NASL Week 18 Recap: Islanders Beat Scorpions, Trail League Leaders by a Point
Pedro Mendes, who was brought in by Atlanta coach Eric Wynalda, celebrates the Silverbacks opening goal in the 4-2 win over the Strikers.
Sunday’s final regular season meeting between the two teams who’ve jockeyed for first place most of the season ended with an away win for the Puerto Rico Islanders, 2-1, at the San Antonio Scorpions’ Heroes Field. Saturday in the NASL, the Tampa Bay Rowdies staged a furious comeback to earn a point against their hosts, the Carolina RailHawks, while the Atlanta Silverbacks got revenge for last week’s loss in Fort Lauderdale by defeating the Strikers 4-2 at Silverbacks Stadium and the visiting Minnesota Stars split points with FC Edmonton.
San Antonio Scorpions 1-2 Puerto Rico Islanders
After scoring eight goals last week against Carolina, the San Antonio Scorpions came back to earth a bit as they could only manage one goal in their 2-1 loss to the visiting Puerto Rico Islanders. The win puts the Islanders, along with the Tampa Bay Rowdies, just a point behind the first-place Scorpions.
Adrian Whitbread’s Islanders have hit a few bumps in the road lately after cruising along so effectively earlier in the season, but they showed their professionalism earning the win in San Antonio. Jamaican Nicholas Addlery supplied both of the Islanders’ goals, one in each half, to build a 2-0 lead. Pablo Campos, the NASL’s leading scorer, halved the Scorpions’ deficit with a tally in the 70th minute, but couldn’t come any closer.
“I think in the second half we started to create chances with a lot of action around their box but we had some near misses,” said head coach Tim Hankinson. “I think overall they had the upper hand on us tonight and that’s something we will have to figure out.” The Islanders have won three of the four 2012 matches with the Scorpions.
Scorpions newcomer Jeff Cunningham, the all-time leading goalscorer in MLS history, made his San Antonio debut as a second half substitute. For more on the game, see Andrew Arellano’s recap on IMSoccer News.
Carolina RailHawks 3-3 Tampa Bay Rowdies
It’s one thing to suffer an 8-0 blowout….an embarrassment to be written off not long after the final whistle blows. But to give up two late goals and turn three points into one is not something any coach likes to see his team do. Carolina coach Colin Clarke witnessed his team give up a lead to the streaking Rowdies Saturday night in Cary. The RailHawks’ last home game was a victory over the Stars that took over six hours to complete because of weather delays. This weekend, the 5,000 RailHawks fans on hand wished the game would have ended in the 85th minute.
The Rowdies got off on the right foot, as midfielder Shane Hill scored from a Luke Mulholland pass in the 17th minute, but from there the RailHawks took control and scored three unanswered goals. Former MLS player Nick Zimmerman scored three minutes before intermission to equalize, and three minutes after intermission to give the RailHawks a 2-1 lead. Another former MLS player, Jason Garey, assisted on Zimmerman’s second goal and then scored himself, just minutes later, from a quickly taken throw-in to give the RailHawks a 3-1 margin with 40 minutes to play.
The RailHawks held that lead for 35 of those remaining minutes, but the Rowdies haven’t surged to the second spot in the NASL without a strong dose of determination, and they demonstrated that in the game’s last five minutes. Mulholland showed his value by scoring from a Mike Ambersley pass on a half volley in the 86th minute. Ambersley looked to tie the game in the 90th minute when he attempted a penalty conversion following a RailHawks handball in the box, but Carolina’s Ray Burse saved the PK. End of story.
Not quite. Despite not converting the penalty, the Rowdies earned a road point when Mulholland again played provider, this time for midfielder Takuya Yamada, as the Japanese veteran scored from Mulholland’s corner kick to fashion a dramatic end to the match.
“We have been in this position before and we were able to fight through it,” said Rowdies defender Daniel Scott. “It just shows the
resiliency of this team and how we have come together this season.”
Atlanta Silverbacks 4-2 Fort Lauderdale Strikers
After beating the Silverbacks 5-3 at Lockhart Stadium last Saturday, the Atlanta club reversed the tables on the visiting Strikers, winning by a similar two-goal margin as they prevailed 4-2 before over 4,000 fans at Silverbacks Stadium. The win was the third for the Silverbacks in less than 30 days, after only gaining one victory in the first three months of the season. Atlanta now trails Carolina by eight points for the last NASL playoff spot, while the Strikers are tied in points with the Minnesota Stars for fourth place, two points ahead of the RailHawks.
