/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49292761/usa-today-9244414.0.jpg)
The split season format used by the North American Soccer League turns the 10-match Spring Season into a sprint, but only two clubs have coming out of the gate running, with seven falling more than three points behind after just two weeks of play. Fortunately for fans of the New York Cosmos, the defending champions were one of the sides that got off to a fast start, and currently sit atop the heap.
With five goals scored and a pair of clean sheets thus far, the Cosmos are putting together a comfortable cushion in terms of goal difference, something that proved to be the difference between hosting the 2015 final and making a trek to Ottawa last November. While it's very early and there is still quite a bit of soccer to be played, getting off on the right foot is always a good thing.
Aside from Carolina, the only other club that's within a single week of catching the Cosmos would be Minnesota United, the only other side to have won a match this season. From fourth place on, nobody has managed more than a pair of draws to open the season, with Jacksonville being the lone club left without a point.
With any luck, New York will continue their winning ways in their first road match of the season, when they head to Indianapolis to take on the Eleven. If they do, quite a few clubs could find themselves forgetting about the Spring Season already, and beginning to focus on the combined table.