Tuesday, July 8, 2003
TAMPA, FL - United Soccer Leagues announced today the Teams and Players of the Week for the A-League, USL Pro Select League, Premier Development League and W-League today for Week 12, honoring Portland's Byron Alvarez, Westchester's Kwame Richardson, Des Moines' Joseph Kabwe and Long Island's Melissa Shulman as the Players of the Week.
The Portland Timbers gained sole possession of second in the Pacific Division Thursday when forward and A-League Player of the Week Byron Alvarez entered the scoreless match in the 58th minute against the Vancouver Whitecaps, who had defeated them two days earlier, and proceeded to net a hat-trick in a 3-0 win.
Alvarez's first goal came in the 72nd minute as he beat out his defender and knocked in the score from inside 10 yards. The second goal, in the 81st minute, was the result of a mistake by Vancouver goalkeeper Michael Franks, who came out of the box and fell down, allowing Alvarez a clear path to the unchallenged goal. The third, and final goal in the hat trick came in the 92nd minute after a corner kick by Hugo Alcaraz bounced off a Vancouver defender and set up the easy score from point-blank range.
Alvarez's hat-trick came in the span of 20 minutes and was the first for the Timbers since McKinley Tennyson scored four goals in a 6-1 win over El Paso on August 13, 2002 at PGE Park.
The Westchester Flames remain in the USL Pro Select League playoff hunt with a thrilling come-from behind 4-3 overtime victory over the Rhode Island Stingrays Saturday behind the heroics of second half substitute forward and Player of the Week Kwame Richardson.
Trailing 3-1 midway into the second half, Kwame Richardson entered the game in the 66th minute and scored in the 76th off a cross from midfielder Mersim Beskovic to pull the Flames within one. Four minutes later Danny Parking would convert a penalty kick to tie the game and send it to overtime. Richardson struck again in the final moments of the first period of extratime to give Westchester the win.
Following a tough loss to division rival Chicago earlier in the week, the Menace regrouped to dominate in an 8-2 win over the Kansas City Brass, who came into the match with a 7-7-0 record and the experience of a well played 1-0 loss to the high-flying Menace earlier in the season.
Menace forward and PDL Player of the Week Joseph Kabwe set the tone early in the match with two of his five goals on the night in the 16th and 25th minutes for a 2-1 lead after a fourth minute tally by Kansas City's Allan Nekuda. He then set up Tomas Boltnar, who had a hat-trick on the night as well, for his first of the night four minutes later. Kabwe then scored the next two in the 32nd and 36th minutes to push the lead to 5-0. Boltnar would make it 6-1 before halftime. Five minutes into the second frame, Kabwe would strike yet again for his fifth goal, giving him 11 points on the night.
Kabwe is second on the team in points (26) with eight goals and 10 assists, trailing Boltnar's 35 on 13 goals and nine assists.
A day after a 5-1 loss north of the border to Ottawa, the Long Island Lady Riders rebounded against Toronto in a thrilling 4-3 victory. The difference proved to be Long Island forward and W-League Player of the Week Melissa Shulman, who notched a hat-trick.
Shulman negated an early 1-0 Toronto lead with a header in the 36th minute on a cross from Kerri McCabe for a 1-1 tie at halftime. Toronto's Candace Chapman, who was also named to the Team of the Week, opened the second half with two straight goals for a 3-1 lead in the 67th minute, but it was all Shulman and Long Island after that. Shulman found the back of the net on another header in the 68th minute on a cross from Brianne Pardini and Francesca DeCristoforo leveled the score on a penalty kick in the 81st. Two minutes later, DeCristoforo found Shulman, who spun and struck the ball past Toronto goalkeeper Anne-Marie Witko for the win.
Shulman's hat-trick moved her into the team lead in goals (6) and points (12) on the season. McCabe is second in both categories with four goals and nine points.
