LD Update: Battery win USL Pro title; Cunningham gets first NASL goal

Charleston celebrates title | courtesy Charleston Battery

Two rookies led the Battery, the playoff team with the most losses on the season (10), to the franchise's fourth championship in 20 years as Charleston defeated the Wilmington Hammerheads for the USL Pro title.

Meanwhile, in the NASL it was all ones... nearly. Three of the four matches concluded in 1-1 draws with the fourth finishing with just one strike between the two clubs.

LD Update: Bixler retires; USL Pro award winners; MISL sched released

USL Pro News: Veteran Harrisburg City Islanders defender Dustin Bixler, a three-time All-League selection and 2007 USL Second Division championship MVP, announced his retirement... The expansion club in Arizona announced it will play as Phoenix FC, unveiling Wolves as the mascot and prominent feature of the new logo... The league announced the season award winners at the championship banquet, honoring Kevin Molino (Orlando) as MVP, Adrian Heath (Orlando) as Coach of the Year, Troy Roberts (Rochester) as Defender of the Year and Jose Cuevas of the championship finalist Charleston Battery as the Rookie of the Year.  

LD Update: Champion Orlando City out; Charleston & Wilmington reach USL Pro Final

One upset was perhaps fathomable, but too was improbable. Both road teams, however, advanced Friday evening to reach the USL Pro championship game next Saturday.

The Wilmington Hammerheads, who accounted for Orlando City's lone loss this season, repeated the feat in stunning fashion. The Charleston Battery, meanwhile, battled the Rochester Rhinos to a 1-1 draw before prevailing in penalties.

LD Update: Honors & English Exhibitions

NASL News: The Puerto Rico Islanders got off to a slow start in the Caribbean Football Union's Club Championship Cup tournament with a 1-1 draw against Trinidad & Tobago's Caledonia AIA... The league announced San Antonio Scorpions' Jonathan Greenfield as the Defensive Player of the Week and Dan Antoniuk of the Tampa Bay Rowdies as the Offensive Player of the Week.

USL Pro News: The Charleston Battery announced a July 28 friendly against Nottingham Forest of the Npower Championship (English second flight) at Blackbaud Stadium... Forest will also be playing Orlando City, who announced they will play the two-time European champions July as well as affiliated side Stoke City of the English Premier League July 28... A hat-trick for Harrisburg's Yann Ekra earned him the Player of the Week honor, highlighting the Team of the Week.

LD Update: NASL Honors; Charleston Dragon Boat; W-League signings

NASL Honors: The league announced Minnesota Stars defender Cristiano Dias as the Defensive Player of the Week following the 2-0 shutout of Atlanta, and honored FC Edmonton midfielder Shaun Saiko as the Offensive Player of the Week for a hat-trick in the club's first win, a 3-0 victory against Carolina.

USL Pro News: The Charleston Battery won the men's division of the 2012 Dragon Boat Charleston Festival while wearing special pink jerseys that they will also don for Saturday's Kick for a Cure match versus Rochester. The victory, by tenths of a second, ended the run of four straight championships for another local group.

PDL Signings: The Brooklyn Knights announced that seven former Met Oval Soccer Academy products have been added to the roster.

W-League News: The Vancouver Whitecaps named four recent college graduates to the roster, including three with previous W-League or WPSL experience. The Whitecaps are coming off a 2-1 preseason win Sunday against Oregon State University... The Northern Virginia Majestics announced that Jill Porto, a member of the 2005 U19 Majestics SYL champion and W-League teams, is back with the club after stints with three other W-League sides... The Colorado Rapids Women added another Danish international with the signing of Camilla Kur-Larsen, who has scored over 60 goals the past four years in the nation's top flight playing for Brondby IF.

