photo by FC Edmonton
By FRANCO PANIZO
After enduring a heartbreaking defeat in Week 4, Shaun Saiko put FC Edmonton on his back and carried them to their first win of the season.
Saiko brought Edmonton's losing ways to a screeching halt on Sunday afternoon, scoring a hat-trick that inspired the Canadian club to a 3-0 victory over the Carolina RailHawks at Clarke Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
All three of Saiko's goals came in the second half, giving the 1,120 fans in attendance something to cheer about after a frustrating opening 45 minutes that saw RailHawks goalkeeper Ray Burse deny the Eddies of the opener three times.
For the RailHawks, the loss adds to their early-season misery. Carolina is now at the bottom of the NASL table at 0-4-3, and has surrendered a league-worst 15 goals this season.
Here is a look back at the rest of the Week 5 action in NASL:
SCORPIONS TOP ROWDIES TO PICK UP FIRST HOME WIN
The San Antonio Scorpions picked up their first home win in franchise history on Saturday, defeating the Tampa Bay Rowdies, 2-0, in front of a crowd of 9,536 fans at Heroes Stadium in San Antonio, Texas. Hans Denissen and Aaron Pitchkolan scored thirteen minutes apart in the second half, and that was good enough for San Antonio to pick up its second win of the season. The result dropped Tampa to 2-2-2 on the year.
STARS BLANK SILVERBACKS, STAY UNDEFEATED
Minnesota Stars FC entered the weekend as the only undefeated team team left in NASL, and that did not change after they picked up their second victory of the season. Ernest Tchoupe and Miguel Ibarra scored on each side of halftime to give Minnesota a 2-0 win at home over the Atlanta Silverbacks, who are still winless through the first five games of their season. Stars goalkeeper Matthew VanOekel recorded the cleansheet as 1,692 fans took in the proceedings at NSC Stadium in Blaine, Minnesota on Saturday night.
NASL Standings
1. Puerto Rico Islanders (3-1-1, 10 points, +6 GD)
2. Minnesota Stars FC (2-0-3, 9 points, +3 GD)
3. Ft. Lauderdale Strikers (2-1-3, 9 points, 0 GD)
4. Tampa Bay Rowdies (2-2-2, 8 points, 0 GD)
5. San Antonio Scorpions (2-1-2, 8 points, -1 GD)
6. FC Edmonton (1-3-1, 4 points, 0 GD)
7. Atlanta Silverbacks (0-1-4, 4 points, -2 GD)
8. Carolina RailHawks (0-4-3, 4 points, -6 GD)
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What do you make of Edmonton defeating Carolina? More impressed by San Antonio's win, or that they are still drawing high attendance numbers? Surprised the Silverbacks are winless up to this point in the season?
Share your thoughts below.
I agree with yankiboy. I think Atlanta got a bit hot under the collar with the frustration bound to occur missing a large portion of their starting roster not to mention the Stars form has settled in. I haven’t seen the Stars play this well outside of the playoffs last year. Atlanta was great at home on 4/28 and could come into form in relatively quick order provided they keep their heads together.
Franco, you could look at the Atlanta glass as being half full instead of half empty. Sure, they haven’t won a match yet, but hey–they’ve only lost one and that was on the road, playing the current league champs…
NE Revs beat me to it. That state is bigger than several countries. It’s not like we are talking about putting a third club in the state of_______(fill in the blank yourself so that nobody gets their feelings hurt); the clubs would be seperated by 200-250 miles or so.
It’s amazing what they are managing to do down in San Anton.
Why would you pass on San Antonio just because Texas already has two teams? Makes no sense. Texas is a big state. Why wouldn’t you want to try and duplicate the PNW rivalry there (Houston=Seattle, San Antonio=Portland and Dallas=Vancouver). It would definitely be better to put a second team in NY that no one cares about.
Amazing attendance in san antonio. Too bad they’ll never get an MLS team . Already too many in texas!
Didn’t see the Rowdies/Scorpion match, but did read about the crowds they’re getting in San Antonio.
Kudos to the fans out that. I don’t think they’ve had less than 9k for any home game.
Gale hasn’t played a minute for the RailHawks yet this season.
He was dealing with the same nagging injury that kept him out of Olympic qualifying.
I don’t even know if he’s made the bench yet.
Isn’t Gale Agbossmounde on the Railhawks? And their D is the leagues worst? Ouch!
Love that Ibarra signed with MN. They have Walker and Ibarra now… UC Irvine pipeline. Hahaha.