NSC Minnesota Stars Get Important Draw in Puerto Rico
On a typically rain-soaked and slickened field at Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, the Minnesota Stars put on an outstanding 2nd half performance to come from behind and get an important 1-1 draw with the Islanders.
Nicholas Addlery tees off his shot that slipped past Stars goalkeeper Joe Warren
The Stars started in their typical 4-4-2 lineup but with a few different faces in the starting lineup. Cristiano started again at centerback pairing with Kyle Altman. Ryan Woods made another start as defensive midfield and Amani Walker received his first start of the season. Walker in particular was very effective Wednesday evening, making good runs and finding himself with several chances.
The depth on the 2011 Stars roster is certainly visible as head coach Manny Lagos has been able to plug different players into the lineup this year often with positive results.
The first half was a back and forth battle but the Islanders seemed to cope with the heat and rain better than Minnesota and appeared to have the upper hand for parts of the half. The advantage helped out in the 39th minute when Nick Addlery scored an easy goal from the left side and 8 yards out after Josh Hansen crossed the ball through the box. Addlery was left unmarked and he slotted the ball past a helpless Joe Warren.
The Islanders had their chances in the 2nd half but unlike Minnesota’s last trip to Puerto Rico the team rose to the occasion and played tough, controlling good stretches of play and attacking dynamically. Forward Simone Bracalello was of course at the lead of the attack and had several outstanding attempts on goal.
It was fitting then that it was Bracalello who with a moment of brilliance tied the game for Minnesota in the 69th minute. After good pressure by Minnesota on the Islanders in their own defending half, Bracalello was able to hustle over and recover a ball off the left touchline and dribble square about 5 yard high of the box. The Islanders defense gave the Italian forward just a bit too much room and he teed off and hit a bending ball around Puerto Rico goalkeeper Ray Burse and into the far upper corner of the net to tie the game.
Minnesota came close several more times in the the 2nd half but the score ended a 1-1 draw.
The Stars offense outshot the Islanders 12 to 9 and also had more shots on goal at 9 to 5. The tie was a good result for the Stars playing in Puerto Rico under adverse conditions of rain, humidity and heat.
The point keeps the Stars in 3rd place in the NASL as the team now has a record of 3 wins, 2 losses and 5 ties.
The Stars will now fly to Atlanta to take on the last place Silverbacks on Saturday evening. The Silverbacks have only earned 2 points this season and are looking for their first win, but have been in many of their games this season until late in the game. They came away on the losing end last weekend when playing the first-place RailHawks but after playing a good game gave up two goals in the final 10 minutes.
Puerto Rico Islanders lineup (4-4-2): Ray Burse; Richard Martinez, Jay Needham, Logan Emory, Kevon Villaroel; Aaron Pitchkolan, Josh Hansen (Noah Delgado 75), Leonardo Ly (Osei Telesford 65), David Foley; Jonathan Fana, Nick Addlery (Yaikel Perez 70)
Minnesota Stars lineup (4-4-2): Joe Warren; Justin Davis, Cristiano, Kyle Altman, Chris Clements; Lucas Rodriguez, Jeff Cosgriff, Neil Hlavaty (Andrei Gotsmanov 69), Ryan Woods; Amani Walker (Devin Del Do 61), Simone Bracalello
Scoring Summary
PRI – Nick Addlery 3 (Josh Hansen 2) – 39th minute
MIN – Simone Bracalello 4 – 69th
Discipline Summary
MIN – Lucas Rodriguez, caution (reckless tackle) – 29th minute
MIN – Kyle Altman, caution (unsporting behavior) – 43rd
MIN – Jeff Cosgriff, caution (deliberately handling the ball) – 64th
PRI – Aaron Pitchkolan, caution (reckless tackle) – 79th
PRI – David Foley, caution (unsporting behavior) – 87th
MIN – Cristiano, caution (professional foul) – 90+
Statistics (PRI-MIN)
Shots: 9-12
Shots on goal: 5-9
Saves: 3-1
Corner kicks: 6-5
Offsides: 4-2
Fouls: 18-16
Yellow cards: 2-4
Red cards: 0-0
Comments are closed.
“The depth on the 2011 Stars roster is certainly visible as head coach Manny Lagos has been able to plug different players into the lineup this year often with positive results.”
Manny has certainly had is work cut out for him by missing Wasson and Taka in the mid-field. He has also put together a strong back line, and our forwards are scoring goals. Joe Warren is also playing like Joe did last year. I cannot wait to see the next match. Come on you Stars!
I believe the depth of the Stars squad will prove to be very important later in the season. Injuries are bound to happen, but it looks like we will be able to keep our formation and general tactics by utilizing players like Walker and Woods.
Any idea what Lagos’ motivation was to start Walker instead of Del Do? Could he be considering Walker as a main starter?
Jon,
BTW, you were the inspiration for our stats on goals scored by the Stars in this weeks NASL Podcast and that spilled into looking at all the teams and other league averages. If you listened Jon, you heard that the Stars area actually doing pretty well.
I am guessing Walker had a good week of practice (yes, Manny like many coaches makes decisions based on how someone is looking in training when they are practicing shooting (inside joke for Jon) and I’m sure his height may have been an advantage against the Islanders as well. By the way, with the depth the Stars have it allows Lagos to make those sort of choices especially when the team has a lot of games close together.
I will say it again, I really like the 3 sub rule this season. If you have the depth I think it’s actually making for better player, more continuity and rhythm in a game and not as much about coaches just trying to get fresh legs into the game.
How many subs per game were allowed last year?
2nd division in the US has always been 5. US Open Cup is 7. Weird, I know. One thing you need to understand Jon is with the past schedules you would have USL-1 teams playing run ragged on road trips. They might have a game in Vancouver on Tuesday, then fly home to MN and then to Charleston for a Friday match and a Sunday match in Cary. Also, looking at D2 as a development league I think the thought was at that time to get more players on the field.
While I understood it for the many games they would play in short duration of time, the development thing never made a lot of sense at the pro level. Two things seemed to occur for many coaches.
#1) you made lots of meaningless subs at the end of a game to slow things down if you had a lead or a tie away.
#2) Like youth soccer you put in players that had fresh legs just to try to beat the other teams defense down. As previously stated, I believe this threw the rhythm of the game off and it didn’t mean better or just-as-good players came on or even that the switch was tactical.
BTW, it was the league (NASL) who made the change themselves this year. They thought it was more professional and it’s been a great switch in my opinion. It makes training sessions more intense as well. Even the players who have been in the league for a while have told me this.
I don’t think your question got properly answered Jon. The answer is 3.
Actually Bruce, it was 5 as I already answered. And as I already stated, this was a decision (I wrote an article about it) that was made by the NASL before the season started. It was 5 and it’s been 5 as long as I can remember.
Thanks for the info guys. I am quickly becoming a committed NASL fan.
I think the US (Open) Cup is 4, not 7.