Ambassadors conquer Storm
ryan Walle scored two goals to lead the Bay Area Ambassadors to a 3-1 win over the Santa Clarita Storm on Saturday.

The Storm took the lead in the 20th minute, when Captain Stephen Martines delivered a corner kick that found the head of midfielder Andres Bueno, who with a quick flick of the head put in his fourth goal of the season.

But only 20 minutes later Bay Area's Bryan Walle put a cross from Javier Hill in the back of the net to knot the score.

It was only one minute into the second half and Walle came up with the winning goal and his second of the game. In the 65th minute, the Ambassadors picked up an unassisted insurance goal from Jordan Keyes

Steven Rodriguez had six saves for the Storm and Bay Area's Derek Lesley had five.

First home win
Detroit City FC picked up their first home win, defeating the Erie Admirals 3-0 on Saturday in a driving rainstorm. The expansion team is undefeated in five games, with a 2-0-3 record. Le Rouge’s newest signing, Knox Cameron, received a probing diagonal ball from Keith Lough and beat Erie’s keeper cleanly in the 19th minute to put Le Rouge up 1-0.

 Lough struck again sixteen minutes later, burying a corner from Tom Oatley  to put Detroit up 2-0. “I wanted that goal. Tom played a great corner. To go up 2-0 at that point was huge,” said Lough.

City went up 3-0 in the 83rd minute after Kyle Bethel  scooped his mark and beat Erie’s keeper.  

 

Player of the Week
Erie Admirals forward Shane Howard has been named National Premier Soccer League Player of the Week for the week ending May 27 after scoring a franchise-record four goals in a 4-1 win over Greater Binghamton FC on Sunday.

Three of Howard’s goals were unassisted. The other came on a penalty kick.

 

First goal against
New York Red Bulls Academy U23s had a big weekend, scoring six goals in a 6-0 win over the Rhode Island Reds, then defeating Mass United 2-1 on Sunday. The goal by United was the first the RBA U23s have allowed all season.

On Saturday, the Red Bulls struck four times in the first half-hour. After that, Victor Manosalvas scored twice, netting goals in the 14th and 29th minutes, sandwiching a score by Sam Adjei in the 18th minute. Adjei assisted on both of the Manosalvas goals, while Giorgi Chirgadze also picked up an assist on the Manosalvas tally in the 14th minute. Brandon Adler helped out on Adjei’s goal.

The two Red Bull goals in the second half were scored by substitutes. David Westlake found the mark in the 69th minute, assisted by starter Mark Brode, and then Westlake set up fellow sub Christian Battistesa on a goal in the 89th minute.

On Sunday, David Najem scored in the 60th minute, moments after entering as a substitute, to give the Red Bulls U23 a 2-1 come-from-behind win over visiting Mass United FC.  

 Mass United drew first blood in the 13th minute, as John Bavota finished a setup from Denivaldo DaSilva.

The 1-0 lead held up for the visitors through the rest of the first half and into the second, when John Gurel equalized for the Red Bulls on a penalty kick in the 50th minute.

The home team broke the tie 10 minutes later, when Christian Battistesa sent a long ground pass out of midfield down the middle into the goal area to Sam Adjei, who flicked a short pass left to a wide-open Najem, who made no mistake from 15 yards, driving the ball past Mass United keeper Baboucarr Njie.

 

Two in a row
Mass United earned its second consecutive win on Saturday with a near-dominating 3-1 decision over conference leaders Brooklyn Italians in Brooklyn.  

United opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Babacar Ndour  sent a 30+-yard free kick to forward John Bavota, who controlled it with his chest and cleverly freed himself, sending it into the net with what can best be described as a karate kick. 

United controlled he run of play, but the second goal remained elusive until there were only moments left in the first half. An errant backheel by Diego Zuniga went by goalkeeper Antonio Salluzzi and into the net for the two-goal lead. 

United put the game away in the 73rd minute, when second half substitutes Anton DaSilva and Luis Mattos teamed up for the third goal. An attempted 1-2 was blocked by a defender, but Mattos regained control and blasted it by replacement ‘keeper Nathaniel Simons, putting the game out of reach. Brooklyn did manage to get on the board in stoppage time however, when Jumol Harewood ruined United keeper Baboucarr Njie's well deserved clean sheet.

Highlight reel
Mario Rios scored an 85^th-minute goal to give the Jersey Eagles a 2-1 win over the AC Crusaders on Sunday. Atlantic City had taken the lead on a Chad Severs goal in the 3rd minute. The Eagles tied it up just past halftime on a goal by Sinisi Abiola.

Madison 56ers Carl Schneider scored the game winning goal in a 3-2 win over Aris Eau Claire on Saturday.

Junior Sandoval had a goal and an assist in the Atlanta Silverbacks’ 3-1 win over the Georgia Revolution. He scored the opening goal in the 21st minute with a first time finish into the far upper corner off a low, short cross from his left. He assisted on the third goal, finishing off a long series of passes by splitting two defenders with a pass that set up Josey Portillo for a tap in.

The Galveston Pirates won a thriller in Galveston 2-1 against the Texas South Devils on Saturday. Goals by Jose Alvarez and Cesar Arellano sent the 300 fans home happy and Pirates to the top of the South Central standings.