Club Roundup: Nashville Rhythm FC stacking up goals and points, but is it enough?
Apologies for the lack of proper match recaps, a bit harder to do those for road games, and since we last spoke to one another, Nashville Rhythm FC have played a whole lot of those.
Last time we looked at the club, they’d just played out a 2-2 draw with TN Tempo FC at home to open the season. Since, they’ve played four more, and on Saturday, they’ll play their penultimate fixture of the season at home against Jackson Ignite FC.
First up after that home draw in the opener, on June 1st, Rhythm grabbed a 4-3 win on the road at FC Birmingham. After going up 3-0, a hat trick from Birmingham’s Rebecca Sierra leveled the scores, but an almost instantaneous reply to Birmingham’s third from Nashville’s Aoi Kawabuchi gave the visitors all three points.
Then, another road trip, this time to 865 Alliance on June 8th, would not see the same outcome. a brace from Alivia Stott and a third from Jayla Blue could only be bookended by Nashville’s Jayden Boelter, giving Alliance the win, and the leg up in the race for the Pioneer Division title.
Since then, it’s been all good news for Rhythm. a 7-1 win at Jackson Ignite on June 14th would be followed up the very next day with a 5-1 Father’s Day home victory over FC Birmingham.
Then, backs against the wall in one final road trip to TN Tempo, Naho Yamamura and Gracelyn Williams provided the difference for Rhythm in a 2-0 dispatching of the home Tempo in Murfreesboro.
Now, only two games remain. Saturday, Rhythm host Jackson Ignite, a fixture they seem incredibly likely to win by a large margin. Then, in the final game of the season on June 28th, Rhythm will host 865 Alliance in what could be a de-facto Division Championship Game.
For that to happen, Rhythm will be keeping their eye on how Alliance performs over the next 48 hours. This weekend it’s Alliance’s turn to play back-to-back, with a road trip to FC Birmingham on Saturday followed by a home bout with TN Tempo on Sunday.
To set up a title decider, Rhythm will be hoping that Alliance pick up no more than four of their maximum of six points from these fixtures.
If it does come to pass, it could be quite the scene in Mt. Juliet on the 28th. But, for Rhythm, first things first, they need to take care of business against Jackson Ignite on Saturday.
We’ll talk again for a recap of the Jackson Ignite game soon, see you then!