Minnesota Stars Head to Fort Lauderdale with 2-Goal Lead in NASL Championship Series
(View Jeremy Olson’s photo gallery of the match)
Stars players celebrate while the Strikers agonize after Lucas Rodriguez scored Minnesota's 3rd goal of the night. Photos by Jeremy Olson - www.digitalgopher.net
Stars CEO Djorn Buchholz was at the unveiling of the brand new NASL championship trophy on Friday night at Brit’s Pub in downtown Minneapolis. While others gathered around the sparkling new trophy to have photos taken he refused, saying he’d wait until he could do that in Fort Lauderdale after the Stars had won it. Superstitious perhaps? But after Saturday night’s 3-1 Minnesota win over the Fort Lauderdale Strikers it looks as if he may very well be having that photo taken next Saturday evening, when the two teams meet again for the final leg in the total goals series. Minnesota has a 2-goal lead over the Strikers.
The Stars played another solid 90 minutes of playoff soccer on Saturday evening, thrilling the 4,511 fans at the NSC Stadium in near perfect autumnal weather.
Minnesota opened their account early when Neil Hlavaty scored his 5th goal of the season. Andrei Gotsmanov was fouled just before entering the penalty box after he dribbled past two Strikers. Hlavaty took the kick and curled the ball low, around the wall and snuck it past Striker goalkeeper Matt Glaeser, hitting the inside of the post.
The early goal helped Minnesota to play a bit more cautiously throughout the first half as each side had limited chances.
Seven minutes into the second half it looked as if Minnesota had allowed Fort Lauderdale back into the game when a long diagonal cross came deep to the far post. With no pressure, left side defender Justin Davis chested the ball back to Stars keeper Joe Warren. But he directed the ball low and to Warren’s left. The Stars keeper dove but couldn’t keep the ball out of the goal, leveling the score for the Strikers.
Yet again the Stars showed their resiliency as they have many times throughout the year and especially in the playoffs. Within one minute the Stars were back in the lead with a fantastic goal by Luke Mulholland. The English-born forward accepted a redeeming cross from Davis on the left flank where he had made a deep run. The Stars forward took a touch and then slammed an out-swinger with his right foot through traffic and into the far side netting. The 20-yard screamer put Minnesota back in front 2-1.
After a good spell of play for the visitors Minnesota added to their tally by scoring a third on the night and bringing their total goal aggregate to plus 2. Lucas Rodriguez, who has been playing his best soccer of the year during the playoffs, dribbled past 4 Strikers defenders and slotted the ball inside the near left post.
“For me particularly, when we play the Strikers they have in the midfield Eduardo Coudet who is a big star in Argentina,” said Rodriguez who is also from Argentina. “It’s an honor for me to be playing on the same field as him. It gives me that extra, wanting to play well, because I’m playing against a huge star like him. I have a lot of respect for him.”
Mulholland, who was named IMS Man of the Match, stated he had an important role on defense in the game and the team’s collective defensive play at midfield as well as in the back is what has helped the Stars in their late season run. “I’m very happy to be rewarded with the goal after trying to help the team out defensively by taking out #17 (Bryan Arguez) who we’ve identified as one of the key players. I’m playing in attacking position but still at the same time I’m doing lots of defensive work. I have to pick and choose when I can go forward. I’m just happy the goal came tonight.”
“I definitely think we’re strong in the midfield. We have the ability to win the midfield and that’s where you win most of the games. By doing that we create a lot of chances in the game.”
Stars head coach Manny Lagos echoed Mulholland’s remarks. “I think we are doing a lot of the little things better defensively to make it hard for the other team to keep the ball. I think it’s an important part of our game, because once we win possession I think we are pretty good at it. If we can really disrupt certain areas of the field of other teams we get to keep the ball longer and that can frustrate them.”
The Stars sang to and with the Dark Clouds supporters after their victory and the last home game of the season.
“I’m really proud of how the guys fought and played and how they reacted to various situations. Particularly when we got the own-goal. It was great to see them battle back and get a very positive result going into Fort Lauderdale.”
