United Soccer Leagues Week in Review 5/31/09

League News

Your USL Week in Review links you to all USL-1 news and games from this past week.  This week’s USL-1 news is abbreviated. Next week, USL Week in Review will take a break as IMS will be at the US vs Honduras National team games in Chicago, Illinois.

USL First Division Team of the Week:
United Soccer Leagues named Portland’s Mandjou Keita as the USL First Division Player of the Week with 2 goals in a win and a draw, both away at Puerto Rico.

Pos Name Team Highlights
G Pat Hannigan Miami Five saves in 0-0 draw at Minnesota
D Frankie Sanfilippo Charleston Goal in 2-0 win at Rochester
D Lyle Adams Austin Led team in 1-0 loss to Carolina
D Kupono Low Carolina Led team in 3-0 win at Cleveland
D Jonathan Greenfield Minnesota Led team in 0-0 draw against Miami
M Daniel Paladini Carolina Two assists in 3-0 win at Cleveland
M Brian Farber Portland Two assists in 2-1 win at Puerto Rico
M Darren Spicer Charleston Goal, assist in pair of wins
M Andriy Budnyy Carolina Goal in 3-0 win at Cleveland
F Mandjou Keita Portland Two goals in win, draw at Puerto Rico
F Sean Fraser Puerto Rico Goal in 1-1 draw against Portland

~

Goal of the Week

USL Finally announced the week 6 goal of the week. Veteran Johnny Menyongar had the honors of that Goal of the Week against Vancouver.

Week 7 honors go to Charleston’s Frankie Sanfilippo as he hit a 35 yard strike from the flank into the far upper corner against the Rochester Rhinos on May 23rd. This is not posted on the USLsoocer.com web site yet but you can find it on USL Live.

~

There is no USL Week in Review video for week 7 posted at this time.

~

USL Breakaway is now showing on Fox Soccer Channel
The USL program featuring all USL leagues with special features on teams and players is once again being shown on FSC with 3 installments. Watch the listings for the first of these programs on FSC.

~

FC Burnley return to the US for preseason
FC Burnley, who played the U-23 PDL team of the RailHawks as well as the Minnesota Thunder USL-1 team in their 2008 preseason will return to the States this year for their 2009 preseason. Last year Burnley lost to the RailHawks PDL team and then went on to play the Thunder who held them close until the final 10 minutes of the contest last July.

Burnley started their season slowly but gained momentum in cup and league play. In the final game of the year for Burnley FC, they won a playoff style game that has allowed the team to advance into the premiership in the 2009/10 season.

Burnley announced this week the team will play the Ventura County Fusion PDL team on July 20th followed by a trip up the coast to play the Portland Timbers on July 25th.

~

Grassroots Austin Stadium Supporters
The Austin Aztex supporters have joined forces to start a supporters group to build a soccer specific stadium in the city of Austin.
Their Mission: To encourage dialogue between citizens, stakeholders, government officials, and potential developers leading to the construction and enjoyment of a small to medium-sized multipurpose stadium in Austin, Texas.
Their  Vision: A centrally located stadium hosting sporting events and concerts, convenient to public transit, that would also serve as the focal point for a mixed use development project for the citizens of Austin.

~

The US Open Cup draw was released this week. Here are the pairings.

Kartik Krishnaiyer looks at the schedules and gives us his most interesting match ups where upsets are possible. Everyone loves an upset in the US Open Cup right? Unless of course it’s  your team that gets bounced. It could certainly happen to my Minnesota Thunder as they are off to their worst start in the 20 year history of the club.

~

MLS is telling the Portland Beavers baseball team who share PGE Park, that they MUST MOVE OUT of the stadium, even though it’s actually a baseball stadium and not a soccer stadium. Hmmm? On top of that, Portland still isn’t a done deal as they must find funding for a soccer specific stadium and that still hasn’t happened yet. Rumors are that Montreal is ready to take Portland’s place if they can’t get it done.

Peter Apanel feels he has the answer to building a stadium. He says Portland should just copy Montreal!

