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City Islanders Jump Ahead of NYRB II in East

By usl admin, 07/12/15, 9:30PM EDT

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USL Game Report

Sunday, July 12, 2015

HARRISON, N.J. – The Harrisburg City Islanders tallied a goal on either side of the half and defeated the New York Red Bulls II 2-0 on Sunday at Red Bull Arena.

Craig Foster struck in the 23rd minute and Enric Valles converted an 88th-minute penalty kick to seal three road points for Harrisburg. The win moves the City Islanders (6-5-4, 22 points) ahead of the Red Bulls II (6-7-4, 22 points) in the Eastern Conference standings in sixth place.

Harrisburg opened the scoring when a long ball was sent toward Red Bulls II’s back line. The ball flew toward Bolu Akinyode and an awkward bounce allowed the charging Foster to gain ground on the New York defender. Foster was first to the ball in the penalty box and slid his chance to Kyle Reynish’s left and into the side netting for the goal and a 1-0 lead.

In the 86th minute, an odd-man break for the Islanders led to a one-on-one with Konrad Plewa, who brought down his man in the box. The whistle blew and a penalty kick was awarded to Harrisburg. Valles stepped up to the spot against Rafael Diaz, who was a second-half substitute for Kyle Reynish, and blasted his chance straight down the middle to double the Harrisburg advantage.

New York had its chances in both halves but was kept off of the score sheet. The Red Bulls II threatened early when Marius Obekop collected a deflected shot by Leo Stolz, but Obekop couldn’t get off a clean hit and his shot flew harmlessly into the arms of goalkeeper Nick Noble.

Manolo Sanchez created some dangerous chances in the late stages of the half that nearly earned NYRB II an equalizer. In the 41st minute, Sanchez’s cross was headed just over the crossbar by Chris Tsonis. Three minutes later, Sanchez delivered a pass across the face of goal to Obekop, but he skied his chance.

In the second half, New York came out of the gates with an early chance from Tsonis who found space in a dangerous area, but he sent his shot high. Red Bulls II fans thought the home side equalized in the 64th minute when Akinyode charged down the left flank and spotted Tsonis sprinting toward goal. Akinyode’s cross was placed directly on the head of Tsonis who nodded into the back of the net, but referee ruled him offside.

Moments later, New York nearly pulled one back when Franklin Castellanos found Juan Sebastan Sanchez in a cluster by the six-yard box. The Red Bulls Academy product tapped the driven pass on-goal, but the goalkeeper was able to parry away the chance from danger.


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