Long Island Batters Atlanta
Riders Offense Excels
The Rough Riders looked to distance themselves from the pack, and continue their push for the playoffs against the Atlanta Silverbacks on Wednesday, July 29th.
The new look Riders proceeded to make the most of their opportunity. Defeating the Silverbacks by the score of 4-0, and once again, gaining the maximum five points allowed. The Rider's record now stands at 9-7-3, and they extended their winning streak to three games.
Long Island has won three of their last four games and are enhancing their standings for the playoffs. Once again, the Rough riders were led by Gerry Lucy and Irasto Knight.
As was the case before, Knight collected a errant pass and beat Atlanta's Bo Unshony in the 21st minute. Although both teams had chances to score in the first half, that would be the only goal in the first 45 minutes of play.
Lucey worked his magic for the second game in a row for the second goal. Thirteen minutes into the second half, Lucy placed a free kick towards the net, which was headed into the net, by the Silverback's Guy Norcott for another own goal. That was the second time in two games that has happened to Lucy.
If the own goal did not deflate Atlanta's hopes for a win, Knight took care of that very quickly. Seconds later, Joe Ragusa found him with a pass across the box. Knight turned a beat Atlanta's defense to score his second goal of the game in the 59th minute. Since being inserted into the starting lineup, Knight has scored five goals in just three games.
The Riders were not done yet. Cordt Weinstein scored his sixth goal of the year off a beautiful feed from Stephen Franzke with 23 minutes left in the game. Long Island's defense did a great job of holding Patrick Beech to no goals on three shots, and Nzoko Moleka to no goals on four shots to shutout Atlanta's one-two scoring punch.
Paul Grafer made seven saves to record his fourth shutout of the season, too.
Rider Notes: Continuing to change their rosters before the deadline, the Rough RIders added Paul Riley and Pedro Fragosa to the active roster.