“We have to be better with the ball,” said Strikers head coach Daryl Shore, whose team felt the pressure of the Stars’ midfield defense. “We didn’t have a good start. We gave up a goal early and I thought we actually reacted pretty well to that. We got into halftime down a goal and we were fortunate to get the goal back after a miscue by them. But our reaction afterwards wasn’t good, giving up a goal minutes later.”
“We weren’t good with the ball tonight and guys on our team who are usually good with the ball had tough nights. We put ourselves in tough spots with our passes. We weren’t a very good passing team tonight and tried to dribble out of pressure too many times instead of passing out of pressure which is what we’ve been good at.”
“But it’s halftime and we have to regroup knowing we’re down 2 goals and they’ve got to come and play at our place and there’s 90 more minutes left. It’s a tough pill to swallow but there’s a lot more soccer to be played.”
Lagos reflected after the game on the largest Stars crowd on record and the biggest Minnesota soccer crowd since September of 2008 when the Thunder played Montreal in the playoffs. “It meant a ton,” said Lagos, referring to the fans and to the Dark Cloud supporters group who numbered well over 200 and were singing and chanting all evening. “I think it was a great year for Minnesota soccer. I think the fans in their own way were so vital to support us. Yes, we need more fans and yes we need to get the word out that this is a really fun entertaining experience. But the fans we have are very intelligent and into the games. I think in this playoff run a lot of their energy has helped us. In the first half we got broken down and you could feel the fans’ nervousness, their tension. That makes the guys defend a little better.”
“This was the last home game this year and maybe next year it will be different. So to go out the way we did, with the win, I’m happy for the guys that they got to work hard and play for the fans. I’m also happy for the fans because they put a lot of energy, time and support into this team and for them to feel good about this team is just a win-win.”
“At Wilmington (Hammerheads) we got large crowds as well, but it has more of a family feel,” said Mulholland who was brought in late in the season to help the Stars in the midfield. “Here the fans are really great. Especially with the singing and chanting. The roar from the crowd after I scored my goal felt great. But the supporters were singing from the first minute to the last minute tonight. It definitely helped us to win the game as they were our 12th man.”
Lagos knows his team still has a tough job ahead of them next Saturday. “It’s going to be a big crowd down in Fort Lauderdale and they’re going to be excited to host us. It’s going to be a huge challenge. We’ve already staring to think about that and had our first meeting thinking about next week.”
“We haven’t won anything yet,” said Rodriguez. “We still are going to have to go over there (Fort Lauderdale) and it’s going to be a harder game than today. Thank God we have a good defense and hopefully it will be enough to bring the trophy home next week.”
If Minnesota can get the job done, Lagos will be the first to bring a division 2 pro soccer championship back to Minnesota since his father Buzz did it in 1999 with the Thunder. And CEO Buchholz can finally get his picture taken with the new trophy – as he carries it back to Minnesota.
12-year-old Bradley Millard shows off his Mulholland jersey after the Stars midfielder threw it into the crowd.
Notes:
One of the highlights of the night was when Mulholland was subbed off for Devin Del Do in the 84th minute. Mulholland stripped off his jersey on the sideline and with a very large smile threw it into the crowd. “Each player has 2 jerseys and I’ve never used my other one,” said Mulholland. “So I figured it was the last game. I only have one more to go so I thought I’d give it to one of the fans to say thank you for the great support I’ve gotten since I’ve been here.”
The recipient was a very happy 12-year-old Bradley Millard who lives in Lino Lakes and plays for White Bear Lake Soccer Club. Millard made a dash for the jersey that didn’t quite make it up into the stands on the first try.
Stats
Shots:
MN-12
FLS-6
SOG:
MN-5
FLS-4
Saves:
MN-4
FLS-5
Corners:
MN-1
FLS-2
Fouls:
MN-9
FL-6
Comments are closed.
That was an intense match. A lot of new faces in the crowd. Hopefully the newcomers will stick with the Stars into next season. Kudos to all the folks responsible for the tifo, streamers and smoke bombs! My oldest two daughters had a great time! I did also want to note that the officiating was some of the best I have seen in the NASL this season. I know I sometimes sound like a broken record complaining about the officiating, but last night was refreshing.
