3. SEVEN UP: When San Antonio FC recorded its 1-0 victory against Sacramento Republic FC last Saturday night, it made a small piece of USL history; no team in league history had ever previously won seven of its first eight games to start a season. Two teams had come close – Rochester opened 6-0-2 in 2015, and Orlando posted the same record to start 2014 – but San Antonio’s start was unprecedented. This past Saturday, Real Monarchs SLC joined San Antonio in achieving the feat, winning its seventh game out of eight with a 2-0 victory against Sacramento Republic FC. That matched the Monarchs’ win total in their inaugural season in 2015, and is only two short of the team’s total a season ago.

4. SURGING SEBASTIAN: The Monarchs’ success has been down to a number of factors – with Head Coach Mark Briggs deserving credit for picking up where Mike Petke left off to assume Real Salt Lake’s head coaching position – but among the most notable has been the play of Sebastian Velasquez. The attacking midfielder had two goals and an assist over the past week’s two victories for the Monarchs, and is now tied for the club lead with Chandler Hoffman on four goals this season. With five players having notched multiple goals and four multiple assists this year, there’s a lot of credit to spread around, but Velasquez’s dynamism has helped it all tick over smoothly.

5. REPUBLIC NEEDS RESET: With the Monarchs flying as high as they have, they were probably the last team Sacramento Republic FC wanted to see as it saw its winless streak stretch to six games, the longest in club history. Republic FC’s scoreless streak has now reached more than 550 minutes, and while on Saturday there were positive aspects to take away from the game, it still felt like a team that needed something special to jolt it into life. A surprise, given the attacking options he had on the bench, was that Sacramento’s Paul Buckle utilized only one substitute in the contest. Now sitting 10th in the West, with two home games coming up this week starting in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday, Sacramento has to arrest the slide the side is on quickly.

6. CHALLENGES FOR FCC: Another side that is struggling to find form currently is FC Cincinnati, which is now winless in its past four outings after falling 2-0 to Orlando City B on Saturday night in front of 19,310 fans at Nippert Stadium. With only two wins in nine games so far this season, this isn’t an overnight development either, and the numbers don’t paint a pretty picture when it comes to the talent that in theory was supposed to carry FCC to greater heights than its third-place finish in the Eastern Conference a season ago. FCC is in the middle of the pack in the league when it comes to passing accuracy, and in the bottom third in chance conversion at just 10 percent. Meanwhile, FCC has committed the most fouls of any team in the Eastern Conference. On paper, this team should be better than its record indicates, but as the saying goes, you are what your record says you are, and that’s not a good sign.