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Palace Go West In Quest For First Points

May 6, 2010 - North American Soccer League (NASL)
Crystal Palace Baltimore News Release


Baltimore, MD - Crystal Palace Baltimore travel to Vancouver, Canada to face the conference-leading Whitecaps on Saturday night in the USSF D-2 Pro League. The game kicks off at 7:00pm local time, 10:00pm Eastern.

Vancouver currently sit atop the six-team NASL Conference with a 2-1-1 record for seven points, while Baltimore find themselves at the bottom of the same conference with three losses in three matches. The Whitecaps drew 1-1 last night with the Montreal Impact but not in the league - that result came in the opening round of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship, a tournament that features the two aforementioned USSF D-2 clubs along with Toronto FC of Major League Soccer. Vancouver's last league match saw them lose for the first time this season by a score of 2-1 at regional rival Portland Timbers. Both the Timbers and the Whitecaps will move up to MLS next season.

Palace meanwhile are coming off a 1-0 loss at AC St. Louis last Saturday. Despite the disappointing start to the season, head coach Jim Cherneski remained positive ahead of the Vancouver trip: "We've done our homework and we feel we're going into the game very prepared. Obviously all of us are very unsettled to be the only team without any points in the league and we aim to go out and change that this weekend."

"We're tightening up how we defend set pieces as we've conceded four of our five goals that way," Cherneski explained. "In every game we've created at least as many chances as our opponents, so at some point some of those chances will start to fall. Vancouver has probably been really focussed on last night's match against Montreal and now they're going to have a day of recovery and I would imagine they've not given much thought to us. So there's a good chance they'll underestimate us and hopefully we can take them by surprise."

On the injury front, Cherneski added: "The team is healthy, with the exception of Zack Flores who remains out with the broken bone in his jaw that he sustained in practice the week before our season opener. We expect he'll be available at least in time for the next home game on May 22nd against Portland."

Live video of Saturday's match is scheduled to be streamed on the web beginning shortly before kickoff. Palace Baltimore fans can watch either on the club's video page - live.palacebaltimore.com - or on the Whitecaps' site - www.whitecapsfc.com

In staff news, the club has parted ways with assistant coach Todd Wawrousek effective immediately.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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