A quick look at the Eastern Conference standings below shows two teams going in drastically different directions. Charlotte Independence are undefeated in their last five, winners of their last four, and 4th in the East. Saint Louis FC are winless in their last four, losers of three in their last five, and 12th in the East.

The two play tonight in Matthews at 7pm: let’s take a quick look at the matchup.

Return of the MVP

Saint Louis’s coach Predrag “Preki” Radosavljević decided to rest one of his most powerful offensive weapons most of Wednesday’s game against Rochester. The team pulled out their first point in four games, but I still believe we’ll see José Angulo start as the primary forward for Saint Louis.

Angulo is leading Saint Louis with shots (15), goals (4), and assists (2).

There are a few reasons why you may recognize the name José Angulo. The first reason would be that he was the lone scorer for Saint Louis in our previous matchup. For those veteran USL fans, Angulo was also the 2013 scoring champ and MVP of the entire league while playing for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. The left-footed forward returned to the USL this season after playing the last two seasons for the NASL’s Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

Journeyman Finds a Home

There are a lot of players that I feel fortunate to have playing in Charlotte. David Estrada, formerly of MLS success, is one of those players. When he debuted for the Seattle Sounders back in 2012, he was eager to give the fans something to cheer for: in his first ever match for the Sounders he scored a hat-trick.

Since 2014, Estrada has been a bit of a journeyman and has played for five other teams. Those teams have been the Atl*nta Silverbacks, Charlotte Eagles, DC United, Sacramento FC, and now the Charlotte Independence.

This will be David’s second season for the Independence and he fits in beautifully to what Coach Jeffries’s offensive scheme. Last year, he started 29 of 31 games and scored six goals. This season, he has nearly surpassed his goal total from last year just halfway through the 2017 season, sitting on four goals. With the absence of a few of our leading scorers from last year, David Estrada has smoothly transitioned into being one of our most important offensive pieces.

Statistical Mirage

Saint Louis’s offensive output has been less than stellar over their last five games: they have only found the back of the net twice. Technically. there have been three goals during this span for Saint Louis. but one was an own goal by Bethlehem Steel FC’s Ken Tribbett.

Saint Louis fans need not burn down everything just yet though: there is a slight ray of sunshine in that darkness. Four of their five most recent opponents are above the playoff cutoff, and three of those five have five or more clean sheets this season. Considering their offensive weapons of José Angulo and Christian Volesky, I don’t see their offensive issues continuing all year: just a rough stretch of games.

Goalkeepers in Form

This game will feature two up and coming goalkeepers in the USL. In Saint Louis’s corner, you have number 99 Adam Grinwis. Charlotte’s man between the pipes would be number 1 Cody Mizell.

Grinwis did not start the season as the starting goalkeeper for Saint Louis. Originally Preki chose to start Devala Gorrick. Indy faced him in their first matchup to start the season, but Grinwis has started the last three games.

For Charlotte, Mizell has been the undisputed starting goalkeeper since day one. And he consistently puts up USL Save of the Week candidates.

Both Mizell and Grinwis have kept two clean sheets each.

Since Grinwis has only recently overtaken the starting role in the last three games, we’ll focus on the last three games for each keeper. These keepers have been tested recently and have made an average of six saves per game. Mizell narrowly has a better save percentage over that span with an 87% average while Grinwis’s isn’t too shabby at 86%.

Cody Mizell’s play has caught the attention of the entire USL.

Game of Possession and Passing

This matchup will feature two of the more proficient passing teams in the East. Charlotte is ranked second behind Tampa Bay with 79% passing accuracy while Saint Louis is tied for third at 77%. Charlotte has turned that accuracy into an average possession of 52%. Saint Louis has slightly bested Charlotte with an average 53% possession. In the East, Saint Louis ranks third in average possession while Charlotte is fourth.

It is worth noting that Charleston is only averaging 43% average possession while scoring the second most goals in the league. Leading the league in possession would be free-falling Tampa Bay, whose win on Thursday was just their first since mid-May.

Both Charlotte and Saint Louis will be looking to control the tempo of the game through their passing, and it will be interesting to see how that translates to possession in Matthews.

Prediction Time

The streak continues!!! Another week of semi-accurate predictions and I maybe moving to Vegas soon. I suppose if that did transpire I could always start writing preview articles for the new Las Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL. On second thought, I don’t know enough about hockey nor does the desert life style suit me… (but I could always name the blog Slap Shots ’n’ Sin...). Okay okay, enough of that silly tangent.

Although I was incorrect in the scoreline (Chevy could have been sent off a few times before scoring that lone goal), I did predict the first goal of the game. If not for an attempted defensive clearance by Pittsburgh, I would have predicted both the scorer and assisting player accurately. Regardless I’ll take three points on the road any week.

Due to both goalkeepers’ recent form, I honestly don’t see this game having numerous goals. I believe Cody Mizell will have the better of this matchup and regain his title of “Clean Sheet Cody” while Alex Martinez scores the lone goal of the game. There you have it.

I’m predicting a 1–0 scoreline in favor of the Jacks over the St. Louligans. COYJ.