NASL Week 21 Recap: The Stretch Run Begins

With five matches remaining for all eight NASL teams before the playoffs begin, the stretch run is here and the games will get more intense as teams battle for a favorable spot in the playoffs. The Carolina RailHawks and Puerto Rico Islanders have already clinched playoff berths, and Atlanta has been eliminated from playoff contention. But for FC Tampa Bay, FC Edmonton, NSC Minnesota and Montreal, every game now is very meaningful as one of the four teams will not make it to the playoffs.

FC Tampa Bay won the third installment of the Florida derby Saturday evening, shutting out the Fort Lauderdale Strikers 2-0 at their Lockhart Stadium home. The Puerto Rico Islanders extended their winning streak, getting a stoppage time goal to drop FC Edmonton 3-2 but were unable to gain ground on league-leaders the Carolina RailHawks, who knocked off the Atlanta Silverbacks 4-2.  And the Montreal Impact have awakened from their season-long slumber, getting the best of NSC Minnesota 2-0.

Puerto Rico Islanders 3-2 FC Edmonton

The Islanders have made second place their own, as they now have a 13-5-5 mark with five games to play in the regular NASL season. They’ve now won five in a row, although FC Edmonton made it difficult Saturday in Bayamon.

Harry Sinkgraven’s Edmonton team has been slumping lately after such a marvelous first half of the season, but the expansion side got back on the right track last week against the Silverbacks and are in a fourth place tie with NSC Minnesota.  Three points gained in Bayamon would have been ideal.

But it was not to be. Close, but no cigar. Rookie Shaun Saiko nabbed the game’s first goal right before the half hour mark, sending a long distance shot into the upper corner for his eighth tally of the season. But the Islanders responded twice before the first half ended, with Nicholas Addlery scoring in the 40th minute and Jonathan Fana netting three minutes later to send the Islanders into the halftime dressing room with the lead.

FC Edmonton’s fine young forward, Kyle Porter, looked to grab his team a share of the points at the game’s end, knocking in his seventh tally of the year.  But veteran defender Jay Needham played hero for the Juan Ramon Loubriel crowd of over 2,700, scoring the game-winner in the last minute of stoppage time. Colin Clarke’s Islanders have now won five straight NASL matches — their last loss was a 1-0 defeat in Montreal on July 31.

Carolina RailHawks 4-2 Atlanta Silverbacks

The Atlanta Silverbacks ended their goal drought Saturday evening in front of over 3,300 fans at Silverbacks Stadium, but to their misfortune allowed more goals than they scored, losing again to the RailHawks, this time by a  4-2 score. Carolina swept the season series with Atlanta.

Just as in the RailHawks’ previous visit to the Peach State this season, the Silverbacks jumped on their guests for an early lead. Rookie defender Willie Hunt nodded in his third goal of the season in the 26th minute, from a Ciaran O’Brien corner kick.  But the Silverbacks had no answer for Carolina’s Etienne Barbara, who equalized two minutes later, and three minutes after that Carolina had the lead, as Carolina newcomer Tony McManus steered a shot through the crowded box following a corner kick to give Martin Rennie’s team the lead.

Former University of Washington midfielder Raphael Cox brought the Silverbacks back into the game with a 76th minute shot from a rebound on the edge of the six yard box. It was Cox’ first NASL goal.

But Jose Manuel Abundis’ young Silverbacks side again drooped as the game neared closing. Two penalty kicks awarded to the RailHawks in the last eleven minutes of the match resulted in two goals by Barbara, giving the Maltese star a hat trick for the evening and a total of 20 goals on the season, almost double the amount scored by the NASL’s second leading scorer, Mike Ambersley of FC Tampa Bay, who has netted 11 times. The second penalty was awarded when Atlanta goalkeeper Felipe Quintero taunted Barbara as he lay on the ground following a collision. That silly move also resulted in Quintero being ejected from the game.

The RailHawks had been in a mini-slump, but with their wins last week and Saturday have kept a fairly safe lead of seven points over the surging Puerto Rico Islanders with five matches remaining. Carolina also set a season franchise record for wins, with 16 so far in 2011.

“We scored four goals away from home, which is great, and we showed a lot of character when it was 2-2 with 15 minutes to go,” said  Rennie. “That was our sixth away win of the season, so we’re proud of that as well. It’s tough to come here. They attack well and they’ve got good players going forward, so in the end it was a good win and an important win.”

Atlanta outshot Carolina 12-10.

Fort Lauderdale Strikers 0-2 FC Tampa Bay

FC Tampa Bay are making the Florida derby their own playground. After three installments, Tampa Bay now has won twice and drawn once against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. Their final meeting is on the last matchday of the season, September 24, at Al Lang Stadium.

FC Tampa Bay started the season with only two goals in their four April matches, and have come a long way in attack since then. It must by gratifying to Coach Ricky Hill that the dynamic duo upfront is firing on all cylinders, with both Aaron King and Mike Ambersley scoring Saturday evening to give them a combined total of 19 goals for this season. FC Tampa Bay now have a firm grip on the third berth in the NASL standings, five points ahead of FC Edmonton and NSC Minnesota, while Montreal is only three points from catching the Strikers for the final NASL playoff spot.

For more on the match, see Armando Diaz’ article.

NSC Minnesota 0-2 Montreal Impact

Photo by Jeremy Olson - www.digitalgopher.net

After 23 games, Montreal now has 25 points, ten of which have come in the Impact’s last four matches. A draw and three consecutive wins have the Impact looking more like the team that many expected them to be before the season kicked off — a team with strong defending and an efficient attack.

Saturday night, Montreal won their first game in Minnesota since 1997, thanks in large part to former NY Red Bull Sinisa Ubiparipovic. The 28-year-old native of Bosnia got the Impact ahead quickly, scoring in the 6th minute. Ryan Pore passed to Simon Gatti, who found Ubiparipovic, and the midfielder whistled an upper-corner shot past Stars’ keeper Joe Warren.

Ubiparovic scored the only other goal of the match in the 72nd minute.  Evan Bush earned his sixth clean sheet of the season for the Impact.

For more on the match, click here.

NASL News

One more NASL match remains in August as the red-hot Puerto Rico Islanders again host FC Edmonton on Tuesday night. The holiday weekend features all eight NASL teams in action Saturday evening, as the Carolina RailHawks host FC Tampa Bay and the Atlanta Silverbacks play at home against the Puerto Rico Islanders. Fort Lauderdale will play host to the surging Montreal Impact while NSC Minnesota travels to Foote Field to battle with FC Edmonton.