The stars are aligning, or something

Blame it on a cog in the machine, an interruption in our computational thinking or sheer laziness for why there was no Week 3 slop. It's best to just relish the fact that it has returned for Week 4.

Mother's Day commitments were followed by a suddenly steamy weekend, which tested the mettle of some managers dealing with swarms of absences and the effects of shaky fitness. May in the BDSL is often rocky -- there's no getting around it.

But four weeks of matches and a sprinkling of tournament tilts have begun to provide a clearer picture of where this summer is headed. 

Let's go division by division.

 

PREMIER

You may not be able to learn much about Olean on the league website at the moment, but Ryan Arvin's side (3-0) isn't just cruising past the bottom half of premier. All three wins by the Flying 1854s have been by one goal, but the last two victories over BUSS and previously undefeated NMB have turned heads in the division. 

Four different Olean players collected points against NMB, with Caleb Holmes and Bailey Verdill finding the back of the net. 

While Allegany is certainly prettier in the fall, Olean is simply not a fun jaunt, as NMB learned this past weekend. Olean plays four of its first five matches at St. Bonaventure before they travel north more regularly.

It's less of a surprise that Borussia Bees (bye in Week 4) sit atop the premier table with Olean, as the reigning semifinalists can roll out an electric young side. They'll be impacted by the competing summer semi-pro leagues, but a first-round bye is looking more likely by the day.

BUSS bounced back after its surprise Week 3 loss behind Buffalo State alum Nacho Caceres (two goals) and Cody Rouse, who covers virtually every blade of grass. 

The algorithm has given Blitz a stern look for their recent behavior and has chosen not to say anything nice despite their modest offensive breakout. And hey, at least Buffalo Celtic has that emphatic Tehel Cup romp to reminisce on while they try (and likely fail) to enforce a 24-hour pregame sober policy.

Slopper of the Week(s): Stevie Varallo, Stallions.

 

CHAMPIONSHIP

You can't restrain a Revolution for long. Revs' 2-1 loss to Ukraine in Week 3 suggested Ostap Tkalich's side might be the team to beat in championship. Seven days later, however, Revs downed Rance resoundingly, 4-0, as the Cam Murdie and Jake Westadt duo appears to be quite the handful.

After losing in penalties in Tehel Cup to Germania and the sturdy wall constructed by goalkeeper Dante Gesamondo, Ukraine then fell to new-look Buffalo Italia, who have clearly benefited from Polonia's dissolution and have earned the perch atop the division to themselves. A whopping 16 (!) different players on Italia have recorded at least one point this year, and the team's goals for / goals against is 17-2. 

There's still much to sort out in championship. Don't forget about Queen City Gunners, either, who've won three straight league tilts behind a sterling start from midfielder Laert Hoxha.

Slopper of the Week(s): Andrew Mangold, Cattaraugus County.

 

FIRST DIVISION

The remains no division more clearly split than D1. Clarence's two-straight losses - including a tough trip to the Southern Tier - will have them playing catch-up, while Stallions are galloping in the opposite direction behind two consecutive clean sheet wins. 

Buffalo Night's offense awoke from short-term dormancy to clobber Kunz, 5-2, behind two goals and an assist from Drew Miller, who the team said attended El Clasico, went to prom and graduated in the span of a week -- and still found time to lead Night's attack. Our algorithms suggest Night, Honey Badgers and Mandem would all be mid-table or above teams in this year's championship division.

Not that Honey Badgers' roster or stats will ever appear on the league website, but that faux badger fur coat that is awarded to the team's player of the match will simply just get itchier as the season progresses. Baw Reh proudly donned the fur this week after potting a goal and adding two helpers.

Slopper of the Week(s): Alex Lee Yaw, Southern Tier.

 

SECOND DIVISION

Do you like close games? BDSL's second division appears to. 

Great White Buffalo showed that they're rounding into form behind goalkeeper Sammy Rodriguez and Erwan Gaynor, who's sparked the offense since his long-awaited return. A draw Sunday brought Club Infinity back to a more reasonable decibel level.

Coach Nate Holler, as he is known on social media accounts, notched a solid goal and assist in Crimson's 2-0 win over WNY Phoenix, but the team admin was most excited by a dribbling foray that made an outside back topple over. It's hard to quantify flair.

Monarchs' gritty 1-1 draw with higher-ranked Dutch gives Hamburg something to build on, while Dutch may rue this result after a red card to Monarchs' Jack Schmittendorf left them a golden opportunity to nab 3 points. 

Slopper of the Week(s): Jeff Fox (Monarchs) is worthy.

 

THIRD DIVISION

Did Rust Belt win twice Sunday? They knocked off title hopefuls Nanner FC and seemed to succeed in getting under their skin. Kyle Norton notched a brace for the victors, who now joust for division supremacy with nWo and two upstart sides in Midnimo and Lake Shore. 

That's not to say Nanner is sunk after one defeat, but the top of the division appears a little more daunting than first thought. The bottom of the division, though. Woof. The three winless teams have conceded 28 more goals than they've scored, which is not something to shoot for.

Forward Wade Bergum has brought back Lake Shore's bite, truly irritating Mavericks with his physical play and bruising their spirits in a 3-2 win. You are tougher than this, Mavs! The Bergum-Zielonka-Jason Martin trio looks potent enough to roll with the other high-scoring teams in this division. 

Slopper of the Week(s): Parker Linsley, Munster.

 

FOURTH DIVISION

We have spoken about fourth division youth prodigy Nikola Nikolov at length, and Flamingo's aggressive 9-0 flapping of the Erie Kats was yet another chapter to his story. How high will his transfer fee go? Will there be a sell-on percentage?

His fee at the moment won't touch Roland Wenk's, however, whose silly league-leading 10 goals have sent North Collins soaring as high as North Collins can soar. It's also great that former Buffalo Blizzard icon Randy Pikuzinski is playing in the BDSL with his two sons. We wonder how much convincing it took dad to play.

Rapt applause for Tonawanda managers Chris Maugans and Tom Nicholas, who peered up at Niagara County and thought, "Hm, maybe there are some former Niagara FC standouts who might want to join." That has paid immediate dividends through Cesar Carlin and Kierson Skobjak added to the roster.

Queen City AFC, at 4-0, is the class of the division, even if they gave up their first goal of the campaign against Big Green.
We had higher hopes for Huskies, but it's hard to win when you're conceding at such a rate.

Slopper of the Week(s): Jeff Rowe, Queen City AFC, who is apparently now scoring from corner kicks.

 

OVER-35

Blue Stars made O-35's first statement, blanking Oranje 1-0 behind a man of the match performance from Joe Walter, who set up Polo Suazo for the game's only goal. Blue Stars kept a clean sheet with only 13 guys, too, which is nothing to stick your nose up at. 

Meanwhile, Blue Heavy made it only 65 minutes in a 7-0 loss to Enigma, which has started the year with a snoozer of a slate.

Azzurri continued its surprising start to its debut season with a narrow 3-2 win over Thundercats behind second-half wizardry from Dmitry Gudkov, while Soho took down OLDevils behind a brace from clever Mariusz Radwanski. 

Slopper of the Week(s): Doug Hannon, Thundercats.