Women’s Professional Soccer Update, Weekly Power Rankings

FC Gold Pride got off to a rough start this season, losing 2-0 in Saint Louis to another of the league’s title contenders. The way they lost, however, engendered questions. Their purported-to-be high-powered team was shut out, with Athletica looking clearly the better side.

Since, the Bay Area club has won three in a row - the young Womens Professional Soccer season’s first three match winning streak. The last notch on that belt was Saturday’s 1-0 win at Sky Blue FC, the defending league champions.

It was the second time this season FCGP had downed the New Jersey-based club, having beaten them two weeks earlier in Castro Valley. That match, a surprising 3-1 result in favor of last season’s bottom-dwellers, confirmed suspicions Albertín Montoya’s team would be dangerous. With their first win on the road - against quality opposition - Saturday’s win in New Jersey affirmed belief that they could contend.

Christine Sinclair’s third goal of the season was the match’s only tally, an impressively executed set piece, with the Canadian international having Carrie Dew’s knock-down header and Camile Abily’s set piece service to thank for the goal.

Still, the most impressive part of Gold Pride’s day was the defense, keeping their first clean sheet of the season.

Gold Pride’s biggest question coming into the season was defending. With Sinclair, Abily, MAC Hermann Trophy winner Kelley O’Hara and FIFA World Player of the Year Marta, it was assumed the Pride would score goals. Their defense, however, lacked the names or the track record, having finished last season with the second highest total of goals allowed.

But on Saturday, FCGP held Sky Blue in check, and although Sky Blue has issues scoring goals (three in four matches), this is was marque match-up against an immensely talented team, and Gold Pride kept a clean sheet.

Their reward: Sole possession of first place, with nine points through four matches, thanks to their 1-0 win in New Jersey over Sky Blue.

Philadelphia Independence 1, Atlanta Beat 0 - Like Gold Pride, Philadelphia executed a set piece perfectly - almost the exact same play. Hólmfríður Magnúsdóttir’s service was knocked out in the box by Allison Falk for the oncoming Lori Lindsey, the Player of the Month for April finishing for the match’s only goal.

Beyond being the season’s best player, Lindsey has also been WPS’s best story. Left exposed by the Washington Freedom in last fall’s expansion draft, the midfielder was selected by Philadelphia with their first pick. Shortly there after, Lindsey started to assert herself in the women’s national team, using this winter’s Algarve Cup as a coming-out-party of sorts. She concluded April with a record-setting three assist performance against her former team and started May with a match winning goal.

Four matches into their club’s history, the Independence are undefeated, their eight points putting them in second place. A defense that looked solid at the season’s onset has been stellar, allowing a league-low two goals - one to each of Boston and Washington.

How strong Paul Riley’s time is, however, is still to be determined, as they’ve played Atlanta twice, a team that is now the only WPS team yet to win a match. Gareth O’Sullivan’s team has been hard done by a four match road trip to open the season, and they lost number one overall pick Tobin Heath in week three to an ankle injury. But O’Sullivan wanted a win before going home. As is, they will open their new stadium next week having garnered one point from three matches.

Boston Breakers 0, Chicago Red Stars 2 - Chicago was the other winless team coming onto match day four, and they were expected to remain so after visiting the Breakers at Harvard. Boston had been arguably the league’s best team through three weeks, while Chicago had played hard but not well.

On Saturday, Chicago played well, getting goals from rookie Casey Nogueira (in her ever start) and Cristiane to notch their first win of the season.

This result was less surprise than “finally.” Chicago had played hard in their first three matches, but poor finishing combined with bad luck had kept them with one point in three matches. With their win in Boston, they still sit in seventh (next to last) place, but their even goal differential speaks to a team of higher quality.

Perhaps inserting Nogueira into the starting lineup will give them the edge they need to convert those near-misses into results. Possessing the best ball skills in the league short of Marta, Nogueira can be a game-breaking player. Only four matches into her professional career, Nogueira needs to accumulate experience as well as earn the trust of her team. However, with Emma Hayes willing to give her an important start on Saturday in Boston, Nogueira appears on her way to winning over the Red Stars.

Washington Freedom 3, Saint Louis Athletica 1 - We knew Washington had this kind of performance in them, but against Saint Louis, this was an eye-catching result.

One week after a disappointing 3-1 loss to Philadelphia, Washington hosted one of the league’s preseason favorites - the team that had the best defensive record in the league last season. Though Washington had the league’s most prolific attack in 2009, the Athletica looked the better side coming into their match at RFK.

In front of a league season-high crowd of 8,261, Washington got their season on track, with playmaker Sonia Bompastor, who had been inexplicably relegated to the back line in Washington’s three preceding matches, tallying a goal and an assist in the Freedom’s 3-1 victory. Eniola Aluko had Saint Louis’s goal while midfielder Homare Sawa and attacker Lene Mykjaland had goals for the Freedom.

As much as any match this weekend, this result overturned what we thought was the power structure in the WPS. Saint Louis, largely through their Gold Pride win and strong performance against Boston, looked an elite squad, but Washington routed them. The Freedom had just been dropped by Philadelphia, so where do we stand?

That’s what rankings are for.

In a quest to avoid getting into a battle of power against other Power Rankings, here is SBNation’s Womens Professional Soccer Club Order of Relative Potential: CORP.

The ratings themselves: Highly scientific, complicated, proprietary, and might not actually be real. Sorry.

1. FC Gold Pride - Win in New Jersey established their primacy, even if Gold Pride’s six goals in four matches is slightly below expectations. CORP Rating: +1.71

2. Philadelphia Independence - It’s natural to be skeptical of the neophytes, but until they allow more than two goals per fourth matches, we’re going to have to consider the possibility Philadelphia’s better than we thought. CORP Rating: +0.48

3. Saint Louis Athletica - Derailed at RFK, but ultimately a road lost against playoff-caliber opposition. CORP Rating: +0.16

4. Washington Freedom - Just notched the most impressive victory of the season one week after the most surprising loss. CORP Rating: -0.04

5. Chicago Red Stars - Seventh in the league but after the weekend’s result, in the middle of the pack as far as next week’s potential. CORP Rating: -0.31

6. Boston Breakers - Unexpectedly poor result, the first time this season a team has lost by two goals at home. Now winless in three. CORP Rating: -0.49

7. Sky Blue FC - Two close wins over Chicago look better after what happened at Harvard, but they fail the eye test. The defending champions have not looked good. CORP Rating: -1.08

8. Atlanta Beat - Good efforts and close calls, but not results and have failed to give us a glimpse of why they should be above eight. CORP Rating: -1.86

Washington vs. Boston

Saint Louis vs. Philadelphia

FC Gold Pride vs. Chicago

Atlanta vs. Sky Blue