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Minnesota United FC Remains Ahead in NASL Spring Season

May 24, 2014 - North American Soccer League (NASL) News Release


NEW YORK, NY - Minnesota United remain three points out in front at the top of the North American Soccer League, but missed an opportunity to extend their lead in the race for the Spring Season championship.

Title rivals the New York Cosmos were held to a 1-1 draw by bottom club Indy Eleven and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers conceded a late goal to lose 3-2 to the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the Florida derby. But Manny Lagos' team, who finished with nine men following two red cards late in the game, were held to a 0-0 home draw by Carolina RailHawks and spurned a chance to go five points clear at the top.

"We didn't take the opportunities that we should," admitted a disappointed Lagos. "We've got to regroup. We need to be prepared for two tough road games to close the season out."

The evening's winners were the San Antonio Scorpions, who climbed to third place behind the second-placed Cosmos only on goal difference thanks to an injury time goal by Tomasz Zahorski in a come from behind 3-2 win away to Ottawa Fury FC.

Minnesota can claim the Spring Season crown next week, but must win coupled with both the Cosmos and Scorpions dropping points, so the title race is likely to go down to the final weekend of the first half of the 2014 season.

MNUvCAR

League-leading Minnesota United FC and the Carolina RailHawks played a scoreless ninety minutes before a record crowd of 6,784 at the National Sports Center Stadium.

While both teams had spells of possession, it was United who got the golden scoring opportunities, but on two occasions were denied by point blank stops from RailHawks goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald. Two late red cards against the Loons marred the home team's efforts, but the scoreline would not budge.

NYCvIND

The New York Cosmos missed an opportunity to close the gap to a single point at the top as they were held to a 1-1 draw by bottom club Indy Eleven.

Forward Sebastian Guenzatti put the Cosmos in front early on with only four minutes played, but midfielder Brad Ring equalized inside the final 15 minutes at Hofstra University.

"It's disappointing because I think the tie was a loss," said Cosmos coach Giovanni Savarese. "We said at halftime that this was a team that if we allowed them to run and we gave them space, eventually they were going to find a way to score a goal. I think the fact that we were a little too early successful allowed the players to relax a little bit and that didn't allow us to be as compact as we were last week."

Indy Eleven coach Juergen Sommer said: "It was tough going down early once again, but it took a world-class finish to do it and I thought the guys responded well enough for the rest of the half to keep it at 1-0. The second half was probably the best 45 minutes we've played this season because of the commitment the guys showed both individually and collectively. The work rate was where it needed to be and this gives us a good base to work off of moving forward."

OTTvSAS

Unbeaten in their last three overall matches at Carleton University's Keith Harris Stadium, Ottawa Fury FC fell to a deflected injury time goal by Tomasz Zahorski as they lost 3-2 to the San Antonio Scorpions.

The Scorpions led through a 57th minute Greg Janicki goal, but trailed 2-1 with only 10 minutes to play, as the Fury hit back with goals from Tony Donatelli from the penalty spot and Sinisa Ubiparipovic.

Eric Hassli equalized with a penalty before Zahorski's dramatic winner four minutes into time added on.

"We're 3-0 on the road, that's great to say," San Antonio coach Alen Marcina. "We battled hard today, and we needed three points today to stay in the top three. The guys played very hard and showed character. We're very happy."

Dejected Fury FC manager Marc Dos Santos said: "Maybe it's growing pains; we didn't deserve to lose tonight, but we did. We have to re-focus, take the fact that our guys showed character and we're great tonight."

TBRvFTL

Second half goals from defenders Willie Hunt, Blake Wagner and midfielder Anthony Wallace gave the host Tampa Bay Rowdies a 3-2 come-from-behind victory to dent the Spring title hopes of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

The Rowdies, who have captured the last four Coastal Cups during the NASL's modern era, have won nine of 12 matches against the Strikers, including a perfect 7-0-0 record at Al Lang Stadium.

"I have to commend the players for having the resilience to continue the whole game even though we went two down early on and missed the penalty," said Rowdies coach Ricky Hill. "A lot of teams could have dropped their heads and could have felt sorry for themselves, but they dug in and they played hard."

Strikers coach Gunter Kronsteiner said: "Everyone knows one man down playing an away game you have to run a lot and fight a lot. It was a heroic fight from our team still. They played very well no question about it, they deserved to win but under the circumstances it was very painful."

FCEvATL

Ghanaian forward Kwadwo Poku stole three points from Edmonton for the Atlanta Silverbacks with a winning solo effort ten minutes from time.

Former Silverbacks striker Horace James had equalized five minutes earlier with his first touch after coming on as a substitute to cancel out the visitors' goal from J Chavez early in the second half.

"I think we brought a lot of intensity to the game today and they played for each other," said Silverbacks assistant coach Ricardo Montoya. "I thought we were the better team in the second half and executed more and that was the difference."

Eddie coach Colin Miller said: "We were getting on top again and we lost possession and they came back up the park and scored. It's very frustrating. I can't fault the players for their effort, but we just can't buy a break at the moment. This is a sore one for us."

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