Harrisburg City Islanders News Release -- www.cityislanders.com
Thursday, August 18, 2011
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The Harrisburg City Island concluded the 2011 USL PRO regular season as the second seed in the National Division with a record of 10-7-7 and 37 points. The City Islanders will host the No.3 seed Los Angeles Blues this Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the National Division Semifinals. It will be Harrisburg's first home playoff game since 2005. The winner of Friday's match will advance to the USL PRO National Fivision Final to play the winner of of the match between No.1 seed the Rochester Rhinos and the No.4 seed Pittsburgh Riverhounds the following weekend.
Over eight seasons the Harrisburg City Islanders have gone to overtime four times in the playoffs. In 2009, the Richmond Kickers beat the City Islanders with a 120th-minute goal. The year before, the City Islanders lost to Crystal Palace Baltimore in penalty kicks. In 2007, the City Islanders beat Richmond in penalty kicks to take home the 2007 USL Second Division Championship. The semifinal match that advanced them to the 2007 Championship match resulted in a 1-0 overtime win against the Cleveland City Stars.
No.2 Harrisburg City Islanders (10-7-7, 37 points)
This will be the City Islanders' 13th home game of the season, posting a 6-2-4 record in the regular season while scoring a USL PRO second-highest 25 goals and allowing 13 goals. Overall, the Harrisburg City Islanders have scored the second-most goals in USL PRO with 37.
Head-to-head this season, the Harrisburg City Islanders are 1-0-2 against the Los Angeles Blues, outscoring them 4-3. City Islanders midfielder Andrew Welker has scored two goals against the Blues as forward Sainey Touray and midfielder Jason Pelletier registered one goal apiece.
The last time these two teams met was back on July 23rd when the Harrisburg City Islanders tied the Los Angeles Blues in a captivating and physical 1-1 draw in front of 1,393 fans at Skyline Sports Complex. Midfielder Jason Pelletier scored his first goal of the season in the 19th minute but it wasn't enough for the win as Blues midfielder Cesar Rivera scored his seventh goal of the season in the 43rd minute to earn Los Angeles a tie.
"We've been working hard all year to get prepared for the playoffs and we are excited to be playing at home," said Head Coach Bill Becher.
No.3 Los Angeles Blues (8-7-9, 33 points)
The Los Angeles Blues finished the 2011 USL PRO regular season in third place in the National Division. This will be Los Angeles's 13th away game of the season; so far they have gone 5-3-4 on the road, scoring the most away goals of any USL PRO side (20) and allowing National Division-best 16 goals. Since tying the City Islanders 1-1 back on July 23rd at Skyline Sports Complex, the Blues have gone 0-3-3. This past weekend, the Los Angeles Blues tied the Richmond Kickers twice 0-0 at Cal State Fullerton and Norco College.
"L.A. is a very good team, and we expect a tough game on Friday," said Becher. "We have played them three times, and all three were very tight competitive matches."
The game will be streamed live at usllive.com, brought to you by Invica Sports. The game will also air tape delayed on ABC 27 weather channel, Saturday, August 20 at Noon.
Friday's kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET at the Skyline Sports Complex on City Island. Gates open at 5:30pm. All tickets are general admission seating for $10. For more information on the City Islanders, or to order tickets, contact the team at 717-441-GOAL, or visit cityislanders.com.
Following the game, join the Harrisburg City Islanders at Mulligan's Downtown Pub as players will be arriving shortly after the game. Since there is a Harrisburg Senators baseball game at 7:00 p.m., we advise you arrive early to cheer on your City Islanders.