In professional sports, playing at home usually means home field advantage, with most teams carrying the message from a popular tv commercial, "We must protect this house!' onto the field. After the Silverbacks 3-1 loss to Puerto Rico, maybe a "For Rent" sign ought to be put out front of James Hallford Stadium for visiting teams.
The loss drops the Silverbacks to 6-10-3, 2-6-1 at home and currently 8th place in the USL First Division, depending on the results of a Minnesota at Vancouver late game. Puerto Rico improved to 7th with a 6-9-4 record, and recorded their first away win of the season.
It took untill the 18th minute for the excitement to begin. Off a free kick from the right wing, after Gary Brooks was tripped from behind, the Silverbacks were awarded a penalty kick when Chris Gores was called for a handball on the cross from the free kick. Rodrigo Rios easily put the ball past a diving Daniel Kennedy for a 1-0 lead.
Things evened up nicely for the Islanders in the 29th as they were awarded a penalty kick themselves as Adilson Delima was called for tripping Noah Delgado just outside right of the 6 yard box. MauricioSalles de Alencar evened the score at1-1.
After a lot of back and forth play with neither team mounting much attack due to stellar defensive play, it seemed the game was heading to a 1-1 halftime score. Petter Villegas of the Islanders had another thought. After taking a croos field pass from Corey Woolfolk, Villegas stroked a beauty of a shot from about 25 yds out, which dipped over stunned Christain Fegler, who was caught too far off his line, and into the upper right net, giving the travelling Puerto Ricans a 2-1 lead at halftime.
The final dagger was delivered in the 59th when Salles de Alencar ran onto a lose ball about 30 yards out, and hit another long distance dipper over Fegler for a 3-1 lead.
The Backs tried to mount a comeback, but with two attempts thwarted by a diving Kennedy and the Islanders defensive play stifling everything else, the Backs have now dropped 4 straight at home(5 if you include the Des Moines fiasco in the US Open Cup) while watching their playoffs hope slipping away. With only 9 games remaining in the season , 5 at home, odds are starting to mount against the Silverbacks.
The next home game is Friday night at 8pm against the undefeated Montreal Impact(10-0-5), who moved into 1st place with win Sunday over Toronto.
Line-ups:
PR-Kennedy, Gores, Ortiz, Velez, Maliza, Gonzalez(Zuleta), Villegas, Woolfolk(McAthy), Delgado(Irrera), Salles de Alencar
ATL-Fegler, Chevalier(Peoples), De Lima, Hayes, Yi(Plute), de la Torre, Ilarionov(Murriagui), Dawkins, Chacon(Iniguez), Rios, Brooks(McManus)
