Stumptown Athletic is seeking their first National Independent Soccer Association spring season win.

They stand 0-0-2 going into their March 14 game against Los Angeles Force at 7:30 p.m. at the OrthoCarolina Sportsplex. They drew San Diego 1904 FC 2-all in the opener and the Force 1-all in California last Friday. Coach Mark Steffens stressed the importance of tighter defending as a unit for the group. Two games in, he’s pleased with their progress.

“We’ve taken large steps, and really defended extremely well,” he said. “We let them possess the middle third a little bit and dropped back and defended really well. I was proud of the guys. That’s what we talked about after the game.”

Steffens wants to shift their focus toward productivity in the attacking third. Midfielders Tate Robertson and Josue Espana as well as forward Jalen Brown lead Stumptown with a goal each.

“The hardest thing when you’re building a team is to improve the attack,” Steffens said. “You always work on that last. As you’ve heard over the years, ‘defense wins championships.’ You have to take care of that part of the field first. We’re getting there. Now we need to work on the attack a little bit more and be a little more dangerous.”

NISA is third division soccer and consists of eight active clubs. They are in their first full season, after a four-game fall showcase, in which Stumptown went 2-2. Stumptown’s 14-game season extends through June 13.

Having fewer clubs forces teams to play each other more often even on back-to-back occasions, like Stumptown and the Force this weekend.

“The only thing I don’t like about it is that frustrations can build and they don’t get released in a week when you’re playing the same team,” Steffens said. “It was a little bit chippy last game, and it could get really chippy this game. I don’t like that as being part of the game. I could see that being an issue. Other than that, both teams know each other really well. Both teams will be making adjustments. Hopefully our adjustments are effective, and we get our first win on the board.”

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