By Jose Carrillo, uslfans.com Match Reporter

2009/05/02
Jose "BoriQa" Carrillo, uslfans.com Match Reporter

May 3rd, 2009

In last night’s clash of two of the best 8 teams in the CONCACAF, the Puerto Rico Islanders extended their season opening undefeated streak with a 3-2 win over the Montreal Impact at Juan Ramón Loubriel stadium.

The Islanders 2-1-0 [W-T-L] record is their best ever at the start of a season since 2006, when Puerto Rico went 1-1-0 (a win and a draw against the Atlanta Silverbacks) before losing their 3rd match of that year against (guess who?) the Montreal Impact.

The Islanders got the result against Montreal with the same starting lineup that outshot, but was unable to score in a draw against Rochester last week.

Puerto Rico was still playing without midfielders Jonathan Steele, Osei Telesford and Domenic Mediante, all out due to injuries.

The Impact struck first in the 26th minute on a goal by Kevin Sakuda, who found himself with the ball in the box behind the Islander defense and executed a point blank shot that left no chance for Bill Gaudette to stop the Canadian shot.

After a corner kick in the 38th minute, the Islanders tied the game on a goal by John Krause (his 1st of the year). Gbandi got the assist. The game remained 1-1 at halftime.

The Islanders added another forward at the start of the 2nd half (Fabrice Noël for Josh Hansen), showing that they had no intention of settling for a 2nd draw in a row.

The local crowd went wild on the 60th minute after Cristian Arrieta passed to Sandi Gbandi who scored the Islanders 2nd goal of the night with a beautiful header, to give Puerto Rico the lead for the first time in the night.

Now winning 2-1, the noisy crowd went silent after Joey Gjentsen’s shocking goal for Montreal. Gjentsen kick rolled through a pile of Puerto Rican defenders, including Gaudette, to tie the game 2-2.

Kendall Jagdeosingh came in the 70th minute for Nicholas Addlery, to protect the latter who had received a yellow card on the 68th.

On the 81st minute the Islanders 2nd-half substitute forwards went like a pack of wolves over the Montreal goalkeeper Matthew Jordan, who was unable to stop their ferocious attack which lead to the Puerto Rican’s 3rd (and winning) goal on a spectacular shot by Jagdeosingh. Fabrice Noël got the assist on the play.

Last night was the first time ever that the Islanders defeat the Impact, in a game where the Montrealers score 2 goals or more. The Impact had won all 4 of such previous encounters.

The last time the Islanders scored 3 goals against Montreal was in the 2nd-leg of the 2007 USL-Quaterfinals, when Puerto Rico won 3-0 to take the series away from the Impact with a 5-3 aggregate score.

The Islanders remain undefeated in 2009, tied in 3rd place in the standings with 7 points with Rochester, behind Carolina and Vancouver who have 10 and 8 points respectively. All three of those teams (Rhinos, Railhawks and Whitecaps) have played 1 or 2 more games than the Islanders.

Montreal is currently in 10th place, winless in three games (0-1-2 [W-T-L]) with 1 point in the standings.

The Islanders will play their first away game of the season next Friday May 8th against USL newcomers Aztex, in Austin.

Scoring Summary:
1. MON: Kevin Sakuda (Leonardo Di Lorenzo) 26’
2. PRI: John Krause (Sandy Gbandi) 38’
3. PRI: Sandy Gbandi (Cristian Arrieta) 60’
4. MON: Joey Gjertsen (Rocco Placentino) 76’
5. PRI: Kendall Jagdeosingh (Fabrice Noel) 81’

Cautions:
1. MON: Adam Braz 56’
2. PRI: Nicholas Addlery 68’
3. MON: Roberto Brown 79’
4.PRI: Kendall Jagdeosingh 87’

Puerto Rico Islanders Lineup:

Bill Gaudette (GK), Scott Jones, Nigel Henry, John Krause, Cristian Arrieta, Noah Delgado (Kyle Veris 85’), Peter Villegas (James Marcelin 46’), Sandy Gbandi, Andrés Cabrero (Martin Nuñez 80’), Josh Hansen (Fabrice Noël 46’), Nicholas Addlery (Kendall Jagdeosingh 70’)

Subs not used: Chris McClellan (GK), Alexis Rivera

Montreal Impact Lineup:

Matthew Jordan (GK), Leonardo Di Lorenzo (Rocco Placentino 72′), Tony Donatelli (Sandro Grande 78’), Kevin Sakuda, David Testo (Joey Gjertsen 72’), Adam Braz (Stephen deRoux 83′), Cedric Joqueviel, Nevio Pizzolitto, Mohama ZanZan (Pa Amadou Gai 81′), Roberto Ronaldo Brown Perea, Eduardo Sebrango-Rodriguez

Subs not used: Srdjan Djekanovic (GK), Simon Gatti

Attendance: 4,022

Referees: Toni Russo, William Anderson, Alex Villareal, Jesus Lebron