With a last second win, the Islanders won 1-0 over the visiting Charleston Battery. A goal scored by Krause in injury time put the home team ahead and gave them a very important win.
Slow game but important win, Islanders 1-0
June 18, 2009
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Posted by KVD
Tough matchup: Islanders vs Charleston Battery
June 18, 2009
Due to time constraints, I haven’t been able to write a proper preview for the game against the Battery. So I’ll provide the information you need to know in bulletpoints:
-The Battery remains undefeated this season (yes, that’s 13 straight games without a loss)
-Charleston sits atop the league with 24 points (6 wins, 6 ties)
-Charleston has only allowed 4 goals this season
-10 of the 13 games Charleston has played have ended up in clean sheets (0 goals against) for the Battery
-The Islanders play the Battery at home twice this weekend, then travel to Charleston for a game on the 25th of June.
-Historically, Charleston has only defeated the Islanders twice in their history (once in regular season, once in the playoffs)
-The last time the Battery beat the Islanders was back in September of 2006
-The Islanders have beaten the Battery 9 times and tied 8 times
Needless to say, the matchup against Charleston this weekend (and even next week’s game) will be critical for the Islanders. They need to get a positive result at home (at least 4 points) to propel them into their July road games. These games will help us see where the Islanders stand in the USL-1 and also what we could expect to see from them during their away games stint in July and their all important preliminary games at the end of July for the CONCACAF Champions League.
So as I see it, these two games are the most important matches the Islanders have played this season. The Charleston defense will not be easy but if the Islanders’ offense plays as it should, I believe the ‘Tropa Naranja’ can be victorious. Keep in mind that Charleston has only scored 13 goals this season vs 19 for the Islanders. It will truly be some great matches, the Islanders relying on their tough offense against the Battery’s dependence on a quality defense.
Even though the numbers don’t point our way (at least this season’s), I say the Islanders come away with either 6 points or at least 4.
2-1 victory tonight.
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Posted by KVD
The Islanders are back…. well, partially
June 18, 2009
Last Friday, the Islanders got a bit of revenge for the 3-1 loss handed to them by the Aztex in Austin through a 4-1 of that same team at home in Bayamon.
For a good overview of the game, visit BoriQa’s Islanders blog over @ TheOffside.
You can also watch the videos of all the goals at the end of this note.
Now to the game. 4-1, a very decisive victory right? Well yes, BUT – the Islanders still didn’t play at the same level they did last year. There was a lot of offensive action yet at times the momentum was given back to the visiting side and he Aztex were allowed to take too much control of the midfield. The defense was much better, but it never seemed like it was testes too seriously. Remember that this was the Aztex’s second game away from home and they’ve gone on to allow 4 goals in each away game.
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Posted by KVD
Goleada! Islanders win 4-1
June 13, 2009
Thanks to BoriQa from the Islanders blog @ TheOffside
The Islanders won by an overwhelming 4-1 final score against the Austin Aztex. More on this match later…
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Posted by KVD
Austin Aztex vs Puerto Rico Islanders match preview
June 12, 2009
The Austin Aztex visit the Puerto Rico Islanders tonight for the 3rd and last meeting between these two teams this season. Austin has been playing decently, particularly considering they are an expansion team playing in the USL-1 for the first time. In the previous 2 meetings between these teams, the Aztex made good use of their home field and managed to get a 1-1 tie in the first game and a surprising and decisive 3-1 win a few weeks ago.
The Aztex currently hold a 2-3-4 record for a total of 10 points. One of their victories was the 3-1 victory against the Islanders and the second being against the Cleveland City Stars. The Texan club has a decent record but one that has come almost exclusively from home games. Austin has only played one game outside Nelson Field and it was a resounding 4-0 loss against Montreal.
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Posted by KVD
CONCACAF Champions League 2009 draw announced
June 12, 2009
Apparently people over at the CONCACAF headquarters in New York like keeping people in suspense. After making us wait all day they finally decided to release the team draws for the preliminary round as well as the different groups for the group-phase.
Many Islanders fans were anxious to find out who the team will be facing come July in the preliminary series. Last year the Islanders drew LD Alajuelense from Costa Rica, a team with a very lengthy CONCACAF history to its name. Most people thought it would be an easy series for the Costa Rican team and an early end to the Islanders’ run. But in the end, things would prove to be much different.
After the spectacular effort of the Islanders during the first ever CONCACAF Champions League (CCL), Puerto Rico fans are expecting them to go far again this year. Still, in the back of the mind of most of those fans there was some anxiousness as to who the team would be facing in the first set of games. Seeing how the team has been playing lately, most fans couldn’t be too confident on what would happen if the Islanders had to face a very strong team (say Pachuca, or Olimpia) to get into the group stages. Luckily for us, the Islanders drew pretty well.
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Posted by KVD
The state of things pt.2
June 11, 2009
Photo by: Raul Rivera for PN
In the last post, ‘the state of things pt.1’, I gave a brief overview of what’s happened with the team in the last few games. Now I think it’s important to look at the big picture of the last several weeks of league play and what the team has to face in the coming weeks.
Let me begin by stating that I usually consider myself an optimist. But the numbers and facts don’t lie. While I believe the team is actually on the way up, we need to look realistically at what has happened to really understand the challenges ahead.
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Posted by KVD
On being back & the state of things pt. 1
June 8, 2009By: Kristian Vazquez
After a very brief leave of absence, I’m back into the thick of things. The last game I saw before going away was the very disappointing loss at home to Portland and now I come back to an equally, if not more, disappointing tie with Cleveland. The Islanders have managed 7 out of 12 possible points in their last 4 matches. While 2 wins and a tie isn’t a bad record, taking a closer look at things one has to be almost as worried as if it had been 2 or 3 points out of 12. So let’s take a look at the state of things, in particular considering what has happened in the past couple of weeks.
As if losing 5 points at home to Portland hadn’t been bad enough, the Islanders went on the road to Austin looking for a win only to come out with a humiliating 3-1 loss. The Islanders now have a tie and a loss at Austin so far this season. The truth of the matter is that the ‘Tropa Naranja’ didn’t play at all that bad. They didn’t play up to their level (the one they used to have) but the 3-1 was mostly due to some lucky breaks for Austin and some uninspired play by the visiting side. Losing to expansion team Austin, with only one other win this season, clearly put an exclamation point on the negative slide that the team has been riding this season.
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Posted by KVD
Islanders vs City Stars 2-2 Tie
June 7, 2009The Islanders and the City Stars finish tied in their second game in Bayamón. After the Islanders where leading by a score of 2-0, the City Stars rallied quickly in the second half and tied the game.
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Posted by rafijoepr
Islanders vs City Stars 2-1 Win
June 5, 2009The Islanders returned home on Thursday night and stated of a two game series with the City Stars by winning their first encounter ever 2-1.
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Posted by rafijoepr
