Saturday, August 10, 2013
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The Harrisburg City Islanders were able to bounce back from the tough loss on Wednesday to win their final home game of the USL PRO regular season with a 3-1 victory against VSI Tampa Bay FC on Saturday night at Skyline Sports Complex. All three goals were scored by Lucky Mkosana, who has now scored 10 goals in his last seven games and recorded his second hat trick of the season.
With the win the Islanders now have a winning record at home, which gives them momentum as they could possibly be back at Skyline very shortly in the quarterfinals of the USL PRO Playoffs. The top four teams in the USL PRO regular-season standings will host in the opening round of the postseason.
The game started off with back and forth play as neither side was able to keep possession for more than a few passes. The game was also a physical one, which saw tensions run high at times as both teams were playing tough soccer.
The Islanders had the first quality chance of the game when a long pass was played into the box to Yann Ekra, who headed on goal by straight at Tampa Bay goalkeeper Alex Horwath. Harrisburg goalkeeper Nick Noble helped keep the game scoreless early on with a big save on Mauricio Salles when he found space behind the Islanders defense. Salles snuck in and received a pass from across the field and took a hard shot, but Noble was right there to make the save.
With five minutes to go before halftime, Mkosana was able to find a hole in the VSI defense and Don Anding was able to pick him out with a searching ball. The Zimbabwean put his side ahead at the halftime break as he netted his eleventh goal of the year, but he was not done.
Noble came up big again early in the second half to keep the Isles ahead. A hard cross came soaring into the box and once again met the head of Salles, and once again Noble was up to the task with a great diving save. VSI finally broke through just after an hour with a great effort after sloppy play by the Isles in their own penalty area. The ball was bouncing around and fell perfectly for Salles to attempt a bicycle kick. He flipped over and struck it true, and while Noble was able to get a hand to the shot, it ended up in the roof of the net.
Just six minutes after VSI tied the game, however, Mkosana found the back of the net again to restore the City Islanders’ lead. After a few quick moves in midfield, Matt Bahner was able to find space and bolt toward goal. Bahner put a low cross into the penalty area, which met the sliding foot of Mkosana, whose finish gave him sole possession of the scoring lead for the team.
Mkosana’s third goal came after a total team effort with eight minutes to go. Quality play in the corner by Tom Mellor, Jimmy McLaughlin and Steven Basso led to Mkosana getting a great look at goal at the top of the penalty area, and after finding space to shoot as he was pressed by a defender he curled a shot into the top-right corner of the net for his 13th goal of the season.
With the win, the City Islanders maintained their hold on third place in the USL PRO standings. They have one game remaining in the season and that is away against the Dayton Dutch Lions next Saturday, August 17th at 7 p.m. This will be the final game for the Islanders before the USL PRO Playoffs.
For tickets and information on the Islanders please visit www.cityislanders.com or call (717)-441-GOAL.