photo courtesy of Puerto Rico Islanders/San Antonio Scorpions
By FRANCO PANIZO
The San Antonio Scorpions were tripped up in their quest to finish the regular season atop the NASL table, as they suffered a defeat that has made things much tighter in the standings.
The Puerto Rico Islanders picked up a surprise 2-1 win over the Scorpions on Sunday, with Nicholas Addlery scoring twice to lift the visitors to victory in front of 10,183 disappointed fans at Heroes Stadium. The result did not drop San Antonio out of first place, but it did help bring the Islanders and Tampa Bay Rowdies both within one point of the league leaders with almost two months left in the season.
Addlery put Puerto Rico up, 2-0, by scoring goals in the 31st and 51st minutes, respectively. The Scorpions pulled one back through Pablo Campos, but they never managed to find an equalizer.
Here is a look back at the rest of the Week 18 action in NASL:
ROWDIES SCORE TWICE LATE TO TIE RAILHAWKS IN THRILLER
The Carolina RailHawks were four minutes away from pulling out a big a result at home, but the Tampa Bay Rowdies mustered up some late magic to grab a result. The Rowdies scored twice in the final five minutes of their match against the RailHawks to erase a two-goal deficit and pick up a point with a 3-3 draw at WakeMed Soccer Park on Saturday. The 5,002 Carolina fans in attendance were convinced they were leaving with a win in hand, but goals from Luke Mulholland in the 86th minute and Takuya Yamada four minutes later changed all that.
SILVERBACKS TRUMP STRIKERS
The inconsistency continued for the Ft. lauderdale Strikers this past weekend, and the ones to benefit most from that were the Atlanta Silverbacks. Led by a brace from Pedro Mendes, the Silverbacks picked up a 4-2 win over the Strikers in front of 4,090 fans at Atlanta Silverbacks Park on Saturday. Ft. Lauderdale came from behind twice to tie things up in the match, but the last-place Silverbacks made sure they walked away with the three points by scoring two times in the second half.
EDDIES TIE STARS ON LATE COX GOAL
Michael Cox donned the hero's cape for FC Edmonton this past weekend, scoring the equalizer in the club's 1-1 draw with Minnesota Stars FC at Clarke Stadium on Saturday. Cox found the back of the net two minutes before the final whistle, pulling the Eddies level and sending the 1,539 supporters into a frenzy. Cox's goal negated a first-half finish from from Martin Nunez.
NASL STANDINGS
1. San Antonio Scorpions (10-4-5, 35 points, +17 GD)
2. Puerto Rico Islanders (10-6-4, 34 points, +7 GD)
3. Tampa Bay Rowdies (10-6-4, 34 points, +5 GD)
4. Minnesota Stars FC (7-7-6, 27 points, 0 GD)
5. Ft. Lauderdale Strikers (7-8-6, 27 points, -4 GD)
6. Carolina RailHawks (6-6-7, 25 points, -5 GD)
7. FC Edmonton (4-10-5, 17 points, -5 GD)
8. Atlanta Silverbacks (4-11-5, 17 points, -15 GD)
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What do you think of this weekend's NASL action? Think the Scorpions' loss is going to have a snowball affect on them? Impressed with the Rowdies' resiliency?
Share your thoughts below.