to win 6 and tie both their remaining games.
Correction. The Sol did not win both games against Chicago. The first one was a 1-1 tie. But who's counting.
Mea culpa - I got ahead of myself when reading my notes on what had already happened as far as each team was concerned. That being said, the losses by the Freedom and Breakers are making it that much easier for LA to clinch first place early. Now if only Gold Pride can make it a trifecta by beating the Athletica (or even getting a tie...)
