Tuesday, June 17, 2003
TAMPA, FL - United Soccer Leagues announced the Teams and Players of the Week for the A-League, USL Pro Select League, Premier Development League and W-League today for Week 9, honoring Rochester's Ian Fuller, Long Island's Billy Gatti, Texas' Matt Clark and Seattle's Nicki Gamble.
The Raging Rhinos headed west for a pair of matches against the Minnesota Thunder and Milwaukee Wave United. The team returned home with two wins and the Northeast Division lead courtesy of outstanding play from forward and A-League Player of the Week Ian Fuller.
Saturday against Minnesota, Fuller combined with Doug Miller for two goals in a come-from-behind effort. Fuller scored the equalizer on a header in the 52nd minute off a flick-on header from Miller on a cross. With time winding down, Fuller set up Miller for a 25-yard game-winner in the 85th minute.
Fuller was involved in a third straight Rhinos goal to open Sunday's contest in Milwaukee. Midfielder Kirk Wilson fed Fuller a cross 11 minutes into the match for the opening marker.
The former New England Revolution forward is in his first year with the Rhinos and has three goals and three assists on the season.
The Long Island Rough Riders are the only remaining men's team that is unbeaten in USL at 6-0-3. Leading the club to that mark is goalkeeper and USL Pro Select League Player of the Week Billy Gatti.
Gatti posted two shutout victories over the Wilmington Hammerheads and Westchester Flames over the weekend.
In a rematch of last season's championship against the Hammerheads, Long Island posted an important 2-0 win with the game counting double in the standings due to their earlier match in Wilmington that could not be rescheduled being cancelled due to weather.
The following night on the road against Westchester, Gatti posted his fifth shutout of the season, which ranks second in the league to Utah's Chad Sackett, who has six. Gatti made several key saves to preserve the scoreless match that was finished with a Cordt Weinstein tally in the 109th minute.
Gatti, who currently ranks first in the league in goals against average at 0.68, led the club to the championship last season with a 1.30 average in 20 games played during the regular season, posting six shutouts. He stepped it up in the postseason with a 0.90 average.
Texas Spurs midfielder Matt Clark erupted for an 11-point game against the Austin Lightning Saturday, earning the PDL Player of the Week honor.
Clark was on fire for the Spurs, playing a part in each of the clubs six goals on the nightin the 6-1 win and finding the back of the net himself five times. He opened the scoring in the 17th minute and gave Texas a 2-0 halftime lead with another tally in the 45th on John Gall's second of three assists on the night.
In the second half, David Muller pulled one back for Austin to make the score 2-1 in the 52nd minute. Then Clark knocked home two more goals back-to-back, recording his hat-trick in the 63rd and adding his fourth in the 68th. Twenty minutes later, he turned provider to set up Kellen Zindell in the 88th and then capped the night off with his fifth goal in the 90th.
In his third year with the Spurs, Clark has seven goals and two assists for 16 points. Clark finished last season seventh in points (29) with 11 goals and seven assists on the year. In 2001 he notched seven goals and four assists.
The Seattle Sounders Women opened a four-game road trip to Arizona and Colorado with wins over Arizona and Fort Collins this weekend.
Leading Seattle to the victories was midfielder Nicki Gamble, who scored twice and was named the W-League Player of the Week.
The team leader in scoring with four goals and eight points finished off Friday's back-and-forth match in Mesa with the top-corner game-winner in the 56th minute on an assist from Alicia Milyak. Seattle held on for the 3-2 win.
Two nights later in Fort Collins, Gamble scored her second straight in the 25th minute to give the Sounders a 1-0 lead en route to a 3-1 victory and sole possession of first place in the Western Conference.
