Lower Division Recap: Round 10

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It was an off week for the US Open Cup coupled with a light week in Major League Soccer, so that meant a lot of MLS Reserve League action this week.  With the league tables not seeing much change for the week, the topic of the week really fell to the MLS-USL partnership with five interleague matches finishing 1-1-3 between the USL Pro and the Reserve League clubs, bringing the record for the season to a combined 4-3-5 for USL Pro.



North American Soccer League

The lead has changed hands yet again as things remain incredibly close. Carolina’s 2-1 victory over Tampa Bay while previous leader Atlanta battled to a 1-1 draw allowed the RailHawks to slip in front by a point. With Minnesota snaring a win, they moved even with the Silverbacks for second, leaving the Rowdies three points back in fourth. Edmonton is still within a pair of wins five points back and cellar dwellers San Antonio and Fort Lauderdale are also still in the mix just seven points away from the leaders.

All but one of the eight goals scored on the weekend came in the second half, and no game featured a more dramatic finish than in Carolina where Rowdies, down a man since the first half, found what they thought was a short-handed winner in the 87th minute courtesy of Devin Del Do. But the RailHawks found some fortune in stoppage time with Cesar Elizondo heading in a cross and a deflection on a Ty Shipalane shot pushing Carolina past the defending champions.

Where Tampa Bay failed, the surprising Canadians found some success. Also playing down a man since the first half, FC Edmonton saw the situation in Atlanta worsen when the hosts went ahead in the 55th minute via Brad Stisser. Neil Hlavaty, however, took advantage of a dead ball situation in the 70th minute, striking from 25 yards out on a free kick to grab a draw.

Similar to Carolina, Minnesota needed to rally at home as they fell behind 10 minutes in to Darnell King and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers due to a poor back pass. A handball allowed Pablo Campos to level from the spot in the 57th, and the striker headed in a cross from Simone Bracalello deep into stoppage time for the win.

Scoring Summaries / Ejections

SATURDAY
Tampa Bay 1 :: 2 Carolina 
TB: Devin Del Do 87
CAR: Cesar Elizondo (Austin da Luz) 90+, Ty Shipalane 90+
~ TB: Andres Arango (red) 38, Shane Hill (red) 90+
~ CAR: Cesar Elizondo (red) 90+

Edmonton 1 :: 1 Atlanta 
ATL: Brad Stisser (Mark Bloom) 55
EDM: Neil Hlavaty 70
~ EDM: Chris Nurse (2nd yellow/red) 31

Fort Lauderdale 1 :: 2 Minnesota 
FTL: Darnell King 10
MIN Pablo Campos (pen) 57, Pablo Campos (Simone Bracalello) 94+

USL Pro

The week started off early with a pair of contests Wednesday in which Wilmington found themselves on the road for a fifth time in six games (all competitions), falling 2-0 to Harrisburg, and the battle of the Carolinas went unsettled as Charlotte and Charlesotn finished even at 2-2.

The inter-league action kicked off this week on Friday with Toronto and Pittsburgh playing to a tight 1-1 draw along with historic lower division rivals Rochester and Montreal, who found a late equalizer against the Rhinos. Dom Dwyer netted yet another goal for Orlando City as they blanked Phoenix, but it was Mauricio Salles of Tampa Bay stealing the show Friday evening in Florida with the first five goals in the club’s 8-0 demolition of Antigua. Salles scored all five in just the first 26 minutes and went on to play the whole contest, adding an assist in the 86th minute finale.

Wilmington’s road swing continued Saturday with a surprising draw in Richmond as they fired back with an equalizer just a minute after allowing the opener in the second half. It was the three inter-league matches though that were the highlight of the night. The Rapids Reserves made it a season sweep of Harrisburg with a 3-1 road win, but it was Charleston snaring a sweep for USL as they downed visiting Houston decidedly with two goals from Jose Cuevas. Less than two weeks since Columbus edged  Dayton in the US Open Cup, 2-1, the two clubs faced one another again, but this time the Dutch Lions were able to get a point against the Reserves in a dramatic back-and-forth thriller.

Relatively speaking, Sunday was a quiet evening as Orlando City again posted a 2-0 win on a penalty from Jamie Watson and a goal from Dwyer to down Antigua whilst 10-man Tampa Bay edged Phoenix 1-0.

