By Philadelphia Independence Head Coach Paul Riley's own admission, "there's no catching Gold Pride."  Philadelphia has set a second place finish as its goal and clearly, FC Gold Pride can start planning to host the championship Sept. 26.  Even a monumental meltdown would only see Philadelphia close the gap on the Pride, but there is no catching Albertin Montoya's team.  Much like WPS power rankings have looked since week one, it seems that FC Gold Pride will continue to sit atop the rankings until season's end.

Then again, this is Women's Professional Soccer, a league where anything can happen.

1) FC Gold Pride (12-3-1, 37 pts.) - The league-leaders continue to roll with two road victories last week: A 2-1 victory over the streaking Boston Breakers Wednesday and a dominating 4-1 win Saturday over the struggling Washington Freedom.  That extended FC Gold Pride's winning-streak to five games, tying a WPS record the Pride set earlier this year.  This team is world-class and to be honest, I think everyone is running out of things to say about how good it is.

2) Philadelphia Independence (7-5-3, 34 pts.) - If a 4-1 beat-down of Sky Blue FC is not convincing enough, the victory also helped maintain a five point lead in second place for Philly.  Amy Rodriguez continues to score and her nine goals is second only to Marta, while Caroline Seger's three assist performance Saturday was worthy of her Player of the Week honor.

3) Boston Breakers (5-6-4, 19 pts.) - Could this be the Sky Blue FC of 2010?  There are a lot of people talking about that, but it is not quite a fair or accurate comparison.  It is accurate to say that Boston has won four of its last five games, with the only loss coming to FC Gold Pride last Wednesday.  Kelly Smith is in form and Boston is now clicking on all cylinders.  If you believe in difference makers, Boston's streak started with the return of Leslie Osborne and the emergence of role-players Liz Bogus and Jordan Angeli.  If you believe in coincidence, the great month of July also began when Foxwoods went across the Breakers jersey as a presenting jersey sponsor.

4) Atlanta Beat (3-7-4, 13 pts.) - The bottom of the power rankings is really a case of asking, 'Who is struggling more?'  I am shocked to say this, but the Atlanta Beat are now on a two game winning-streak, which stands in stark contrast to the struggles of Washington, Chicago and Sky Blue FC.  The Beat's two wins also came over Sky Blue FC and Chicago, boosting Atlanta to its highest position of the year.  Though still bottom of the table, the Beat are actually on a mini-hot streak.  We'll see what Wednesday night brings, though.

5) Chicago Red Stars (4-7-5, 17 pts.) - A two game slide for Chicago (losses to Atlanta and Boston) could get worse Wednesday night with a road trip to Philadelphia.  The Red Stars were on a four game unbeaten-streak until the two game losing-streak.

6) Sky Blue FC (5-7-3, 18 pts.) - Being in West Chester, Penn. Saturday, I can tell you this: Things were ugly.  Really ugly.  Philadelphia was up 3-0 on Sky Blue FC by the 21st minute and the visitors did not know what hit them.  Sky Blue FC is 0-3-1 since the All-Star Game and has lost three-straight.  Pauliina Miettinen is out  and this team still is not fully healthy, but there is enough talent on the field to be performing better.  Mentally, Sunday's match against Chicago is a must-win.

7) Washington Freedom (4-6-5, 17 pts.) - The Freedom are on the skid to end all skids right now being winless in eight-straight.  Wednesday night's match in Atlanta is certainly a must-win.  Freedom players keep saying that things can't get worse, but they seem to be doing so every week.
 

On Deck Wednesday:

Chicago @ Philadelphia, 7 p.m. Eastern
Washington @ Atlanta, 7:30 p.m. Eastern