By JOHN BOSCHINI
It ha's been a difficult opening couple of games for the MLS-bound Montreal Impact.
A loss to rival Carolina Railhawks gave Montreal an 0-2 start for the first time since 2002 while the Railhawks managed to rebound from an opening-week loss.
Puerto Rico is the early leader as the Islanders wrapped up their road trip with an easy win against FC Tampa Bay.
Atlanta continued its early struggles with a home loss to expansion side FC Edmonton, which is 2-0. In Florida, Ft. Lauderdale and the NSC Minnesota Stars battled to the first draw of the NASL season.
Here is a recap of the week two action in the NASL.
Carolina Railhawks 2, Montreal Impact 1
Saturday's game in Cary was almost called off as severe thunderstorms caused wide-spread damage in eastern North Carolina. An 11th-minute goal from Kevin Hatchi put Montreal ahead and Carolina had conceded first at home for the second consecutive game. However, the Impact's lead was short-lived as Etienne Barbara's header from a Floyd Frank's corner found the back of the net. Carolina had the lead before halftime when Pablo Cantos chipped Bill Gaudette.
Neither team threatened much after halftime as Carolina keeper Brad Knighton had only one save to make. With the win, the Railhawks extend their home-unbeaten streak against Montreal to six games.
FC Tampa Bay 0, Puerto Rico Islanders 2
The Puerto Rico Islanders struggled in the regular-season before catching on fire in the postseason in 2010.
That doesn't seem to be the problem as Puerto Rico finds itself at the top of the NASL table with two opening road wins. Jonathan Fana bagged a double with goals in the 35th and the 79th minutes. FC Tampa Bay recorded 23 shots but could only force Ray Burse into a couple of fine saves.
Ft. Lauderdale Strikers 1, NSC Minnesota Stars 1
A sluggish start led to some late-game drama as Ft. Lauderdale avoided opening its season with two-straight losses. Devin Del Do opened the scoring just after the hour mark after Andrei Gotsmanov found him at the back post with a free kick from 35 yards out.
Minnesota held on for the next 30 minutes and were seconds away from six points from two road games before a fateful error from Brian Kallman gifted Ft. Lauderdale a penalty in the firs minute of extra time. Eduardo Coudet put his spot kick straight down the middle and the Strikers have their first point of the season.
Atlanta Silverbacks 0, FC Edmonton 1
FC Edmonton continued its surprising run of form at the expense of Atlanta Silverbacks as two teams new to minor-league soccer squared off. The lone goal was scored just 11 minutes in when Alex Surprenant beat Jimmy Maurer.
Atlanta escaped into halftime only down a goal and came back into the game after the restart with the Silverbacks best chance coming when Mario Perez's free kick was denied by the crossbar. Their comeback was ended six minutes before time when John Cox was sent off.
WEEK 3 SCHEDULE
Wednesday
Edmonton FC at Carolina Railhawks, 7:00
Saturday
FC Tampa Bay at Montreal Impact, 2:30
Ft. Lauderdale Strikers at Atlanta Silverbacks, 7:30
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What did you think of this weekend's games? Surprised by Edmonton's start? Are the Puerto Rico Islanders the early favorites? Concerned about the Montrel Impact in trouble?
Share your thoughts below.
That red card in the Atlanta game was easily one of the worst I’ve ever seen given.
Also, attendance of over 3100.
I’m stunned they had 1200. They called off the NC State Spring Football Red-White game about 10 minutes into the second half and sent everyone home so they could beat the storms. After they blew through, I was surprised anyone would even try to go to the soccer game. Glad the ‘Hawks won, tho 🙂
The Montreal – Carolina game only had 1219. Pretty low (esp. for a Saturday), but realize there was some horrendous weather in the area … over 20 people were killed in North Carolina. There was even serious discussion of postponing the game.
Thanks
Actually, P. Rico was horrible. However, they took advantage of 2 simple mistakes. FC TAmpa should be quite good…They out-passed The Islanders and they were just a notch behind in timing. The game should have been a draw and it was sad The islanders got 2 points out of it. I was at the game. Tampa will start shooting more after total control, and hopefully, avoid letting in nonsense goals. Rico has 2 good forwards that were kept at bay most of the time.
Cheers
2,900 at the FCT v. P Rico match. Decent crowd for a Sunday night. Weather was awesome. Atmosphere great. I think getting an avg attendance of 3500-3700 is a reasonable goal.
That aside, the team fka the Rowdies dominated much of the second 1/2 but two defensive errors lead to pretty easy goals by two hobbits for the Islanders.
Rowdies need to shoot more. Passed up too many decent openings..even if a bit long range.
Any attendance numbers available?
In the Carolina/Montreal game, I’m not sure where you’re getting your information.
Etienne Barbara scored the equalizer on a nice piece of individual work with him slotting the ball near post with a possible slight deflection off a defender. The game winner by Pablo Campos was from Matt Watson.
I do know that Rusin had a header cleared off the line in the first half, but he definitely didn’t score a goal.
It’s good to see the Islander’s doing well again. I’ve been appreciating their giant-killer attitude the last few years in Open Cup and elsewhere.
Kinda OT, but wouldn’t it be beneficial to have the MLS Reserve teams play against USL competition? I think it could be a win-win, throwing money into the USL, and getting better games for the young MLSers to grow from.
I don’t know if it would be a format where MLS would actually have teams in the USL, or just set up friendlies every other weekend. It seems like that would be better than taking on college teams that are in their offseason.
What do I think of the w/e’s games? 1) For Montreal, another trip from YUL down to RDU and back … w/ a loss … no suspensions this time at least. 2) Is PRI for real – hmm, yes … or for expert opinions, we could just go ask the LA Galaxy.