USL announces teams of the week

Published on August 2, 2005 under USL First Division (USL-1) News Release


TAMPA, FL - United Soccer Leagues announced the official 2005 season statistical award winners for the Premier Development League and W-League. USL also announced the Week 15 Teams of the Week Tuesday, honoring Minnesota's Melvin Tarley and Harrisburg's Sumed Ibrahim as the Players of the Week.

Five players finished as the statistical award winners in the Premier Development League for the 2005 season. Cocoa Expos forward Freddy Moojen finished as the Scoring Champion with 43 points on 18 goals and seven assists, one point ahead of Richmond's Christian Neagu. Moojen also finished in a tie for the Goal Scoring Championship with Cape Cod's Andrew Metcalf. Neagu did not go empty-handed, earning the Assist Leader honor with 12 on the season. Nathan Pena backstopped the regular season champion Orange County Blue Star to a 15-1-0 season with a 0.47 goals against average to win the Goalkeeper of the Year honor. He also led the league in shutouts (7) and wins (13).

2005 PDL Statistical Awards

Scoring Champion: Freddy Moojen, Cocoa Expos (43 points)

Goal Scoring Champions: Freddy Moojen, Cocoa Expos & Andrew Metcalf, Cape Cod Crusaders (18 goals)

Assist Leader: Christian Neagu, Richmond Kickers Future (12 assists)

Goalkeeper of the Year: Nathan Pena, Orange County Blue Star (0.47 GAA)

In the W-League, five players won statistical awards for the 2005 season. The New Jersey Wildcats' and Canadian international Karina LeBlanc was the Goalkeeper of the Year for finishing with a 0.10 goals against average as she allowed just one goal in 901 minutes of action. For the second time in three years, an Ottawa player won the Scoring Championship with Canadian international Rhian Wilkinson finishing the season with 38 points on 13 goals and 12 assists. She finished one point ahead of Canadian international Kelly Parker, who shared the 2002 honor with former Ottawa player Jeanette Akerlund. Toronto Lady Lynx forward Kim Warner won the Goal Scoring Championship with 15 goals, one more than Boston's Marisa Brown. Wilkinson also finished in a tie for the Assist Leader award with New Jersey Wildcats and US youth international midfielder Kacey White.

2005 W-League Statistical Awards

Scoring Champion: Rhian Wilkinson, Ottawa Fury (38 points)

Goal Scoring Champion: Kim Warner, Toronto Lady Lynx (15 goals)

Assist Leaders: Rhian Wilkinson, Ottawa Fury & Kacey White, New Jersey Wildcats (12 assists)

Goalkeeper of the Year: Karina LeBlanc, New Jersey Wildcats (0.10 GAA)

The W-League Championship will be determined this weekend when the Central Florida Krush, Ottawa Fury and Vancouver Whitecaps join the host New Jersey Wildcats in Trenton, NJ. The semifinals are Friday with the championship live on Fox Soccer Channel Sunday, August 7 at 7:00 pm ET.

The Minnesota Thunder broke out of an eight-game winless run (0-6-2) Thursday night with a 3-1 win over the visiting Virginia Beach Mariners on the performance of Liberian international Melvin Tarley, who scored all three for the Thunder.

Tarley opened the scoring just five minutes in with his first tally of the night by converting a penalty kick before Liberian National Team teammate Johnny Menyongar connected with him for the next two in the 16th and 23rd minute marks for a commanding advantage. Tarley beat a defender and the goalkeeper before walking the second tally into the open goal. Menyongar collected a rebound and sent it to Tarley for a shot to the corner of the goal.

Tarley, in his third year with Minnesota, has six goals on the season. He tallied eight goals and an assist last season in 24 games after tallying just one strike in 16 games in his first season. Tarley also had two goals in Minnesota's upset win over Real Salt Lake in the third round of the US Open Cup.

The Harrisburg City Islanders picked up two road wins to move to second in the USL Second Division table and extend their unbeaten run to 13 games. Sumed Ibrahim led the team to a 5-2 win over Long Island and a 7-0 win at Northern Virginia.

Sumed started the week by registering the City Islanders first-ever hat-trick Wednesday.. His first tally in the 17th minute negated an early Long Island lead and defender Shane Crawford put them up 2-1 in the 24th. Sumed scored his second in the 33rd to go up 3-1 only to see Long Island's Derrick Etienne score his second to pull back within one in the 37th. Just before the half, Sumed restored the two-goal margin and Matt Tanzini put the game away with the lone second half score.

On Saturday, Sumed played a lesser part on the scoresheet than Chad Severs and Steve Fisher, who both posted two tallies, but still played an important role. He finished a give-and-go with Chad Severs in the 40th minute to put Harrisburg up 3-0. Five minutes earlier, his shot off the underside of the crossbar fell to Mo Oduor, who was pulled down for a penalty kick that Severs converted for a 2-0 lead.

Sumed is the second leading scorer on the team with nine goals and three assists. He was drafted 20th overall by the Chicago Fire in 2004, but only played three games his rookie season.

Teams of the Week

USL First Division Team of the Week
Pos Name Team Highlights
G Ronnie Pascale Richmond Two shutout road draws
D Adilson DeLima Atlanta Goal in 2-1 win over Montreal
D Frankie Sanfillippo Rochster Solid play in 0-0 draw against Richmond
D Kevin Knight Richmond Solid play in two road shutout draws
M Andrew Gregor Seattle Two goals, assist in 3-0 win over Toronto
M Masahiro Fukasawa Montreal Goal in 1-0 win at Charleston
M Steve Kindel Vancouver Solid play in 0-0 draw against Seattle
M Dave DiPlacido Toronto Solid play in 0-0 draw against Richmond
* F Melvin Tarley Minnesota Three goals in 3-1 win over Virginia Beach
F Johnny Menyongar Minnesota Two assists in 3-1 win over Virginia Beach
F Fabian Dawkins Atlanta Game-winner in 2-1 win over Montreal




USL Second Division Team of the Week
Pos Name Team Highlights
G Chris McClellan Charlotte 13 saves, 1 goal allowed in two road wins
D Josh Rife Charlotte Solid play in two road wins
D Adam Schultz Harrisburg Solid play in 7-0 win over Northern Virginia
D Jonah Long Charlotte Assist in 3-0 win at Long Island
M Steve Fisher Harrisburg Two goals, two assists in pair of wins
M Ricky Ordain Charlotte Three goals in two road wins
M Ricky Charles New Hampshire Assist in 2-0 win over Cincinnati
M Chris Lemons Charlotte Game-winner in 3-1 win at Northern Virginia
* F Sumed Ibrahim Harrisburg Four goals in pair of wins
F Chris Bagley Wilmington Two goals in 3-2 win at Pittsburgh
F Tom McNeil New Hampshire Two goals in 2-0 win over Cincinnati

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USL First Division Stories from August 2, 2005


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