LD Update: Battery win; Herron injury; PDL signings

Charleston Battery 1:0 Pittsburgh Riverhounds - Nicki Paterson headed the deciding goal in on a 30-yard freek kick from Jose Cuevas just 10 minutes into the contest. The rest of the match belonged to the goalkeepers, Pittsburgh's Hunter Gilstrap in particular with some excellent stops on further Battery chances. - More

NASL News: The Fort Lauderdale Strikers lost one of its top strikers with Andy Herron suffering an MLC sprain and partial meniscus tear that will sideline him for 8-10 weeks.

LD Update: Antigua wins; Weekend previews; International signings

Antigua Barracudas 3:2 Charlotte Eagles - After two weeks off, the island club showed no rust. They immediately took the advantage through Peter Byers in the 12th minute. Jorge Herrera tied the contest up eight minutes before the break, but Stefan Smith scored two in five minutes to give them a commanding 3-1 lead on the hour mark. A tally from Luke Williams, though, made the finish a close contest.

NASL Previews: Saturday night features three matches with teams looking to end winless streaks. First, there is the first-ever meeting between San Antonio Scorpions, who come to North Carolina still searching for their first-ever victory after finally ending their scoreless status last week at home.  And though the Carolina RailHawks have the second best goal total in the league, all they have to show for it are three draws and a loss... The Atlanta Silverbacks are at home looking to end two frustrating streaks with the Minnesota Stars visiting. They have draws in all three games this season, and last year went without a point against Minnesota. The fell, 1-2, at home in the first meeting and were blanked the rest of the way, falling 3-0 and then 2-0 twice... The other host, Tampa Bay Rowdies, are in the complete opposition situation having posted an unbeaten record against rival Fort Lauderdale last year. They finished level, 1-1, at Fort Lauderdale in the opening game of the series and then beat the Strikers in the next three with a 4-2 home win and then a pair of 2-0 shutouts. 

USL Pro Previews: Friday night's lone contest is a meeting of old foes with a unique history as the Charleston Battery play host to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. The Battery went winless against the Riverhounds last year with a pair of scoreless draws and two losses. It was unusual for Charleston, which had not lost a regular season game against Pittsburgh since their first-ever meeting in 1999, a stretch of nine games (5-0-4). The only other odd note is that Pittsburgh had won the only playoff series between the two with a two-game sweep in a 2001 season in which they did not face one another.

LD Update: NASL preview; USL Pro honors; Amateur signings

NASL Preview: In a rematch of the 2011 semifinals, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers play host to the Puerto Rico Islanders Wednesday in the league's lone midweek contest. The Strikers upset the Islanders, 5-2 on aggregate , in the playoffs a year ago after splitting the season series 1-1-2 with each getting a win at home. The meeting will put two the league's top defensive sides against one another as Puerto Rico has allowed just one in four games and Fort Lauderdale two in three.

USL Pro News: The LA Blues fell, 3-2,  in a closed-door scrimmage with the LA Galaxy Tuesday with Matt Fondy setting up Carlos Borja for both goals after trailing by three…  Charleston Battery midfielder Ryan Richter was selected as the Player of the Week , and was the lone player from the club selected for the Team of the Week... The Rhinos inked a partnership that included jersey sponsorship with Rochester-based Excellus BlueCross BlueShield... 

LD Update: NASL Game Night; USL Pro signing

Tampa Bay Rowdies 1:1 Carolina RailHawks – The RailHawks just can’t find a victory. Earning a third consecutive draw Wednesday evening, at least they aren’t going empty handed. In the 66th minute Carolina took the lead on the road when Mike Palacio sent a cross to the back of the box to Brian Shriver, who volleyed it past Jeff Attinella. Four minutes later, though, the Rowdies answered when Dan Antoniuk redirected a cross back across the goal mouth with a header to Tsuyoshi Yoshitake for the equalizer. – More 

Puerto Rico Islanders 0:0 FC Edmonton – The bad news is that Edmonton is still scoreless after three games. The good news they finally picked up a point, playing to a scoreless draw in Puerto Rico after suffering 1-0 losses in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa Bay. Puerto Rico has been nearly perfect thus far, shutting out all three opponents. – More 

LD Update: Game Night, Honors & Signings

Charlotte Eagles 0:3 Charleston Battery – It has been a tough start for the Charlotte Eagles as they fell at home for the second time and remain without a goal through three games on the young season. The Battery got two in the first half and a third late for the win on the road, where they are a perfect 2-0.

