Going into the third full week of the season many fans were waiting for the games to play out to expectations. While several did there was a few that didn't. So much like any new season we've still got a few surprises lingering for a few more weeks. There's a lot of ground to cover this week so let's get on with it.
In Friday's only match Richmond were able to overcome the Metros even though they got the Fenger and a stiff fight back from the home side. With Jacob Fenger firing the Metros into the early lead it took two goals from a Kevin Jeffrey spot kick and a nifty move from Rob Ukrop to put the Kickers into the lead. Nashville, not a team to be fingered this season, climbed back into the match on an 86th minute Jeff Houser goal. Unfortunately the draw didn't hold as Marco Ferruzzi scored from a nice pass sent in by Ukrop. Still, though, many didn't expect the Metros to be quite so tough this season and are showing a nice bit of pedigree to their squad. Now whether or not they turn into mongrels is yet to be seen.
This wasn't the last we'd hear of the Metros this weekend, though, as they had a match against Atlanta and the Wizard of Ig on Saturday. Apparently, though, they weren't able to buck the trend they began on Friday by bowing out in a tough one-goal loss to the Silverbacks. The 'Backs rode from Iggy and his strike partner Peirano to victory against the lone goal for Nashville which turned out to be from a Wall ball. His strike in the 85th minute continued a trend for the Metros which is to score a goal in the waning moments of a match in an attempt to send the opposition into a collective coronary which could lead the boys from Music City to a win via forfeit. One has to be impressed, though, by the fight the Metros have shown so far in making a go of it in this new season.
This wasn't the only action in the South Saturday night, though, because for the umpteenth time in this young season the Battery faced off against new boys the Eagles at Blackbaud Stadium. In what seemed to be an increasingly physical match-up the Battery leveled Charlotte by a score of 4-1 leaving their rivals looking like only so much spent Cinco de Mayo party favors. Early in the match, though, it looked like it might have gone the other way as Dustin Swinehart earned a spot kick, which Nate Watkins then converted in the 14th minute giving the Eagles the early advantage. Then because the Battery had been so giving only moments earlier defender Chris Allen decided to send a cross from the Battery's Brian Piesner into his own net. And that's about where the festivities ended in the first half as the opposing teams went into their locker rooms to down a pint of milk or Corona depending on which squad you're referring to.
It seems Corona and Conway create a lethal mixture as his two second-half goals, in the 66th and 90th minutes respectively, helped lead the way to the final margin for the Battery. Midfielder Matt Farris proved useful in scoring the goal that was sandwiched between Conway's shots in the 85th minute. Mac Cozier had a good match as well coming on late and grabbing two assists for the home side. Interestingly enough this ends the season series for these two emerging rivals until June 2nd which will mark their final meeting of the season.
Besides these matches there were a lot of Open Cup battles going on and one of those matches was nearly over before it even began as the D3 Northern Virginia Royals traveled to face Hershey and their bunch of Wildcats. NoVA didn't quite get the Fenger, no, instead they got the Feniger who did quite well in grabbing an assist on Kyle Swords' closer and the opening goal which started the scoring in their 4-0 win. Ze Roberto, no not that one, and Doug Watson bagged the other goals as they soundly trounced the Royals as if it were France in 1789.
Long Island faced South Jersey in another Open Cup match and gave the Barons quite a Rough Ride at the Mitch where they ran out 3-1 winners. The efforts of Ben Diallo, Cordt Weinstein, and Derrick Etienne were enough to lead the Riders to victory against the un-named scorer from South Jersey. Apparently no one quite knows who he is yet because as of press time there were no reports of the whereabouts of anyone who's scored for the Barons this season. They're off to a solid start on their season so far and will be hard pressed to keep it up as the rigors of the season roll on.
Pittsburgh and Reading locked up in a dual Open and Keystone Cup match that went down to the wire with the Hounds coming out one to the good. After 80 minutes the clubs appeared to be headed for a 0-0 dead lock when Reading's Eric Cuello forged a lead for the Rage in the 82nd minute. It became apparent very quickly that the Hounds weren't going to let Reading run out with their slim lead as it only took Phil Karn two minutes to bag the equalizer in the 84th. As regulation ended it appeared that the Rage had run out of steam, but not the kind once seen in the Lehigh Valley, as Pittsburgh grabbed the game-winner through a Leidy Clotz goal in the 98th minute.
