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Published on 05/23/2006 10:38 pm (Last Updated 05/24/2006 12:39 pm)

Rochester Top Inagural BSS Power Rankings

By Jesse

The Raging Rhinos nearly pulled off a three game, five day sweep of the Pacific Northwest this past week to maintain the top spot. It wasn't quite a wholly successful trip as they dropped their first points of the season in a scoreless draw in Vancouver Monday. They lead the league with 16 points from six games and they have yet to play a game at home.

Week in review

Rochester kicked off the weekend action a bit early with a 2-1 win in Seattle. Friday they again were the only game on the schedule as they travelled a little to the south to defeat the Timbers 1-0 in Portland.

Saturday night saw something of a minor upset when Puerto Rico won 1-0 in Charleston. Things went a bit more as expected in the other game of the night with the Lynx dropping their fourth consecutive 2-0 decision to start the season. This time to the Sounders in Seattle.

Sunday was the busiest day of the weekend with three games on tap and each held something of a surprise. In the first game, Montreal took out some of their frustration from a shock 3-1 loss in Charleston last week, thumping the Thunder 4-0. Game two saw the Mariners travel to Miami and get a somewhat surprising 1-0 result. Finally, Toronto bucked the 2-0 loss trend and scored a goal. Unfortunately for them, they still gave up two in Portland to remain pointless on the season. At this rate the Lynx are on pace to score five goals for the season to their opponents 56.

That leaves us with the lead-in game, the battle of unbeatens and the top two teams in the power rankings. Rochester maintains the top spot with the 0-0 road draw. Vancouver needed to win at home if they wanted to move to the top of the poll.

New Rankings

1(1)	Rochester	(5-0-1)	Simply the class of the league so far
2(2)	Vancouver	(3-0-2)	Not really close to surpassing the Rhinos
3(4)	Montreal	(2-1-1)	Vengful thumping of Minnesota good enough to move up
4(6)	Puerto Rico	(3-2-1)	Nice road win in Charleston looks good
5(7)	Virginia Beach	(3-1-0)	Solid road win in Miami helps
6(3)	Charleston	(2-1-1)	Fell flat against Islanders after big win over Impact a week ago
7(5)	Miami	(2-2-2)	Team continues to struggle for consistency
8(10)	Seattle	(1-2-1)	Lost to #1, beat #12... whoopie
9(9)	Portland	(2-4-1)	Win over Lynx helps, but one point per game isn't good
10(8)	Minnesota	(1-3-1)	4-0 hurts
11(11)	Atlanta	(0-3-1)	Idle
12(12)	Toronto	(0-5-0)	0 pts

Predictions for this week

Friday:

Miami (2) at Toronto (0) -- Lynx return to form
Seattle (1) at Vancouver (2) -- 'Caps too good at home for Sounders

Saturday:

Atlanta (0) at Charleston (2) -- Battery just better than Silverbacks
Rochester (2) at Virginia Beach (0) -- Mariners not ready for Rhinos
Portland (1) at Minnesota (2) -- Thunder right the ship at home
Vancouver (1) at Seattle (1) -- Seattle hold 'Caps at home

Sunday:

Miami (0) at Montreal (3) -- Unsteady Miami not ready for trip to Montreal

If you missed the first edition of the column, which was not posted to blueskysoccer.com, click here.

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