The PDL Playoffs start July 20, so it’s time to start looking at the postseason. First, a little bit about how the playoffs work.

The postseason starts with four-team Conference Playoffs before moving to the National Semifinals. In conferences with three divisions (that’s the Eastern, Southern and Western), each division winner and the highest-finishing second-place team in the conference make the playoffs. The second-place team is automatically the No. 4 seed, no matter their point total, and will be matched up with one of the teams outside of their division.

In the Central Conference, which has two divisions, the top two teams from each division make the playoffs.

Throughout the week, we’ll take a look at each conference and how the playoffs are looking for each.

Today we’ll take a look at the Eastern Conference playoffs, which will start July 20 at Reading United AC in Pennsylvania.

Mid Atlantic Division

Reading United, the top team in the Mid Atlantic division, has wrapped up the No. 1 seed with an impressive 11–0–2 record and 35 points. They have one game remaining against Lehigh Valley United, a team they beat 3–0 earlier this year, so they’ll presumably end the season with 38 points.

Reading United is located in Reading, Penn., and is affiliated with the Philadelphia Union of MLS and Bethlehem Steel of USL. Reading United also has the #1 Top Prospect in the PDL (Aaron Molloy, MID, of Penn State) as well as the #7 (Daniel Krutzen, DEF, of Albany), #21 (Kamal Miller, DEF, of Syracuse) and #38 (Lamine Conte, MID, of Louisville) prospects in the country. They’ll be a threat to challenge for the National title.

Northeast Division

Next up is the winner of the Northeast division, Black Rock FC. The first-year PDL club in Western Massachusetts has taken the Northeast by storm, scoring 33 goals, third most in the Eastern conference. They’ve finished the regular season already and will be plenty rested by the time the playoffs roll around.

Black Rock is led by two Division I youngsters, Georgetown’s Ifunanyachi Achara (eight goals, four assists) and Villanova’s Theo Quartey (three goals, six assists), and also a young Canadian, Jacob Shaffelburg, who is a 2019 commit to Virginia and the #45 ranked prospect in the PDL. Black Rock waits on our South Atlantic division winner to find out who they’ll play in the first round.

South Atlantic Division

Our familiar South Atlantic Division was all but decided last week when North Carolina FC U23 failed to win against Lionsbridge FC, keeping them at 22 points. The Myrtle Beach Mutiny have two games left and a two-point lead on the U23s from Cary.

Myrtle Beach has two games left, both at home: July 11 (tonight!) against Tobacco Road and July 15 against Tormenta FC. If they get a single point in either of those, they win the division. NCFC travels to Charlotte July 14 and obviously must win (and have results go their way) to have any shot at advancing.

Wildcard

We have a tight race for the wildcard spot, but it’s completely contested within the Mid Atlantic Division behind Reading United. New York Red Bulls U23 and the Long Island Rough Riders are separated by three points with just two games left. No other team can catch the 28 points that NYRB U23 currently have to get in to wild card contention.

The Red Bulls travel to Long Island Friday, July 13 (nothing could go wrong there right??), for a game which will in all likelihood decide the wildcard spot. The Red Bulls also visit Ocean City July 15. Long Island travels to FA Euro July 11 and needs a win.

The Red Bulls U23 have two players listed on the Top Prospect list: #8 Janos Loebe, MID, of Fordham and #12 Dayne St. Clair, GK, of Maryland. Long Island has one top prospect listed in #22 Harry Pearse, MID of LIU Post.

Now that we’re in the season’s final days, it should be a wild ride to the finish, and then it’s win-or-go-home time in the PDL Playoffs!

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