With the Riverhounds now playing like they were expected to do from the start of the season, making the playoffs has become a real possibility. However, something to keep in mind is that USLPro, and their unbalanced schedule, doesn’t use the traditional goal differential to separate teams tied on points at season’s end. With that in mind, we turn to the 2014 USLPro Media Guide  to figure out what path the Hounds may have to navigate if they want to be one of the final eight teams remaining after 28 games.

While the regulations go 10 steps deep in resolving a tie, (with the 10th step being a lottery) It would be very hard to get beyond the 4th step, so that’s as far as we’ll go, for now. The tiebreaking procedures are;

1) Head-to-head (based on points) between the tied teams

2) League wins

3) Goal differential

4) Goals scored

Currently, the Hounds sit in 11th place, have 26 points, seven league wins, hold a negative 10 goal differential, and have scored 29 times.

With those standards known, we can then see how the Hounds stack up against all the team around them, in case we come down to these tiebreakers. Even in cases where head-to-head has been resolved for the season, we’ll show other tiebreaking factors, as there could be a 3-way or 4-way tie in points when all is said and done. (Green is in favor of the Hounds, red is against)

Rochester Rhinos:

31 points (6th place)

H2H: 1-1-0

8 Wins

GD:+2

Goals: 19

Oklahoma City Energy FC:

29 points (7th place)

H2H: 1-0-0

8 wins

GD: 0

Goals: 30

Orange County Blues FC:

27 points (8th place)

H2H: 0-1-0

9 wins

GD: -15

Goals: 26

Wilmington Hammerhead FC:

26 points (9th place)

H2H: 2-0-0

6 wins

GD: 0

Goals: 23

Charleston Battery:

26 points (10th place)

H2H: 1-0-0 (one game remaining between the teams, 8/30 in Charleston)

6 wins

GD: -2

Goals: 22

 

Charlotte Convicts Eagles:

24 points (12th place)

H2H: 0-1-0 (one game remains between the teams, 8/29 in Charlotte)

7 wins

GD: -8

Goals: 25

 

Conclusion: Hold onto your butts and #Unleash