Impact Fall to Carolina in the Rain 2-1

Published on May 14, 2011 under North American Soccer League (NASL)
Montreal Impact News Release


MONTREAL ‚¬" The Montreal Impact lost 2-1 against the Carolina RailHawks, on Saturday, under heavy rain at Saputo Stadium.

The league current leading scorer and NASL Player of the Month in April, RailHawks ‚¬â„¢ striker Etienne Barbara, scored both goals for this team today, his eighth and ninth of the season.

The Impact came back late in the second half scoring a goal to cut down Carolina ‚¬â„¢s lead, when midfielder Idriss Ech Chergui, who came on the field at the 77th minute, took a back pass from Simon Gatti, beating goalkeeper Brad Knighton on a low shot, standing in the center of the six meters box.

‚¬Å“The result is disappointing, even more after the way we played the last few games, added Impact defender Simon Gatti. We worked hard until the end of the game to try to complete the comeback. With our history against them, we can certainly say Carolina is our pet peeve. We will continue to work hard and we will do whatever it takes to beat them in the next matchup. ‚¬Â

‚¬Å“I ‚¬â„¢m disappointed by the way we started this game. We didn ‚¬â„¢t deserve to win; they showed why they were on top on the NASL standings, said Impact head coach Marc Dos Santos. They completely won the battle at midfield and took the best decisions throughout the game. ‚¬Â

At the 8th minute of play, the NASL Player of the Month in April, RailHawks ‚¬â„¢ striker Etienne Barbara, scored the first goal of the game ‚¬" his eighth in seven matches ‚¬" when he took a 30-meter shot that deflected on an Impact defender at the 18-meters line, which went over the head of goalkeeper Evan Bush. Midfielder Floyd Franks registered his third pass of the season on the play.

In the second half, Barbara added a second goal when he found the back of the net after a few moves in the six-yard box. He set a new team record with nine goals in a season, in only seven games.

The Impact, who dominated 15-8 for shots, had chances to score several times during the game.

At the 7th minute, the Impact had a chance to open the scoring when defender Philippe Billy, from inside the box, gave the ball to Ali Gerba who took a shot without controlling the ball, just to the right of the net.

At the 27th minute, a cross from Billy was deflected by midfielder Luke Kreamalmeyer near the six meters, but the ball went only a few inches to the left of the RailHawks net.

Midfielder Amir Lowery came close to score against his former team at the 30th minute. After intercepting a ball, he dribbled and beat a few players before being fouled at the 18-meter line. Luke Kreamalmeyer's free kick went to the left of the RailHawks ‚¬â„¢ net.

At the 77th minute, Reda Agourram took a shot that went to the right of Carolina ‚¬â„¢s goal following a transversal pass from Lowery in the six-yard box.

This is the second loss to Carolina for the Impact this season.

The matchup saw four yellows cards given to the Impact side. David Testo, Anthony Le Gall, Lowery and Kreamalmayer were the guily players.

Forward Ali Gerba played his 50th career regular season game with the Impact.

Goalkeeper Evan Bush started his first career regular season game with Montreal, while defender Hicham Aaboubou also played his first regular season game in 2011 after serving a four-game suspension following events that happened during last year ‚¬â„¢s playoffs against the RailHawks.

Mignane Diouf also took part in his first regular season game when they came on the field for subs in the second half.

The Impact will play its next game on Saturday, May 21 in Tampa Bay, and will play its next home game on June 4.

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North American Soccer League Stories from May 14, 2011


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