USL announces Week 5 honors
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
TAMPA, FL – United Soccer Leagues announced the Teams of the Week for Week 5 of the season, honoring Charleston’s Greg Simmonds, New Hampshire’s Kyle Singer, St Louis’ Vedod Ibisevic and Detroit’s Therese Heaton as the Players of the Week in the A-League, Pro Soccer League, Premier Development League and W-League.
The Charleston Battery picked up a 4-3 win and a 2-2 draw on the week with Greg Simmonds scoring three goals in the process.
On Tuesday night, Simmonds scored in the 60th minute to give the Battery a 3-1 lead and then tallied what proved to be the game-winner in the 71st on an assist from Steve Klein.
Tied 1-1 on Saturday against the Atlanta Silverbacks, Simmonds struck in the 69th minute on the second assist of the night from Kevin Jackson.
The sixth-year A-League forward currently leads the league in goals with four and is tied with Syracuse’s Chris Dore in points at nine. The four goals matches his season total while with the Richmond Kickers last year.
The New Hampshire Phantoms moved to the top of the Northern Division Saturday with a 2-1 road win against the Western Mass Pioneers thanks in part to goalkeeper Kyle Singer who posted seven saves in the win.
In his second year with the club, Singer currently is unbeaten through three games. His 0.61 goals-against average for eight games played last year was among the league’s best although he did not play the required minimum of 900 minutes to qualify for the Goalkeeper of the Year honor won by Utah’s Chad Sackett at 0.69.
Forward Vedod Ibisevic played a critical role in the St Louis Strikers downing the visiting Kansas City Brass 6-4 Friday night with five goals in the game, moving the Strikers to the top of the Heartland Division at 3-0.
Trailing 2-0 on a pair of goals by William John, Ibisevic scored three straight to give the Strikers a 3-2 lead in the 59th minute. John answered to complete his hat-trick and level the score only to see Ibisevic find the back of the net once again for a 4-3 lead in the 73rd. Two minutes later, Kansas City’s Blake Ryan scored to tie the game again. Ian Quattrocchi tallied in the 78th for another St Louis lead and Ibisevic added the much-needed insurance tally given the wild match in the 84th.
Ibisevic now has six goals and an assist in two games on the season, ranking second in goals and third in points in the league. In his first year in the league last year, Ibisevic talled a goal and three assists in just four games played for the Strikers.
Detroit’s off to a fast start in their inaugural season, picking up their second win at West Michigan, 4-0, behind the efforts of Therese Heaton, who tallied a hat-trick in the match.
Heaton, just two games into the year, already sits atop the points and goals table with four goals. After scoring the lone goal in a 1-0 win at Cincinnati the week before, the forward dominated the Edge Saturday with three goals in the first 25 minutes and exited the match at halftime as the expansion club cruised to the victory.
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