Rochester, on the other hand, were unable to knock off the upstarts from Connecticut as they found themselves deadlocked 1-1 after two extra periods. It appeared easy going after a Tommy Tanner goal only two minutes in but after this brief lapse Adam Throop, the former Chicago Sockers star goalkeeper, held the Rhinos at bay. Then, 10 minutes past the half a move made by ex-MLS and Charleston Battery star, Temoc Suarez, led to the tying goal from former New England Revolution forward Fabio Zuniga. From that point on it appeared to be a series of outstanding plays from Throop combined with some outstanding organizational play that kept the Rhinos at bay while the Wolves used this match to show that maybe, just maybe, they can be fore real this season.
Out West Vancouver took on Seattle in their first regular season match-up even though they've already played each other several times during the pre-season. The already familiar rivals played the first regular season NASL reunion match with the initial match going to the Whitecaps after a nice goal from Darren Tilley on the 17-minute mark. Unfortunately for the Sounders there was one thing they could've done without hearing and that was the noise from a Leighton O'Brien penalty clanging off the post in the 56th minute after a Vancouver defender was sent off for a hand ball in the area. All in all it was a tough night on the turf for the Sounders who saw their indoor outdoor game take a hit against the Whitecaps.
In yet another Open Cup match San Diego, who have been newly re-christened the Flash, took on the Chico Rooks at home after suffering a loss on the road against the D3 club last week. Unfortunately only 300 people were there along with Tim Holt to watch Chugger Adair and Emmanuel Ayim put the game away in the last ten minutes. The San Diego club definitely left it late and will have to show better form if they plan on doing much during this season aside from hoping for survival.
In the Southwest El Paso padded their advantage in Open Cup qualifying as they defeated both the Tucson Fireballs and Arizona Sahuaros or Saguaros or… oh forget it. Anyway, they did not beat these clubs at the same time mind you only the baseball teams in Spring Training play with split squads in Arizona. In Saturday's match against the Fireballs the Patriots jumped out to a 2-0 lead going into the half after Antonio Masillas and Jose Lomeli put the tisket in the tasket and the biscuit in the basket. Tucson made a fierce comeback on the foot of Jake Gwin who put in two goals in a ten minute span of the second half. Unfortunately for the Fireballs they were well quenched by a Carlos Farias free kick, which deflected into the home side's net giving the A-League visitors victory.
The Patriots had a slightly easier time of it against Arizona even though they were held for 80 minutes by the club they had beaten at home 7-0 only three short weeks ago. Michael Griego scored in the 86th minute while Victor Mora put the nail in the Saguaros coffin in the 88th minute. While the Patriots did have a handful in their two Open Cup qualifiers last weekend it will be interesting to see what they can accomplish against their fellow A-League sides coming into this weekend.
El Paso wasn't the only club that wound up with a tussle on its hands from the lower divisions last weekend as the Portland Timbers found it rough going in the higher altitudes of Nevada and Utah. In the elevation of Provo the Timbers fell to a late charge from the Blitzz who attacked full tilt at the end of the match with both of their Z's. Newly acquired Northern Ireland international and former St. Johnstone midfielder Michael O'Neill scored the first goal of his Timber tenure in the 57th minute to stake Portland to a lead that looked well on it's way to holding until Adolfo Ovalle struck in added time at the end of the match to even things up for the home team. Then William Cummins added to the Timbers Rocky Mountain low by netting the game-winner in the 17th minute of extra time (minute 107 for those counting at home).
