Islanders Top Minnesota in Opener
prislandersfc.com
The Puerto Rico Islanders started the 2010 league season on the right track as they beat the NSC Minnesota Stars 3-1 Wednesday night to start the 2010 USSF Division II Pro League campaign.
The Islanders got going early in the match as David Foley found an excellent cross from teammate Nicholas Addlery in the middle of the penalty area and, without letting the ball touch the turf, hit a great shot to make it 1-0 for the Islanders 12 minutes in.
Four minutes later it was defender Osei Telesford's turn to score as he found a deflected cross in the area and without hesitation scored the second goal for the Puerto Rico Islanders.
The first half would finish 2-0 in favor of the Islanders.
The Puerto Rico Islanders started the second half as they did the first, going on attack early on, and in the 51st minute Sandy Gbandi took the ball from outside the area and with a perfectly placed shot scored the third goal for the Islanders.
As the game went on the heavy, wet pitch started to wear down the players from both teams. The Islanders took more shots on goal in the second half, out-shooting Minnesota 15 to 8, but they were unable to take advantage.
As the Islanders tried to take care of the ball to protect the lead at the end of the game, Minnesota went all-out in the attack and they started to find spaces in the Islanders back line. In the 84th minute, second half substitute Neil Hlavaty found himself at the end of a beautiful pass from veteran Kevin Friedland to score Minnesota's only goal of the match.
The Puerto Rico Islanders' next game will be Saturday, April 24 when they travel to Baltimore to take on the Crystal Palace Baltimore at 8:00pm ET.
