Reading United News Release -- www.readingunitedac.com
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
READING, Pa. – Reading United starts its fifth straight trip to the USL PDL playoffs on Tuesday night with a little bit of déjà vu. This will mark the second straight year that the second place United (11-2-3, 36 points) will take on their Newark, N.J. counterparts, the Jersey Express (10-3-3, 33 points), in a Mid Atlantic Division play-in match for a place in the USL PDL Eastern Conference Playoffs.
Tickets are only $5 for all everyone 6 and older. Youths 5-and-under OR anyone 18 and under wearing their club/high school soccer shirt gets in free! Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Albright College’s Gene Shirk Stadium in Reading, Pa.
United wrapped up their regular season on a torrid pace, collecting 16 of a possible 18 points (5-0-1 in last six games) to leapfrog Jersey into second place in the Mid Atlantic Division. Jersey stumbled a little down the stretch, finishing 3-2-1 in their final six.
Reading is 5-1-2 at home this season with a +13 goal differential, while Jersey finished a respectable 5-2-1 and +8 goal differential as the visiting side in the regular season.
Reading will be looking for a bit of revenge, as the similar match-up last postseason ended in a 1-0 win for the visiting Express. Only 11 shots were taken between the two teams in the rain-soaked affair, with Robert Youhill’s blast being the only attempt to cross the goal-line. Current New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Ryan Meara made five stops for the Express, his second straight shutout of United during the 2011 season.
“There’s definitely a sense of revenge,” said Reading defender David Rodriguez. “A bunch of our guys like [Sean] Peckham, [Matt] Baker, [Stephen] Okai and [Steven] Neumann were there last year. We know what we have to do to adjust this year.”
Jersey currently holds a 1-0-1 advantage over Reading this season, taking a 2-0 victory on the road exactly one month ago to spoil the United’s undefeated start (5-0-1) to the season. United snagged a point on the road on July 11th as Deshorn Brown’s game-tying goal found the back of the net in the 72nd minute.
The winner will advance to the USL PDL Eastern Conference semifinals, with the date, time and location still to be determined by this Tuesday’s results.