~

Speaking of Montreal, they received some great news from the French Football League this week. Montreal has been chosen to play host to the Champions Trophy. A competition between the French Cup winner and the Ligue 1 season champion team, the game will be held in Montreal, at Olympic Stadium, Saturday, July 25, at 3 pm.

~

Adam Braz, who has known to melt down from time to time, says he’s having a good year at Montreal even though the team has struggled. He says he has seen the quality of USL grow in the last 5 years and there’s a lot of parity in the league.

~

The Montreal Impact was eliminated from the Canadian championship Wednesday night, falling 1-0 to league rival Vancouver Whitecaps FC before 5,134 at Swangard Stadium.
The Whitecaps face Toronto FC, from Major League Soccer, at home on Tuesday in a game that will go a long way to determining Canada’s representative at the CONCACAF Champions League in 2009.
TFC has already beaten Vancouver and Montreal, both by 1-0, and is tied with the Whitecaps atop the standing at six.

~

The Thunder added Extreme Soccer League indoor Rookie of the year, Marco Terminesi to their squad this week. Terminesi debuted as a sub on Sunday as the Thunder lost to the visiting Puerto Rico Islanders.

RESULTS THIS PAST WEEK:

Fri, May 29, 2009

(Fox Soccer Channel)
8:00 pm Cleveland City Stars 0-1 Carolina RailHawks @ WakeMed Soccer Park - Game Report – Box Scores
Scoring Summary: CAR: Daniel Paladini 89
Attendance: 5238

8:30 pm Puerto Rico Islanders  1-3  Austin Aztex @ Nelson Field- Game Report – Box Scores
Scoring Summary: AUS: Yordany Alvarez (Jeff Harwell) 42 AUS: Lyle Adams (Yordany Alvarez) 52 PR: Cristian Arrieta (Sandy Gbandi) 63 AUS: Yordany Alvarez (Ryan McMahen) 87
Attendance: 2019

Sat, May 30, 2009

7:30 pm Cleveland City Stars  0-2  Charleston Battery @ Blackbaud Stadium - Game Report – Box Scores
Scoring Summary:CHA: Chris Williams 38 CHA: Kenji Treschuk 77
Attendance: 3920

7:35 pm Montreal Impact  1-0  Rochester Rhinos @ Rochester Rhinos Stadium - Game Report – Box Scores
Scoring Summary: MON: Roberto Brown (Tony Donatelli) 80
Attendance: 10137

10:00 pm Vancouver Whitecaps 0-2  Portland Timbers @ PGE Park - Game Report – Box Scores
Scoring Summary: POR: Ryan Pore (penalty) 6 POR: George Josten 41
Attendance: 9081

Sunday, May 31, 2009

6:05 pm Puerto Rico Islanders 2-1 Minnesota Thunder @ National Sports Center – Game Report – Box Scores
Scoring Summary:MIN: Lawrence Olum (Ricardo Sanchez) 63 PR: Jonathan Steele (Cristian Arrieta) 67 PR: Domenic Mediate (Kyle Veris) 90
Attendance: 3112

Average attendance this week: 5584 up from 2,723 last week.
13 goals for an average number of goals scored per game of 2.16. Up from 1.7 last week.

IIMS~IMS~IMS~IMS~IMS

GAMES THIS COMING WEEK:

Games times are listed EST. Games all available on USL Live except Friday night game available on Fox Soccer Channel.

Thur, June 4, 2009

8:00 pm Cleveland City Stars at Puerto Rico Islanders @ Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium

10:00 pm Montreal Impact at Portland Timbers @ PGE Park

Fri, June 5, 2009

(Fox Soccer Channel)
8:00 pm Charleston Battery at  Austin Aztex @ Nelson Field

Sat, June 6, 2009

7:35 pm Minnesota Thunder at Rochester Rhinos @ Rochester Rhinos Stadium

8:00 pm Cleveland City Stars at Puerto Rico Islanders @ Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium

Sunday, June 7, 2009

7:00 pm Charleston Battery at Austin Aztex @ Nelson Field

10:00 pm Montreal Impact at Vancouver Whitecaps @ Swangard Stadium

USL-1 Standings

***