Needless to say things were looking bleak for the high budget boys from Portland as they headed across the Utah-Nevada border to take on the Northern Nevada Aces hoping for a bit of a turnaround of their fortunes. In the 38th minute of their match it appeared that they were well on their way as their new addition, O'Neill, put them into the lead with his second goal in as many games. They increased their lead shortly before the half as Mark Baena knocked one in during first half extra time. Vladim Tolstolutsky also opened his account in the 55th minute while also winning the award for most easily misspelled name of the week. The Timbers finished putting the boots to the Aces, who were coming up spades, in the 57th minute with O'Neill's third strike of the last two days. Alfredo Chavarin attempted to save some face for the home club by scoring their lone goal in the 72nd minute. Either way it now appears that the Timbers can head home and attempt to create a winning streak with the discovery of the goal scoring talents of O'Neill.
In the tradition of saving the best for last I bring you the match between Minnesota Thunder and the Indiana Blast but then again this wasn't the last match of the week and aren't we all thankful for that? The Thunder had some helping hands from the forces of nature apparently as the Blast was ultimately defused by the elements. Meanwhile Gerrard Lagos and Mark Schulte were busy at the other end of the field staking the Thunder to a 2-0 halftime lead. The match was quickly decided, if not by the weather conditions, then by the inability of the Blast to do much in the way of defending early in the second half as Lagos scored his second in the 49th minute and Kirk Miller added the final tally in the 58th minute. Either way, it was a result most should have expected even with the Thunder lurching towards their next set of matches.
Luckily the fun didn't stop there for the Blast because what would a trip to Minnesota be without a follow-up trip to Milwaukee? And you say the schedule makers around the league don't have a sense of humor. In the slightly less intimidating confines of the Rampage home park Indiana found themselves with slightly more or less than a fighting chance in this one. David Hayes was able to make it to the pitch to put in the opening goal for the Ramps in the 58th minute only to see former MLSer Jeremy Aldrich knot the score at one apiece in the 76th minute. From that point it appeared that the Blast would have a shot but the cruel hand of fate stepped in to smack them back into their own harsh reality. Hayes struck again in the 81st minute and watched on as Igor Soso, who continues to prove he's not too shabby, scored in the waning moments to put the match out of reach.
Of course this discussion wouldn't be quite complete if I failed to mention the first meeting of Great Midwestern feud we call Minnesota versus Milwaukee. Then again the question begs to be asked if a huge rivalry match were going yet no one was there to see it, did it really happen? Well, the Thunder certainly wished it hadn't after yet another anemic performance by this club's offense that while once being the biggest bear in the forest now finds itself going the way of the dodo.
The near sell out crowd of 371 saw a match that was tightly played by both clubs as the Rampage collapsed the flank play of Minnesota so that there was no chance for the Thunder to rain in any crosses of quality whatsoever. Igor Soso scored in the 50th minute to give the Rampage and a mysterious group of MLS part-timers the victory in front of their raucous crowd. Needless to say as far as exciting games go somehow I think we'll see better from these clubs down the road. At least the Thunder had better hope to right their ship after being just a tad on the underwhelming side of things in the early going of the season.
That gets us up to date as we head into the busiest weekend yet for this season and while it does appear that some things are beginning to take on their predictable air some are still waiting for their real team to show up. The victims of this oversight shall remain nameless to protect the innocent or at least to have mercy on the guilty.
Odds and Ends
In tying up some news that occurred over the past week I would be remiss to not mention the signings of a pair of newcomers and spotlight a couple of new members of the league who should show well in the coming weeks.
So far Michael O'Neill, the newest member of the Portland Timbers, has shown fantastic returns by scoring three goals in his first two matches on this side of the pond. The international from Northern Ireland who last played with St. Johnstone of the Scottish Premier League looks to be the genuine article who may be able to lift the stalled attack of the Timbers.
Another Timbers signing was Matt Chulis who has served time with various MLS clubs, most notably the Columbus Crew, while also spending a stint with the U.S. Olympic squad. Chulis is another solid player who should solidify Portland's squad but so far the team has shown few signs of gelling together as their early results have been a bit of a disappointment.
Last but not least there's finally something to be truly excited about in Blast-land. His name is Matt Fundenberger and he made his first start for the Blast on Sunday and from all accounts played a solid match. This talented midfielder played a large role in Indiana University's NCAA finals squad that challenged for the championship. If he gets a decent share of playing time he should show his passing and dribbling skills to quite an effect for a squad that could well be searching for some offensive firepower during the dog days of this season.
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