Everything is status quo at the top and bottom of this week's edition of The Equalizer's Women's Professional Soccer Power Rankings, but the middle of the table has shifted as teams begin to put together streaks. The Chicago Red Stars are on a four-game winning streak and have jumped up the rankings, while the Washington Freedom is now winless in its last six games. Here are how things shake out entering week 14 in WPS:
1) FC Gold Pride (Last Week: 1) - FC Gold Pride (9-3-1, 28 pts.) extended its lead at the top of the table with a 3-2 win Sunday over the Washington Freedom. The Bay Area is clearly still the top team in the league and a dominating first half Sunday against Washington showed that. However, the Freedom were able to get two late goals even without Head Coach Jim Gabarra on the sidelines and cut an impressive 3-0 FC Gold Pride lead into a 3-2 game. That is how things would end, but FC Gold Pride would make things tougher than they needed to be.
2) Philadelphia Independence (2) - Philadelphia (6-4-3, 21 pts.) last played on July 4 in a surprising 2-1 loss to the Boston Breakers. The Independence still sit in second place and cannot be faulted for an idle weekend, but Saturday's road trip to take on FC Gold Pride will be a massive indication of where this team stands. The only problem is, Philadelphia will have to search for a win without Caroline Seger and Sara Larsson, who are with Swedish National Team, and Lori Lindsey, Amy Rodriguez and Heather Mitts, who are with the U.S. National Team.
3) Chicago Red Stars (4) - Don't look now, but Chicago (4-5-5, 17 pts.) is suddenly on a four-game unbeaten streak that includes wins over the Boston Breakers and Sky Blue FC and draws against the Atlanta Beat and Washington Freedom. Forward Ella Masar is starting to find her form and the defense, anchored by goalkeeper Jillian Loyden's 0.85 goals against average. The Red Stars do not play this weekend.
4) Sky Blue FC (3) - What is going on in New Jersey? Nobody really seems to know. Sky Blue FC (5-5-3, 18 pts.) went into the All-Star break riding the good feelings of a 2-0 win over league-leading FC Gold Pride, but followed that up last week with a 0-0 draw at home with the Freedom and a 2-0 loss to the Chicago Red Stars on the road. Sky Blue FC better find a way to defeat the lowly Atlanta Beat Sunday at Yurcak Field, or there could be legitimate claims to problems in New Jersey. Kristin Luckenbill is still in net for Sky Blue FC, which serves as a microcosm for the team's inconsistency.
5) Boston Breakers (6) - Leslie Osborne returns from a month-long injury hiatus and Boston (3-5-4, 13 pts.) adds Foxwoods as a jersey sponsor and all of a sudden the Breakers are on a two-game winning streak. Boston may have turned things around, but Sunday's home match against the Freedom will tell how true that is.
6) Washington Freedom (5) - It may be ambitious to place Boston in front of the Freedom (4-4-5, 17 pts.), but Washington is now winless in its last six and has not won a game since May 30 in a 2-1 win over Philadelphia. Washington is plagued by inconsistency and a good 45 minutes is always coupled with a questionable 45 minutes. The Freedom must put together a solid game.
7) Atlanta Beat (7) - There is not much to say about Atlanta (1-7-4, 7 pts.) other than the fact that things really going poorly. A lack of players is not longer an excuse as Hope Solo, Lori Chalupny, Eniola Aluko, Aya Miyama, Carolyn Blank and Tina Ellertson have had over a month to come together with their new team. For whatever reason, nothing has changed in Atlanta.