Atlanta’s Mendes brothers, who each scored in last week’s game, combined to give the Silverbacks an early lead when Paolo found Pedro in the box with a cross, with Pedro heading into the net past the Strikers’ goalkeeper Matt Glaeser. The Strikers, though, equalized on a Scott Gordon goal in the 27th minute, only to have Atlanta forward Matt Horth put the Silverbacks back on top two minutes later when he headed in a Mike Randolph cross.
The Strikers again knotted the scoreline early in the second half, as their prolific rookie, Mark Anderson, scored his 11th goal of the season with Gordon assisting. But ten minutes later, in the 64th minute, Atlanta midfielder Borfor Carr launched a shot from distance that beat Glaeser and put the Silverbacks ahead for good. Carr, the 25-year-old native of Liberia, played last season for Atlanta’s reserve squad, and his goal was his second of the season. Atlanta put the game away for good in the 78th minute when Pedro Mendes scored again, his third goal in two games.
“Full credit to Atlanta, they were the better team tonight,” said Strikers head coach Daryl Shore. “We can’t keep giving up goals like we are and expect to win soccer games.” Though still in last place in the league standings, Atlanta are now fifth in scoring for the season, ahead of Minnesota, Puerto Rico and Edmonton going into Sunday’s San Antonio-Puerto Rico match. The Silverbacks also held the Strikers to only 8 shots Saturday after allowing them 27 the week before.
FC Edmonton 1-1 Minnesota Stars FC
The champion Minnesota Stars earned their first point since July 12 with their 1-1 draw with FC Edmonton. The Stars had defeated the Eddies 4-3 in their only other meeting of the 2012 season thus far.
The Stars earned a late first-half lead as Martin Nunez scored his fifth goal of the season in the 44th minute, and looked to come away with all three points until Edmonton’s Michael Cox was sent through and shot with just two minutes remaining in regulation. Stars ‘keeper Matt VanOekel came up with the save but Minnesota defender Ernest Tchoupe knocked the ball back into the goal to notch the score for Edmonton.
Eddies defender Paul Hamilton will miss the next Edmonton match after seeing red following a dangerous challenge on the Stars’ Gerson Moura, who was stretchered off the field. For more on the match, see Brian Quarstad’s earlier recap.
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Atlanta!
The one thing that is consistent about the refereeing in SA this year is that It’s consistently horrible. Can someone tell these ppl what a handball is? 10k people saw it but the idiot in green didn’t. Not to mention the 7 different times they got the po
ssession wrong on a throw in. This was pathetic.
@kevthegerman, First of all I want to thank you for your continued readership and for leaving comments on IMS. But on this one I have to way disagree with you.
The Scorpions have been the positive recipient of some awful calls this year at Heros with the bulk of those calls going against the visiting team. I started to do some research on this a week or so ago but never found the time to complete it because it’s going to be a lot of work. But from my recollection, the Scorpions have gotten an awful lot of penalty kicks given to them at Heros. And this is not just me spouting but what I am hearing from others as well.
I watched the whole match and felt the ref did a pretty good job of allowing the teams to play but keeping things under control. It was a great match for the neutral fan.
To be fair, the turf field at Heroes is small and brutal for any soccer player. Soccer is not meant to be played on it. So the Scorpions gain the advantage knowing the field while the visitors are sitting ducks. So I expect them to get more calls.
The team doesn’t look nearly as aggressive away from their turf and crowd.
We know the refs in the NASL stink and we badly need better refs from the top down in U.S. soccer. But I do have some sympathy for them. NASL is a very watered down version of MLS with its play. It is a very aggressive, often clumsy, and not very skilled league. It is what it is. So it can be very hard game for the officials to manage. You see the same problems in USL-Pro games.
BQ- I have no issues with you disagreeing with me
i love reading the site.. However, i am not talking about a bad tackle not called in the box, I am talking about a clear handball right in front of the ref and the assistant referee who was on the nearside of the call. I don’t really care about the lack of good officiating the rest of the game, the officiating is going to be on par with the overall play of the league. Im talking a CLEAR handball that 10k+ fans saw.
The game from an objective standpoint was AWESOME. Especially the last 20 mins when Hans and Jeff came in.. Jeff hasn’t had enough time to learn playing with the team, but i can already see that he will find himself in the right spots. Dennisson however turned the game around. In the end the finishing is what killed us.. Others may disagree but i felt our “one game loan” keeper did a good job and was hung out to dry on both goals from us.
And trust me, i don’t think we like the turf and the short field any more than the rest of us… From what i am hearing Gordon is going with Phase II and moving straight to 11k seating stadium for next year.. stay tuned for some announcements in the next few weeks…