Charlotte nearly found their first goal in the 17th minute, but Joseph Kabwe’s effort denied with a great diving save from Andrew Dykstra, who returned to the Battery on loan from DC United last week. Hero in the season opener, Jose Cuevas served a cross in the 23rd minute that Tony Donatelli, who drove it past Eric Reed to open the scoring. A minute before the break Ryan Richter made a fantastic play on his own, beating the Eagles defense in a counter-attack and firing past Reed.

LD Update: MLS friendly & Player Movement

NASL: The Atlanta Silverbacks signed local product Borfor Carr, who played briefly with the club’s reserve team a year ago after returning from a stint with Romanian club CS Concordia Chiajna.

USL Pro: The Harrisburg City Islanders have had a split of a news day. First, the club announced its annual friendly with MLS affiliate Philadelphia Union. The game is set for June 12.  The club then announced the retirement of two-year City Islander Jason Hotchkin. The North Carolina native made a name for himself closer to home, leading the Charlotte Eagles to the league final in 2004 before spending some time in Germany (TuS Koblenz) and Sweden (IK Brage). He came back and played for the Wilmington Hammerheads and Philadelphia Kixx, who he guided to an MISL title. He also played for the New Jersey Ironmen (MISL) and Cleveland City Stars (USL-1) before moving to Harrisburg… In South Carolina, the Charleston Battery got goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra back. The netminder, caught behind a duel for the DC job, was loaned back to the Battery, whom he played for last year after two seasons and 17 appearances with the Chicago Fire.

USL PDL: The North Sound SeaWolves continue to develop the 2012 roster, bringing back three local players from last year’s team… In Florida, the Ocala Stampede added FIU and former New Zealand youth international center back Joe Dawkins to the roster.

USL W-League: The DC United Women brought back four of its top players from a year ago, including W-League All-Conference selection Marisa Abegg… On the other coast, the Vancouver Whitecaps Women signed two players: W-League/WPSL veteran defender Jenny Jeffers and England youth international midfielder/striker Demi Stokes.

LD Update: MLS signings and friendlies

Dynamo blank Laredo Heat: In the midst of an off week, the Houston Dynamo broke from intra-squad play to face the USL PDL’s Laredo Heat, picking up an easy 5-0 win – rosters not available – at the Houston Amateur Sports Park.

Not a lot can be gleaned this far before the season for a USL PDL team because the college players do not report until May 1, but the Heat are one of a handful of teams that tend to have a number of older players. “Under normal circumstances we would not be playing teams such as the Dynamo so early in the preseason,” General Manager J.J. Vela said. “However, because of their schedule and the start of their season we welcomed the challenge to firstly help them out with an exhibition game and also to see what we have in order to secure the best players for our Premier Development League season.

The Dynamo, “ramped up a bit” following the loss at Seattle according to Brad Davis were expected to utilize much of their squad.  “I think we’ll mix it up,” Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear said about his planned approach to Thursday’s match. “We’ll probably make a lot of changes like we’ve done in preseason.” 

Philadelphia Union to play affiliate Reading: The MLS club and its affiliate, Reading United AC, will continue their series of friendlies with a third installment. The Union will face the PDL club Saturday, June 9 at Albright College’s Shirk Stadium. Last year the two clubs played to a 1-1 draw at the end of May.

Battery bring in Sanyang: There seems to be an unexpected pipeline between Seattle and Charleston, SC. The Sounders have signed two former Battery players in Osvaldo Alonso and Alex Caskey over the years. Now it looks like it is a two-way path as former Sounder Amadou Sanyang was added by Charleston along with University of Washington product Taylor Mueller.

Despite only being 20, Sanyang has already been around MLS for three seasons having originally signed with Toronto FC at the age of 17. The Gambia youth international spent last season with the Sounders.