USSF D-II: Islanders move into the playoff positions

Posted Jul 25, 2010 by Nick Murray

Updated Jul 25, 2010 at 10:41 AM

Puerto Rico moves into the playoff positions, while St. Louis moves off the bottom of the NASL Conference in Saturday’s USSF Division II action.

PUERTO RICO 3, ROCHESTER 1: The Islanders moved off the bottom of the USL Conference and into the playoff positions as a pair of second-half goals gave them victory at the Estadio Loubriel.

Puerto Rico took the lead in the 32nd minute as Nick Addlery scored on a bicycle kick, but the Rhinos tied the game a minute before halftime as Isaac Kissi scored his second goal in as many games from a corner.

The Islanders regained the lead for good midway through the second half as Aaron Pitchkolan was ejected after bringing down David Horst in the penalty area. David Foley converted the penalty, but the Islanders themselves were reduced to 10 men in the 70th minute as Chris Nurse was shown his second yellow card.

As the Rhinos pushed for an equalizer, though, the Islanders caught them on the counter-attack in the 86th minute, Kendall Jagdeosingh scoring his first goal of the season.

ST. LOUIS 1, BALTIMORE 0: The Saints moved out of the basement and snapped a three-game winless streak as Mike Ambersley scored the only goal at the Maryland Soccerplex.

Ambersley scored his fifth goal of the season in the 74th minute, firing a low shot underneath Baltimore goalkeeper Evan Bush. The victory was the Saints’ fourth of the season and moved them off the foot of the table for the first time this season.

Crystal Palace Baltimore had been hoping to build on their victory against Montreal last weekend, but forced St. Louis goalkeeper Alex Dufty into only two saves to record the shutout.

TODAY’S GAME

MINNESOTA (7-9-4) AT VANCOUVER (7-3-8): The Whitecaps will try to bounce back from their defeat on Thursday against Portland when they host the Stars a Swangard Stadium tonight.

The 2-1 defeat to the Timbers was Vancouver’s first at home this season and Portland’s first at Swangard since 2004. The Whitcaps will be without defender Greg Janicki tonight after his ejection from Thursday’s game, meaning Luca Bellisomo should move back to center back, while Randy Edwini-Bonsu will miss out with a calf strain.

Minnesota couldn’t hold on for victory against Puerto Rico on Wednesday, coming away with a 1-1 draw, but still sees itself in the playoff positions. The Stars have played more games than any other team in the league to this point, though, and will need to continue to accumulate points if they are to keep pressure on the teams trailing them with games in hand.