BCFC Looks to Stay Atop Table at Stockade
- Updated: June 10, 2017
Boston City FC hit the road this weekend for a critical first-place vs. second-place division matchup in the Empire State as Kingston Stockade FC hopes to use home field advantage to leapfrog the Lions on at 5:00pm on Saturday at Dietz Stadium in Kingston, N.Y.
Saturday’s encounter is the first of the season for the Lions and Stockade. Last year, Boston City FC took all potential six points over Stockade, with a 2-0 home victory and a 3-2 comeback win on the road. Last year’s road victory in Kingston kicked off an improbable nine-game unbeaten run, which catapulted the Lions into the playoffs.
The Lions are hoping Saturday’s fixture will allow them to extend their current unbeaten run of five league games. Boston City FC have only one loss in all competitions this season, an upset 2-1 U.S. Open Cup loss to GPS Omens.
Similarly, Stockade is in the midst of their own unbeaten run of five matches, outscoring their last two opponents by a score of 9-1. The New York selection have won four of their last five matches after dropping their first game of the season to Hartford City FC.
“This is already a great rivalry and it should be an entertaining match for our great traveling support and what is sure to be a fired-up home crowd,” said Boston City head coach Palhinha in a club press release. “Both teams are scoring freely and defending well and the conference leadership is on the line, so we’re looking forward to the challenge. Our season objective remains to win the division and progress to the playoffs.”
Boston City FC is the only unbeaten team in the Atlantic White Conference, sitting atop the standings with a 3-0-2 record. Stockade sports a 4-1-1 record, giving them a division-leading 13 points, but they sit in second place as division standings are determined by points per game.
The leading scorer for Boston City FC, Jhonata Batista, has been ruled out of the match after suffering an injury to his right ankle last weekend. Batista suffered a broken right ankle in 2016, ending his season prematurely.
Saturday’s match begins a three-game road stretch for Boston City, who face off in a mid-week matchup against New Jersey-based TSF of the NPSL Atlantic Blue Division on June 14th before returning to New England for a rivalry battle against the Rhode Island Reds on June 18th.