USL News Release

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

TAMPA, FL -- United Soccer Leagues announced the Team of the Week honors for the 16th week of the USL season, honoring Carolina’s Gregory Richardson as the USL First Division Player of the Week and Steward Ceus as the USL Second Division Player of the Week.

Having suffered a defeat two nights before in Charleston 2-1 and seeing the other league leaders Portland and Puerto Rico pull ahead as well in a draw Thursday, the Carolina RailHawks made sure to keep within striking range of the three front-runners. And new addition Gregory Richardson did plenty of striking of his own to accomplish the task, finishing the afternoon Sunday with a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over Miami.

Richardson got things started in the 39th minute. On a counterattack, Joseph Kabwe laid a ball off to Richardson as he ran in from the left flank, and Richardson neatly tucked it into the goal.

Richardson got his second of the afternoon in the 64th minute. He took a pass from Daniel Paladini and made a masterful run with the ball that left a slew of defenders in his wake, then hammered a shot past Hannigan.

Richardson completed his hat trick in the 68th minute on a penalty kick. The penalty was awarded after Mark Schulte was taken down in the box on a corner kick. Richardson stepped to the spot and smashed it in.

Sitting in sixth going into the weekend, the Charlotte Eagles were hitting the road to take on the fourth-place Real Maryland Monarchs and fifth-place Crystal Palace Baltimore. A 3-0 win over Maryland and a scoreless draw in Baltimore netted a jump past their two opponents for fourth in the table with two weeks remaining.

Leading the charge for Charlotte was goalkeeper Steward Ceus. On Friday, he made three saves en route to the 3-0 win over the Monarchs.

The following night, in a crazy match that saw a lengthy lightning delay in each half, the consistency of Ceus in goal proved critical. When the sides came back out for the remaining 10 minutes of the first half, Palace seemed to have benefitted more from the extended break. The Baltimore players came out laying siege to the Charlotte goal mouth with Zack Flores, Bryan Harkin and Dan Lader each creating well-worked opportunities but the Charlotte defense and goalkeeper Steward Ceus managed to withstand the pressure.

Ceus would finish the night with six stops for his second clean sheet of the weekend and third of the season. 

USL First Division Team of the Week
Pos	Name	Team	Highlights
G	Bill Gaudette	Puerto Rico	Five saves in 0-0 draw at Portland
D	Matt Bobo	Charleston	Goal in 2-1 win over Carolina
D	Stephen Keel	Portland	Led team in 0-0 draw against Puerto Rico
D	Nigel Henry	Puerto Rico	Led team in 0-0 draw at Portland
M	Tyrell Burgess	Vancouver	Assist in 4-2 win over Puerto Rico
M	AJ Godbolt	Austin	Goal, assist in 2-2 draw against Montreal
M	Ciaran O'Brien	Montreal	Two assists in 4-1 win over Cleveland
M	Tiger Fitzpatrick	Rochester	Two assists in 4-1 win over Cleveland
F	Gifton Noel-Williams	Austin	Goal, assist in 2-2 draw against Montreal
F	Gregory Richardson	Carolina	Three goals in 4-0 win over Miami
F	Paulo Araujo	Miami	Two goals in 2-1 win at Minnesota

USL Second Division Team of the Week
Pos	Name	Team	Highlights
G	Steward Ceus	Charlotte	Two shutouts at Maryland, Baltimore
D	Colin Falvey	Wilmington	Led team in 2-1 win at Harrisburg
D	Ryan Pierce	Baltimore	Led team in 0-0 draw against Charlotte
D	Nathan Salsi	Pittsburgh	Goal in 3-0 win over Western Mass
D	Josh Rife	Charlotte	Led team in two road shutouts
M	Jamie Franks	Wilmington	Goal in 3-2 win over Richmond
M	Amaury Nunes	Charlotte	Goal in 3-0 win at Maryland
M	Jeff Hughes	Pittsburgh	Goal in 1-1 draw against Western Mass
M	Jorge Herrera	Charlotte	Assist in 3-0 win at Maryland
F	Kenny Bundy	Wilmington	Goal, assist in two wins
F	Randolph Jerome	Pittsburgh	Two goals, assist in 3-0 win again Western Mass