City Stars Give Up Goal Late

May 29, 2009 - USL First Division (USL-1)
Cleveland City Stars News Release


CARY, North Carolina - The Cleveland City Stars held the Carolina RailHawks scoreless for 88 minutes after giving up three goals to the same club last week, but still came away with the loss as the RailHawks scored off a free kick in the 89th minute.

Carolina midfielder Daniel Paladini who registered two assists in last week's victory in Cleveland, sliced the shot off the wall of defenders and through the box and it snuck past Cleveland keeper Hunter Gilstrap for the last minute decision.

"I was behind a bunch of bodies and the shot seemed to be coming right at me," said Gilstrap. "It hit somebody's foot, I'm not even sure if it was ours or theirs, but it changed directions and I just couldn't get back to it. It's a disappointing result but there were too many positives out there for us tonight for us to let that get us down. We come back tomorrow and we'll have some guys back that haven't been able to play in a while so it's exciting and we'll need to continue our good play from tonight."

The first half was played to a much slower pace then a week ago as the City Stars had more success possessing the ball and keeping the RailHawks from countering over the top with the long ball.

In the 13th minute John Michael Hayden created space for himself 20-yards out and fired a strike towards RailHawks keeper Caleb Patterson-Sewell but the shot was too high.

The RailHawks countered with their first chance on the restart as John Cunliffe received the ball near the 18 and forced his way through the defense before getting off a left footed shot that missed wide.

The City Stars had another chance in the 21st as former City Stars defender Jeremy Tolleson slipped and left Ricardo Pierre-Louis open in the attacking third but Pierre-Louis' shot towards the far post sailed wide left.

The RailHawks came back in the 25th minute. Paladini controlled in the City Stars third and after passing on an open shot he dropped a nice ball of to Luke Kreamelmeyer but the midfielder's shot was blocked and cleared out by Troy Roberts.

Paladini gave the RailHawks another quick chance in the second half in the 56th minute as he settled into a shot from 25-yards out that forced Gilstrap to dive right and punch the ball out for a corner kick.

On the corner. Brad Rusin got a shot on goal that was punched into the crowd by Gilstrap but Mark Schulte's follow was wide right and did no harm.

The City Stars had its best chance of the match in the 59th when Gordon Kljestan's long ball was misplayed by Schulte, leaving Pierre-Louis open in the box. Pierre-Louis controlled and dribbled into a right-footed shot that sailed over the top for a goal kick.

Cleveland was unable to put together many chances following Pierre-Louis' final strike, and after Paladini's goal the City Stars had to play a man down as Julian Valentin received a questionable red card in extra time.

The City Stars head to Charleston for tomorrow's 7:30 p.m. match with the second place Charleston Battery. The match can be viewed live on usllive.com.



USL First Division Stories from May 29, 2009


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