Puerto Rico Islanders News Release - www.islandersfc.org

Thursday, December 14, 2006

BAYAMON, PR -- W Connection of Trinidad & Tobago defeated the Puerto Rico Islanders 1-0 in the deciding match of Group C of the Caribbean Qualifying tournament to advance to the next round of the Caribbean qualifiers of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Despite Puerto Rico’s dominance in the match, the Trinidad & Tobago club came away victorious with an early goal and great defense.

In the sixth minute W Connection took the lead thanks to Andre Toussaint, who took advantage of a rebound inside the box to beat Islanders’ goalkeeper Terence Boss.

From then on W Connection only defended, while the Puerto Rico Islanders constantly attacked and tried to beat Connection goalkeeper Jan Michael Williams. Yuri Morales could not take advantage of a W Connection defensive error in the 20th minute and his shot was cleared by Williams. Then in the 28th, Byron Alvarez entered the box from the right side, dribbled past the goalkeeper and crossed to an open Petter Villegas. Somehow a W Connection defender was able to deflect Villegas’s shot for a corner kick and keep the score at 1-0.

The Islanders came very close again to tying the match in the 37th minute. A Noah Delgado shot was cleared by Ronaldo Viana right at the goal line.

The second half saw more of the Islanders’ dominance, especially after Kern Cupid of W Connection was ejected in the 54th minute for a hard foul on Victor Herrera. Herrera and the other two Panamanian players, Alberto Zapata and Gustavo Ávila, entered the field in the second half for an added offensive spark.

Thomas John Queeley tried from long distance in the 70th minute and came close. The Islanders kept trying until the end. In the 87th minute Petter Villegas got off a beautiful cross to Mauricio Segovia, who almost headed in the equalizer as the ball blazed inches above Williams’ goal.

Despite the loss, the Puerto Rico Islanders once again received the full support from their numerous fans and had quite a notable performance in their first international competition.