Minnesota Weekend Update; Stars Win Big, Rochester Draw and Win, Twin Stars and Kings Each Tie

Stars come up big in Baltimore winning 3-1. Coach Manny Lagos says team played their best game of the season.

The NSC Minnesota Stars traveled to Crystal Palace Baltimore this weekend. The team had changed venues and times to coordinate the game with a US World Cup watch party previous to the game. The time change did not allow the Stars the opportunity to watch the US Men’s National Team game and it must have thrown off CP Baltimore as well. The team should have been providing a live video stream of the game but none was available. The team didn’t bother to Tweet the game either nor did they contact the NSC Stars to explain the problems. As of Sunday evening, 24 hours after the game there still was no game report posted on their website.

However, the NSC’s terrific media team was able to cobble together a game report. You can read that here.

The Stars took the lead in the 17th minute with a goal by Warren Ukah who’s been seeing more playing time since a positive 2-goal game in US Open Cup play several weeks ago.

The Stars continued to press hard against Crystal Palace but the opposition scored against the run of play in the 50th minute with a goal by Tsuyoshi Yoshitake.

But Minnesota came back strong with goals by Brian Cvilikas in the 65th minute and assisted by Geison Moura. The goal is Cvilikas’ 3rd of the season.

In the 81st minute Andres Arango deflected a Daniel Wasson corner kick into the goal for Arango’s first of the season.

Coach Manny Lagos told IMS on Sunday that it was the Stars best game of the season and they could have just as easily had a few more goals with a bit of luck.

The Stars are now in 3rd place of 6 teams in the USL Conference of the USSF D2 Pro League. They are 6-8-2 and have 22 points. The team is 3-1-1 for the month of June and best of all seem to have stopped the goal leaks of early season. The Stars have only allowed 3 goals in 5 games in the month of June.

The Stars will next play the Rochester Thunder in Rochester MN at the Rochester Community and Technical College stadium this Friday, July 2 at 7:00 pm.

The Stars next league game is a July 4 rematch with Baltimore in Blaine, Minn. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CDT. Fireworks will follow the match. For tickets, call (763) 792-7355 or visit www.nscminnesota.org/tickets.

NSC Minnesota Stars lineup (4-4-2): Joe Warren, Scott Lorenz, Kyle Altman, Andres Arango, Chris Clements, Ely Allen, Kentaro Takada (Neil Hlavaty 90+2), Daniel Wasson, Melvin Tarley (Brian Cvilikas 57), Warren Ukah

Crystal Palace Baltimore lineup (4-4-2): Evan Bush, Zach Flores, Andrew Marshall, Val Teixeira, Stephen Basso (Paul Robson 29), Santiago Fusilier (Gary Brooks 33), Adauto Neto (Pat Healey 82), Lucio Gonzaga (Dan Lader 26), Matthew Mbuta (Yaikel Perez 81), Tsuyoshi Yoshitake, Randi Patterson

Scoring Summary
MIN – Warren Ukah 1 – minute 17
CPB – Tsuyoshi Yoshitake 1 – 50
MIN – Brian Cvilikas 3 (Geison Moura 1) – 65
MIN – Andres Arango 1 (Daniel Wasson 3) – 81

Misconduct Summary
MIN – Daniel Wasson (caution, delaying a restart) – 71
BAL – Paul Robson (caution, unsporting behavior) – 88
MIN – Brian Cvilikas (caution, delaying a restart) – 90+3

Attendance: 2,348

Rochester Thunder
The Rochester Thunder played two home matches against the Des Moines Menace this past week on Thursday and Friday evenings.

The Thunder started the weekend with a 1-1 draw with the Menace even though getting outshot 18-10. The Thunder’s goal was provided by Chris Andre in the 88th minute. Ben Sippola made a fantastic cross, which met the head of Chris Andre and redirected into the back of the net.

On Friday Minnesota faced Des Moines again, this time ending up victorious with a 2-1 win pushing the team into 1st place in the USL-PDL Heartland Division with 21 points and a 6-2-3 record.

The Thunder have 5 league games left, all are away games. However, they do have one more home exhibition match against the NSC Minnesota Stars this Friday, July 2, at 7:00 pm at the RCTC Stadium. Go here for more information.

NPSL

Twin Stars
The NPSL Minnesota Twin Stars were in action this weekend but needed to travel all the way to Chicago to play the Fire NPSL team. The result wasn’t bad as the team comes away with a point for a 1-1 draw. Matt Gagay nabbed the Minnesota goal after a long maze-y run by Adama Diawara who beat 4 defenders before laying the ball off to Gagay.

UW Milwaukee’s Greg Rosenthal was said to have had another outstanding game. Two weeks ago Rosenthal had an assist on each of the three goals the team scored in two games. Rosenthal, a captain on his college team, will be a senior this coming season.

Minnesota Kings
The Minnesota Kings also traveled to Chicago this weekend to play the Fire NPSL team on Sunday, June 27. Just like the Twin Stars, the Kings also came away from the game with a point after a 0-0 draw. Team goalkeeper and owner of the Kings Tim Haselberger told IMS that it was a very good game with both sides having chances.

The Twin Stars currently sit in 1st place in the NPSL Midwest Conference with 14 pts and a 4-4-2 record.  The Kings sit tied for 4th place of 6 teams with 10-points and a 3-1-4 record.