Thursday, August 23, 2007
TAMPA, FL – The capital cities of Pennsylvania and Virginia will face off Saturday, August 25 in Richmond when the defending champion Kickers play host to the Harrisburg City Islanders in the 2007 USL Second Division Championship. The two clubs come into the match with extremely different backgrounds, but similar 2007 seasons.
They say playoff and championship experience is always a decided advantage in the postseason. On paper then, the defending champion Kickers should walk away with their second consecutive USL Second Division title.
Richmond: Championship Pedigree
In addition to winning the USL-2 crown last year, Richmond captured the double in 1995, winning the PDL and US Open Cup championships. And the championships are only a fraction of the experience with the Kickers having been to two USL-2 finals, the PDL final, the US Open Cup final and two USL-1 finals in its storied history. In fact, Richmond nearly won both USL-1 finals, falling in overtime in Milwaukee in 2002 and in penalty kicks in Seattle in 2005.
Richmond will be making a historic seventh championship game appearance in domestic competition, which ranks only second among USL teams to the USL-1 Rochester Rhinos, who have been to six USL-1 finals and two US Open Cup finals. Major League Soccer’s DC United (5 league, 2 cup) and Chicago Fire (3 league, 4 cup) also have seven championship appearances with the Los Angeles Galaxy leading the way with eight (5 league, 3 cup).
How does all that translate onto the field? Leigh Cowlishaw, a finalist for Coach of the Year, has been there for all of them. He won the double in 1995 and reached the 1996 USL-2 final as a player. He has guided the team from the sideline in the past three championship appearances. Twelve players from last year’s championship team are still with the club, five remain from the 2005 USL-1 finalists and four from the 2002 USL-1 finalists.
Two of those cogs with the vast championship game experience are among the leaders of the team in captain Mike Burke, a finalist for league MVP, and Ronnie Pascale, the Goalkeeper of the Year.
Harrisburg: Seasoned Newcomers
In comparison to Richmond’s 15 years in USL and championship game experience, the fourth-year City Islanders franchise pales. What they do have is a core group of players who have become the engine of the team over those four years, adding to their experience and preparing for this moment.
They may be new to the championship game environment, but the club has 10 players who have been with the team for at least three seasons. Stephen Fisher, Dave Kern, Ryan O’Neill, Mo Oduor, David Schofield and Matt Tanzini remain from the first team put together in 2004 and are leaders at the club and veterans in the league.
The longtime ‘Isle Guys,’ as the players are affectionately known in Harrisburg, are not alone in experience on the team. Former USL-1 player Chris Morman joined the club last season and Brian Ombiji joined the team from the Michigan Bucks, who are known for outstanding performances in big games. Anthony Calvano made the move to Harrisburg after two seasons with state rival Pittsburgh, leading the back line by playing every minute of the season. Ryan Pierce joined the team from a Cape Cod Crusaders side that went unbeaten in the PDL last season and Jani Galik and Michael Lookingland spent time in Major League Soccer in 2006.
Capping it all off, however, is Matt Nelson. The veteran USL-1 goalkeeper returned to the USL Second Division, where he was the 2000 Goalkeeper of the Year while playing for the Cape Cod Crusaders in 2000. He spent the last four seasons in USL’s top flight on a mid-to-bottom table Virginia Beach Mariners side that tested his capabilities every week. He played 90 games with a 1.35 goals against average and a 32-39-18 regular season record that included 23 shutouts – a pretty good mark stat line for a team that never finished better than ninth over the four seasons.
Goalkeeper Showdown
Both teams finished tied for the second lowest goals allowed total, giving up 15 in 20 games this season to finish one back of Cleveland. Pascale and Nelson, the two All-League selections at the goalkeeper position were the key components in that number with Nelson playing 18 games and Pascale 19. Nelson finished the year with a 0.61 GAA, a 10-4-4 record and 10 shutouts while Pascale was 12-2-5 with nine shutouts and a GAA of 0.68.
It won’t be the first time the two will have gone head-to-head with both playing in USL-1 from 2003-05 and their two meetings this season. Pascale has the clear advantage from their USL-1 battles with a 7-1-2 record. He posted five shutouts in the 10 meetings for a GAA of 0.58 while Nelson had two shutouts and a GAA of 1.45.
The two split the season series this year with Nelson winning the last contest July 28 in Harrisburg 2-1 and Pascale picking up a sixth shutout against Nelson in a 1-0 win at home, where he has yet to lose to his counterpart at 5-0-1 all-time against Nelson.
Cup Glory in Season of Similarities
In addition to both clubs finishing with the same goals allowed total, splitting their two-game season series and finishing separated by just three points in the standings, they had outstanding performances in the US Open Cup.
Richmond opened the tournament with a 4-2 win over the Michigan Bucks, a club famous for Cup upsets, and went on to down league rival Cleveland 2-1 in the Second Round for a Third Round meeting with the world-renowned Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer.
Meanwhile, the City Islanders, in their first-ever tournament appearance, were 4-0 winners over a USASA club in the First Round before downing the PDL Ocean City Barons 2-1 in the Second for a meeting against storied MLS side DC United.
Both clubs stunned the soccer community with upset victories over their MLS opposition with Richmond topping the Galaxy 1-0 days before David Beckham’s arrival and Harrisburg mirroring the result against the four-time MLS Cup and one-time US Open Cup champion DC United. It was the first time two USL-2 clubs reached the Quarterfinals in the same year.
Their tournament success would come to a close in the Quarters, however, in a pair of one-goal decisions. Despite dominating much of the play, the Kickers would fall in Carolina to the USL-1 RailHawks 1-0 and Harrisburg fell 2-1 on the road against the MLS New England Revolution.
2007 USL-2 Championship
The USL Second Division Championship featuring the Richmond Kickers at home defending their title against the Harrisburg City Islanders is Saturday, August 25 at 8:00 pm ET. The game will be broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel on delay at 10:00 pm ET following the MLS match broadcast.
