The fields above 2028 at Summer Exposure are weak which is why the other Hawks teams opted out. For 2028, the field at summer exposure for the games the Hawks are playing are probably stronger in terms of strength of schedule than NAL on a game per game basis.

If you take the fall and spring, the top band of teams on the east coast in this age look like something like Team 91 Venom, Hawks, Eclipse, 2way, and Madlax in no particular order.

Then the next band of teams is something like Long Island Express A, Legacy A, Rush, Mooselax, Rebels, Sweetlax, Freedom A, Mad Dog National, FCA, Next Level, Crabs, and True. Also in no order. Probably another couple teams in this tier.

Hawks are playing Next Level, Crabs, Freedom, Alpha Elite (CO) and then likely whoever of those teams does the best in the final. That’s 4-5 quality wins for the US Club rankings RPI depending on how good the Colorado team is if they can go undefeated.

From the pools for NAL looks like Madlax is playing United (not great, lost to Mesa last week), Igloo (mediocre, lost a couple times to mid tier teams on LI last week), and Express North. So that’s three wins likely against so-so competition. Then in the bracket On Sunday you maybe get a couple of wins against Legacy or FCA or Sweetlax or True. But for a RPI like the club rankings Hawks would likely come out way ahead with the Summer Exposure slate of games.

In any event, the Mass NLF seems the strongest in terms of teams. NAL has a lot of teams, but only a handful of top teams. There’s a lot of weaker teams in the pools which means you’ll only get a few strong opponents.