North Texas Soccer Club heads to Lansing, Mich., for its second road game of the season and first ever match against the brand-new Lansing Ignite FC. North Texas continues to be the hottest team in the league, although once again they'll have to cope without several key players between call-ups and injuries. Here's everything you need to know before Saturday night's game.

Background

North Texas SC remains firmly in first place with five wins through five, a league leading +7 goal differential, and hold two games in hand over their nearest opponent, Tormenta FC. Ricardo Pepi is tied for first place in the league with 4 goals, and the team as a whole has conceded just three times so far.

Lansing is off to a relatively underwhelming start, sitting in seventh place in the table, with two wins and two draws through seven. Ricky Lopez-Epstein leads Ignite FC with 3 goals in 4 appearances, and has also scored two of Lansing's three most recent goals.

The Opponent

Lansing has been using a few different varieties of a 3-4-3, using a true back 3, no wing backs, two central midfielders, two wide midfielders, and a similar sort of front three to North Texas. Brandon Fricke serves as the primary center back, typically with Grant Stoneman to his left and either Kevin Coiffic or Kyle Carr to his right, and both outside center backs at times will push further out wide and forward to play as quasi-wing backs, with defensive midfielder Ivo Cerda often dropping back to defend, creating something resembling a traditional back four.

So far, the 3-man back line has not worked as intended, as Lansing has conceded in every game played and are currently in the middle of a 4 game winless streak. They haven't been blown out, and they've never conceded more than twice in a game, but at the same time, they've conceded 12 times already, second-most in the league after Orlando City B.

On the attacking side, Ricky Lopez-Epstein has been the primary center forward, with Alex Bruce serving as the second choice option. Xavier Lopez often plays as a false winger who cuts inside from the right wing to play as a central attacking midfielder, handling much of the playmaking responsibility and giving Rhys Williams space to push up into the right wing. Robinson Moshobane is the club's primary left winger with a tendency to play deep behind Lopez-Epstein as a second striker, which then gives more space and flexibility for right midfielder Nick Moon.

Offense hasn't been too much of a problem for Lansing lately, with three goals in their two most recent games, but the club did struggle against Toronto FC II and FC Tucson towards the end of April.

Head coach Nate Miller is making his debut at the professional ranks with what is, more-or-less, a professional version of the former USL League Two side Lansing United, where he served as head coach and general manager from 2015 through 2018.

Lansing is the lone club in USL League One to play in a baseball stadium, and while there isn't any public data on the size of their soccer pitch, it's quite visibly smaller than what North Texas is used to in Frisco. Based on satellite images and seating charts, my best estimate is a pitch slightly smaller than what NYCFC fits into Yankee Stadium.

Available Players

With Paxton Pomykal, Edwin Cerrillo, and Brandon Servania's call-ups to the U20 national team, North Texas SC has only four players listed as available from FC Dallas this weekend: Callum Montgomery, John Nelson, Brandon Reynolds, and Thomas Roberts. Servania had previously started four games for North Texas, playing all 360 possible minutes, and he'll be missed in midfield.

From the academy, seven players have been made available, of which five can make the gameday roster. Once again, Imanol Almaguer, Kevin Bonilla, Michael Collodi, Johan Gomez, Gibran Rayo, and Tanner Tessmann have been made available to Eric Quill for selection. All five listed field players have at least one appearance for North Texas, with Gibran Rayo the lone player not to have started a match yet, while both goalkeepers have been unused substitutes.

Predicted Lineup

Based on the players made available, Carlos Avilez getting the start in goal is a near certainty. I do expect we'll see either Schawl or Collodi get a game or two this summer, but neither has been playing with the primary defenders much in training.

The back line will look very different this weekend given the quick turnaround for the first team between Thursday's game against LAFC and the rematch on Sunday. If Brecc Evans has sufficiently recovered, he'll start, with Hector Montalvo likely making his North Texas debut alongside. If Evans is still out, we'll see either Jatta or Murillo as the second center back. That leaves Almaguer starting at left back, and either Murillo or Bonilla at right back pending Evans' health.

Midfield looks easier to predict for the moment. The primary defensive midfield spot goes to either Almaguer or Jatta, with the two more attacking midfield spots going to two of Tessmann, David Rodriguez, and Thomas Roberts. In the front three, I expect to see something very similar to the second half against Orlando, with Gomez up top, Arturo on the left wing, and either Sealy or Romero on the right.

Here's what this all might look like.

Predicted starting lineup for North Texas SC vs Lansing Ignite FC (John Lenard / John Lenard)

Around the League

Week 8 action began on Friday with Orlando City B hosting Toronto FC II, and even without a 44th-minute red card to Toronto defender Franco Ramos Mingo, Orlando was truly in control of the game. Serginho and Rafael carved up Toronto's defense, and despite a saved penalty following the red card, came away with a comfortable 2-0 win. This result drops Toronto into 5th place by points-per-game, while Orlando gets their first win of the season and closes the gap to Lansing.

Saturday's action begins with Greenville hosting Richmond and Lansing hosting North Texas, both kicking off at 6 p.m. central, followed by Madison hosting Tormenta at 7, and concludes with Tucson against Chattanooga at 9:30. As always, every minute of USL League One is streamed on ESPN+, including all North Texas SC games home and away.

USL-1 standings as of May 17, 2019. (USL-1)