MUSKEGON – There’s no doubt that the undefeated Cleveland Crunch is the best team in the Great Lakes Conference of the Major Arena Soccer 2 league.

The Muskegon Risers certainly know that. They’ve played the Crunch three times this season and have come away with three losses.

But the Risers’ latest effort against Cleveland, an 11-9 loss on the road last Saturday, actually provided a degree of optimism for the improving team.

The Risers had lost the previous two games by scores of 10-5 and 8-5. If a few things had gone differently last Saturday, they might have actually handed Cleveland its first loss of the season.

Muskegon trailed 2-1 after one quarter, 4-3 at halftime and 11-6 after a bad third quarter, before scoring the only three goals of the fourth quarter.

The Risers collected yet another a three-goal hat trick from leading scorer Miguel Flores, as well as goals from Henry Spees, Moses Crawford, Boris Nguelle and Colin O’Keefe.

Muskegon made it close despite being outshot 75-31 in the game.

“We got a lead on them with the first goal, which was great, and we hung right with them,” said Risers Coach Ben Ritsema, whose 4-5 team will host the Cincinnati Swerve on Saturday night at Mercy Health Arena in a key conference game.  “We were within one goal at halftime, and we responded well in the fourth and got it within two goals.

“We did battle really well.”

Ritsema says it’s obvious how much his team has improved since playing Cleveland for the first time this season.

“We have improved in every area,” he said. “Defensively we are way better. In attacking our opponents at the correct times we are way better. In the set piece, which is so important in indoor soccer, we are way better. Some things just take time. We only had four practices before our first game, and we practice one day per week.

“I think we’ve always been a pretty confident group. I believe we can win, and the guys believe we can win. Now, when we get scored on a few times, I see us not hanging our heads as much. We know that goals come in bunches in indoor soccer.”

Promising playoff picture

The Risers are in second place Ihe Great Lakes Conference with 12 points, six points ahead of third-place Chicago. That’s exactly where they want to be, because the top two teams in the conference qualify for the league playoffs.

The Risers have three games left in the regular season – Saturday night at home against Cincinnati, March 5 at home against Cleveland, and March 12 on the road against Cincinnati.

The two games against the Swerve will be extra important in the playoff race, because they are 2-0 so far this season against Cincinnati and 0-3 against Cleveland.

While the standings look promising for Muskegon, the Risers have played two more games than Chicago (2-5) and four more than Cincinnati (1-4), which means those teams will have more chances to win, gain points in the standings and overtake the Risers for the last playoff spot.

The trick is to step on their necks right now and limit their chances to do so, Ritsema said.

“We have played more games than them, and they could close the gap pretty quickly,” the coach said about Chicago and Cincinnati. “We’ve played almost twice as many games as Cincinnati, which makes Saturday’s game so important. If we can beat them it makes it more difficult for them. We can really outdistance them and Chicago with three points (which teams get in the standings for a win) this weekend. It won’t guarantee the playoffs for us, but it would get us really, really close.”

While the Risers are 2-0 against Cincinnati, both games have been very tight.

In the season opener back in December, the Risers trailed 6-3 before rallying for a 9-7 win. In the teams’ most recent meeting in Muskegon, the Risers needed a late goal from Brandon Edwards to force overtime, then won 7-6 in the extra session on a goal by Flores.

“I expect another nail-biter this weekend,” Ritsema said.

Team still playing well, despite injuries

The amazing part about the Risers’ season is that they’ve stayed competitive and in the playoff hunt despite a horrible rash of injuries.

Lost for the season are Elmedin Zukic, Ryan Zietlow (the team’s second-leading scorer) and Alexis Mendez. Rob Johnson and Cody Loss are also injured and could possibly return, but there’s no guarantee.

Luckily the Risers have a large reserve pool of younger players, and recently obtained several skilled players from outside the organization to fill some holes. Jacob Potts, a player from the Grand Rapids area, and Colin O’Keefe, a former Riser who has been playing with Harrisburg in the elite Major Arena Soccer League, are both on the roster now and making contributions.

“Both of those guys have been giving us quality minutes,” Ritsema said. “The cool thing is that guys have been getting opportunities to play and have been working hard. It’s a ‘next man up’ philosophy. We’ve seen some of them play the best games they have ever played. Guys like Brian Woodside and Henry Spees don’t always make the game-day roster, but they are now.”

Ritsema, in a moment of wishful thinking, mentioned how good the Risers would be if all the players were available.

“Our team would be absolutely scary if we had Potts and O’Keefe and the injured guys,” he said.