I guaranteed the Stars would make the play-offs and I am sticking by my guarantee of a Stars win in the NASL championship. You can take that one to the bank!
COME ON YOU STARS!
Soccer Boy,
They brought in some of the better refs for this one and the director for pro refs for US Soccer was there assessing.
The first picture says it all!
The Stars played their best game of the year. They possessed the ball very well at midfield and played calmly on the back line. Early in the year their midfield play was spotty at best but they’ve really picked it up in the post season.
Mulholland’s speed is incredible. He’s not much for size but he sure is quick. Lucas Rodriguez nearly scored a goal about 2 minutes before the one he tallied on a nearly identical play. He realized that late in the game the defense didn’t collapse on him but he took one too many touches while trying to get through the box. Luckily he got another chance just a minute or so later and put it away by doing the same exact thing.
And, Brian Civilikas nearly got a great header goal on a nice cross with a few minutes to play. Would have been nice to get that one.
But what a great game with great atmosphere in front of the biggest Stars crowd I’ve ever seen. That kind of high quality soccer will hopefully keep them coming back. I agree about the refs. Many games this year, the refs have been horrible, but Saturday’s crew was very good.
The one thing I will say, Manny went to his bench to get some guys into the game with 5 mintues to play subbing in Takada, Del Do and Braccallelo. Unfortunately, those three didn’t have the same rhythm and gave up a lot of balls that could have led to another goal, but the Stars held it together at the end and now have a two goal advantage for Sunday.
And the way the team came to the sideline’s supporters section (The grey clouds area) and celebrated with the fans was great. They normally come over to the section after each game anyway, but this time was special and there was just some electric feelings both ways that you just don’t find these days. It was really really fun.
Now let’s finish up some business and we all can enjoy the championship!
Well, can’t even say how disappointed I am about that game. First off, you always give credit where credit is due. That was easily the best game the Stars played against the Strikers this year, and to their credit, it came when it mattered most.
I did not expect the sub par game we got from the Strikers. I liked the lineup, it was the same lineup that completely dominated the Eddies and Islanders. They just seemed, I don’t know, nervous maybe? Like the pressure got to them. Giving up the early goal was brutal, but I thought they reacted well the rest of the first half playing decently. I think Shore hit the nail on the head in talking about the poor passing by the Strikers, particularly through the midfield in this game. Being very effective with that the three previous playoff games resulted in a lot of great chances that Shriver and Abe were finishing. We didn’t see hardly any chances this game. Give Minnesota credit for controlling the midfield play in this one, I think it was the difference.
All that said, it’s certainly not over. We’re coming off 7 goals in two home playoff games already this month, so this isn’t an insurmountable lead. That third goal by the Stars will make it real tough of course. We need to get the first goal Saturday night. I know the Stars have defended pretty well for the most part, with the exception of that wild road game in Cary in the semis. You look at that game, at a Railhawks team that played for a good while and scored a couple of goals after even being down a man, and you see a chance for the Strikers. The crowd will be big for certain. Don’t know if we’ll make the 10,000 a lot of the faithful that have been at the stadium all year are hoping for, but I think it’s a lock for the largest crowd of the year which means we’re looking at 7,000+ I suspect. We’ll be loud, we’ll Defend the Fort, and we’ll be hoping for a few goals that will give us a chance to finish off an exciting playoff run with the Championship! Come on Strikers, we can still do this!
Great write up BQ. Really interesting quote from Rodriguez about playing against Coudet.
Thanks Paul. That was the nugget I came away with also. Thought that was very interesting. Kind of like when you’re on the field with Tony Sanneh and the Drinky Crows.
@Strikers Return: I only hope that your squad can match the intensity that you and the fans are going to bring to the stands.
As we discussed in the podcast (which the brillian BQ will have up sometime in the next day or two)–I don’t think you boys are going to fair much better this weekend.
The Stars have the edge and class to take it all this year! The Stinkers peaked too early.
@Bart: Wow.
Your commentary is even worse than mine.
Are you trying to take my spot or something? Coz you can’t have it. I have a contract (kind of sort of).
Ah caan’t tulk dat gud. Me wive beet me two hurd ovur dh las cuple ov dayz.