Midwest Premier League: July Preview
This weekend the Midwest Premier League enters the final month of play in their inaugural season with the last matches of 2021 being played on August 1st. Those are one East Division match between BiH Grand Rapids (3rd Place as of 7/2/21) and Michigan Stars U23 (2nd Place as of 7/2/21). One West Division match will be played along side that as DeKalb County United (11th as of 7/2/21) hosts Rockford FC (9th as of 7/2/21).
East Division
Heading into the final four weeks of league play the East Division has been entirely dominated by Detroit City U23, the developmental side of NISA’s Detroit City FC. Le Rouge sit atop the East at a perfect 9-0-0 with 27 points. Detroit City U23 can clinch the MWPL East Division title inside the next month if all circumstances go right for them. Right below them but not quite as successful are the aforementioned Michigan Stars U23, another NISA development side. The Stars are 4-2-2 with 15 points and with 6 matches left in their final month. With how much of a lead Detroit has there isn’t a huge chance the Stars can take the title but the possibility is still there.
Sitting in third is BiH Grand Rapids, a former UPSL club they have done surprisingly well in this extremely tough division of the MWPL. BiH has the second highest amount of goals scored in the East at 16 entering the month and is tied for the fewest goals against on the year. With 8 matches to play in their final month BiH will have to balance a late gasp at the title with keeping players healthy. The league website lists BiH as having a back to back double header against Inter Detroit on July 10th followed by another game against Detroit City on the 11th to start July. However the team site lists the second match as being played on July 25th.
Rounding out the top four is expansion side Lansing Common. The Robins are a double replacement and a true Phoenix Club for soccer in Lansing, MI. Initially Lansing United (who still has a women’s UWS side) was the men’s team in the city. LUFC dissolved their men’s side following the 2018 season due to the impending arrival of Lansing Ignite in USL League One. Ignite however would only last one season, folding immediately following the 2019 USL League One Final, that gave way to Lansing Common FC to begin play. The Robins are 4-1-1 on the season and similar to BiH have 8 matches left to play this month before the season comes to a close.
Currently LK St. Clair sits bottom, Livonia City at second bottom, Inter Detroit at third bottom, and West Michigan Bearings at fourth bottom. The full East Division standings can be seen below.
West Division
As we head across Lake Michigan we take a look at the physically larger but short schedule West Division. Unlike the East which plays a 14 match double round robin, the West only plays an 11 match single round robin. This actually has a direct impact on the title race for the West Division as only two teams have a chance at winning it. Those are the first place RWB Adria and third place Bavarian Soccer Club. Adria has a single match left to play, that being on July 31st against Bavarians, currently Adria sit at 9-1-0 with 28 points. Bavarians are in third place with a 5-1-0 record with 16 points and five matches left to play. However, in order to win the MWPL West, Bavarians will need to win out the entire rest of the season as , if they drop more than 3 points before playing Adria, then RWB Adria will win the inaugural MWPL West Division Championship.
Bisecting the two title contenders are the second place Steel City FC who are 5-2-2 with 17 points. SCFC will finish their season with some very winnable matches against DeKalb County United (July 7th, Home) and Chicago Athletic (July 31st, Home). Rounding out the top four of the West are Berber City FC, the men’s affiliate of WPSL side Chicago City SC. Berber City is 4-1-3 with 13 points through eight played matches and with three left to play in the month of July. Those matches will have Berber City take to the road against Chicago Mustangs (July 1st), Bloomington, IL’s FC Diablos (July 11th), and end the season against Cedar Rapids Inferno (July 17th).
At the bottom of the West Division table is Chicago Athletic (0-0-7, 0 points), DeKalb County United (1-1-4, 4 points) are at second bottom, DKCU’s arch rival Union Dubuque (1-2-4, 5 points) are third bottom, and Rockford FC (2-0-7, 6 points) are at fourth bottom after starting the season with seven straight losses. The full West Division standings can be seen below.