Scoring Summaries / Ejections

WEDNESDAY
Wilmington 0 :: 2 Harrisburg 
HAR: Own goal 48, Coady Andrews (Christhian Hernandez) 75

Charlotte 2 :: 2 Charleston 
CHE: Stephen Okai (Juan Guzman) 14, Drew Yates 89
CHB: Haviel Cordoves (Nicki Paterson) 61, Dane Kelly (Haviel Cordoves) 69

FRIDAY
(MLSR) Toronto FC Reserves 1 :: 1 Pittsburgh 
PIT: Jose Angulo (Jhonny Arteaga) 9
TOR: Andrew Wiedman (Maunuel Aparicio) 72

Phoenix 0 :: 2 Orlando 
ORL: Jamie Watson (pen) 29, Dom Dwyer 31

Antigua 0 :: 8 VSI Tampa Bay 
TB: Mauricio Salles 1, Mauricio Salles (Alex Freitas) 11, Mauricio Salles 12, Mauricio Salles 17, Mauricio Salles 26, Shawn Chin 45, Sebastian Thuriere (Sallieu Bundu) 72, Karamba Janneh (Mauricio Salles) 86

(MLSR) Impact Reserves 1 :: 1 Rochester 
ROC: Tam McManus (JC Banks) 19
MON: Karl Ouimette 86

SATURDAY
(MLSR) Rapids Reserves 3 :: 1 Harrisburg 
HAR: Morgan Langley (Tom Mellor) 42
COL: Kevin Harbottle 75, Kevin Harbottle 85, Kevin Harbottle 89

Wilmington 1 :: 1 Richmond 
RIC: Philippe Davies (Mike Callahan) 78
WIL: Steven Perry (Daniel Roberts) 79

(MLSR) Dynamo Reserves 1 :: 4 Charleston 
CHB: Nicki Paterson 18, Jose Cuevas 62, Jose Cuevas (Quinton Griffith) 77, Quinton Griffith (Michael Azira) 90
HOU: Brian Ownby 63

(MLSR) Crew Reserves 4 :: 4 Dayton 
CLB: Ryan Finley (Kyle Hyland) 6, Konrad Warzycha 36, Ryan Finley (Ben Speas) 61, Bernardo Anor (Ben Speas) 68
DAY: Gibson Bardsley (Eli Garner) 15, Joel DeLass (pen) 27, Joel DeLass (pen) 45+, Shane Smith (Gregory Preciado) 89

SUNDAY
Phoenix 0 :: 1 VSI Tampa Bay 
TB: Chad Burt 73
~ TB: Alex Horwath (red) 66

Antigua 0 :: 2 Orlando 
ORL: Jamie Watson (pen) 87, Dom Dwyer (Jamie Watson) 90

MLS Reserve League

With five inter-league games on the road, the Rapids Reserves were the only ones to come away with a victory, claiming a season sweep of Harrisburg with a second half comeback by Kevin Harbottle, who netted a hat-trick in the final 15 minutes for the 3-1 win.

The Crew Reserves, with their draw in Dayton, were the only other club to put more than one goal on the board as Ryan Finley scored twice and Ben Speas had a pair of assists.

Scoring Summaries / Ejections

FRIDAY
Toronto FC Reserves 1 :: 1 Pittsburgh (USL) 
PIT: Jose Angulo (Jhonny Arteaga) 9
TOR: Andrew Wiedman (Maunuel Aparicio) 72

Impact Reserves 1 :: 1 Rochester (USL)
ROC: Tam McManus (JC Banks) 19
MON: Karl Ouimette 86

SATURDAY
Rapids Reserves 3 :: 1 Harrisburg  (USL)
HAR: Morgan Langley (Tom Mellor) 42
COL: Kevin Harbottle 75, Kevin Harbottle 85, Kevin Harbottle 89

Dynamo Reserves 1 :: 4 Charleston  (USL)
CHB: Nicki Paterson 18, Jose Cuevas 62, Jose Cuevas (Quinton Griffith) 77, Quinton Griffith (Michael Azira) 90
HOU: Brian Ownby 63

Crew Reserves 4 :: 4 Dayton  (USL)
CLB: Ryan Finley (Kyle Hyland) 6, Konrad Warzycha 36, Ryan Finley (Ben Speas) 61, Bernardo Anor (Ben Speas) 68
DAY: Gibson Bardsley (Eli Garner) 15, Joel DeLass (pen) 27, Joel DeLass (pen) 45+, Shane Smith (Gregory Preciado) 89

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