The Eastern Conference is as packed as ever, with no less then five teams sitting atop the table with six or more points. Cape Cod moved to the top spot in the standings at 2-0-1 after a scoreless draw at Westchester. Ocean City kept their perfect record (2-0-0) with a 3-1 win over West Virginia. Bradley Peters, Jeremy Ortiz and Ryan Heins all scored for the Barons, who now join Hampton Roads, Long Island and Brooklyn with identical records. Chris Chaves scored the lone goal in Northern Virginia’s first win of the year, over Delaware. The win may not be enough, however. With four points and only one match remaining, the best the Royals can do is seven points, which is unlikely to be enough to gain entry into the Open Cup. Rhode Island got a pair of goals from Lukasz Tumicz to help lift them to a 4-0 rout of Vermont, giving the Stingrays a 1-1 record, while nearly eliminating the 0-2 Voltage, who have yet to score a goal thus far.

In the Central Conference, the biggest news is that the Des Moines Menace are likely to miss the U.S. Open Cup for the first time since 2004. The 1-0 loss to the St. Louis Lions leave the Menace with a 1-2 record, and five teams in the conference do not have a loss, including Michigan and St. Louis, both at 2-0. Tommy Heinemann scored the lone goal for the Lions in the 28th minute, who held on despite playing a man short after Samuel Gelven was sent off just before halftime for his second yellow card. In the other Central matchup from Saturday, Sioux Falls defeated Springfield 2-0, leaving both clubs at 1-1.

In Southern Conference action, the Carolina Dynamo joined El Paso atop the standings as the only perfect clubs, after a 2-0 triumph over Central Florida. El-Hadj Cisse scored in the sixth minute, and Robert Salinas added an insurance goal in the 89th. The Atlanta Silverbacks U23s looked like they were set to keep pace with Carolina, but a stoppage time goal from Nashville’s Jason Bristol left the ’Backs with only one point to take back to Atlanta. The Cary Railhawks U23s were eliminated from Open Cup contention with a scoreless draw against the Cocoa Expos. While the Expos are not mathematically eliminated, their chances are extremely slim with only one point from their first two matches. In a matchup of eliminated teams, New Orleans defeated Baton Rouge 3-0 in a Louisiana derby.

The Western Conference standings now features plenty of eliminated teams after Saturday night’s action. San Jose looked set to take home at least a point from their trip to Los Angeles. Bryan Baird scored midway through the first half for the Frogs, and LA’s Cito Soriano leveled the score just after halftime. In the 90th minute, Ross Schunk netted the shock game-winner for the Storm, leaving San Jose at 2-1, and needing a win and some help if they want to make the U.S. Open Cup cut. The BYU Cougars hopes of returning to the Cup took a hit after losing 2-0 to the Tacoma Tide. Ciaran O’Brian and Rory Agu scores for the Tide in the first half. Only five clubs remain alive behind table-toppers Bakersfield and Ventura County. In games featuring eliminated clubs, Cascade topped Ogden 1-0, and San Fernando Valley outscored Southern California 4-3.