Silverbacks home opener Saturday

Published on April 26, 2005 under USL First Division (USL-1)
Atlanta Silverbacks News Release


The Atlanta Silverbacks will open their 2005 home schedule against the Charleston Battery this Saturday, April 30 at 5:30 p.m. kick-off at DeKalb Memorial Stadium. Atlanta (2-1), fresh of last weekend's 2-1 victory at Charleston (0-1), will play its first home game after three-straight road matches.

The red-and-black will have a chance to win their first home opener since 2002 when they defeated the Indiana Blast 5-2. In 2003, Atlanta tied the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 2-2 and last season the Silverbacks lost 1-0 in overtime to the Syracuse Salty Dogs.

In 2004 the Silverbacks won three of four games against the gunners but the all time record against the Battery is 7-13-3. Three of those thirteen losses to the gold-and-black have been in overtime, but the United Soccer Leagues have now conformed to international standards, doing away with the overtime period and matches that are tied after 90 minutes will be declared draws

Atlanta is currently still missing four veterans (John Ball, Devlin Barnes, Gary Brooks and Adilson De Lima) and one newcomer (Machel Millwood) from their roster as they are finishing their professional indoor seasons. Despite their absence Head Coach David Vaudreuil has gotten some fine performances out of his available troops, particularly Jamaican international Fabian Dawkins, who has scored four goals in the last two games and was named to this week's USL Team of the Week, and Kris Stone, another Jamaican, who thanks to his two assists, was also named to the USL team of the week. Chilean First Division veteran Rodrigo Ríos is the other Atlanta goal-scorer in 2005 with his penalty kick against the Richmond Kickers in the season's first match and Christian Fegler has performed well between the posts and currently leads the league with 23 saves in three games.

Silverbacks team captain Alex Pineda-Chacón knows the team is in for a challenge on Saturday: "The Battery are a tough opponent. Their style of play is very different to ours – they try to use their height advantage and send a lot of long balls into their big forward Greg Simmonds. We're going to have to play smart and move the ball around. They're going to want some revenge after we beat them at their house in their opener last week."

Gates at DeKalb Memorial open at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday for the pre-game festivities. For tickets and information on the Atlanta Silverbacks please visit www.atlantasilverbacks.com.

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USL First Division Stories from April 26, 2005


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