Recap: Star 1, FC Edmonton 1
A 1-1 draw was a fitting result for two teams who’ve spent the season battling for second place in the North American Soccer League. Shaun Saiko scored early for FC Edmonton, but Neil Hlavaty’s second-half penalty maintained the Stars’ unbeaten run at home in 2011.
The Stars started brightly with Hlavaty drawing a diving save out of Edmonton’s Rein Baart in the third minute, but it didn’t take long for Edmonton to find its feet. Anthony Rago’s throw in barely eluded a lunge by Stars defender Jack Stewart. With his marker out of the picture, Saiko took one touch before beating goalkeeper Joe Warren with a low shot to the near post.
The goal should have been a wake up call for the Stars, but instead they nearly found themselves down 2-0 a minute later, spared only by the goal post as Warren was beaten after Chris Kooy slipped behind the defense to meet a through ball. Edmonton’s pressure continued for several more minutes as the Stars struggled to find the game’s rhythm.
It wasn’t until Saiko picked up a yellow card for a slide tackle on Gotsmanov near midfield that the Stars began sustaining pressure. Gotsmanov nearly got the best kind of revenge in the 37th minute after carrying the ball 15 yards into the Edmonton box and out-muscling a defender in a challenge, but he drilled his left-footed shot right at Baart from about eight yards out.
After consecutive corners and scrambled clearances by Edmonton, Ely Allen looked to be clear from Hlavaty’s through ball, but as he turned his body to face Baart, the winger’s feet went out from under him and the chance passed. The Stars maintained pressure through the half’s dying stages, and an equalizing goal would have been deserved.
Instead, the visitors almost stole a second in stoppage time. Daniel Antoniuk controlled a poor clearance before unleashing a dipping, swerving half-volley that had Warren beaten, but again the woodwork spared the Stars as the midfielder’s shot caromed off the crossbar and out, leaving the Stars to enter the break with a positive spell of play to build on and two lucky breaks to thank for the slim deficit.
Stars head coach Manny Lagos pulled no punches in his assessment of the first half. “I think we were pathetic in the first half, and they came out and really took it to us and really disrupted us. We had to make a sub at halftime and change our system a little bit.”
After starting the game in a 4-3-3 with Simone Bracalello central and Allen and Lucas Rodriguez attacking from the wings, Lagos reverted to his preferred 4-4-2, swapping Tino Nunez for Rodriguez and dropping Allen back into the midfield. The move paid off quickly, as the Stars enjoyed better spells of possession but were unable to fashion a shot. The sustained pressure paid off in the 55th minute as captain Kyle Altman drew the penalty that brought the Stars level. As Brian Kallman attacked from the right, Edmonton scrambled to clear a cross, which Altman controlled and carried into the box, where Alex Suprenant tripped him.
Hlavaty stepped up to take the penalty. The midfielder made no mistake, driving the ball just inside Baart’s right-hand post for his second goal of the season.
The goal re-charged the Stars, and Allen found himself with a chance again after Kallman spotted his diagonal run on the hourmark, but Paul Hamilton recovered well enough to lunge and toe poke the ball away before Allen could shoot.
At the other end, Edmonton created a few chances of its own. Antoniuk drove a shot wide after being allowed too much space at the top of the box, and Warren had to be at his best in the 70th minute as Conrad Smith got between Kallman and Altman and had a chance to put the visitors back in the lead, but Warren got his left hand to Smith’s chip for his biggest save of the night.
As time wound down, the Stars turned up the pressure again as substitute Amani Walker threatened in the box. From open play, Walker’s diagonal runs led Edmonton to some desperate clearances, and it was from one of the ensuing corners that the Stars almost completed the comeback. Walker rose to meet Hlavaty’s corner kick, but Baart came up big again for Edmonton, diving low to his right to swat the shot off the line.
Edmonton finished the game with 10 men after Saiko earned a second yellow card in the 87th minute for diving in the Stars penalty area. The midfielder did well to dribble past Justin Davis and through Stewart’s legs, but with the ball rolling away from him, the Edmonton midfielder went down too easily for the referee’s liking and was shown the red card.
Despite five minutes of stoppage time, the Stars couldn’t make the advantage count, with Baart handling Ryan Woods’ long-range shot easily with less than a minute to play. With the result, the Stars remain in third place in the NASL with a 4-3-6 record and a two week break to craft a consistent identity.
“We have to reflect a little bit about how we can get better,” Lagos said. “I’m very happy that some of the fans think we’re a good team, but there’s no doubt that we’ve been too inconsistent, and we have to figure out as a team how we can be more consistent, both at home and on the road, and really establish ourselves as one of the better teams in this league.”
FC Edmonton 1 – 1 NSC Minnesota Stars
NSC Stadium – Blaine, Minn.
Scoring Summary
EDM – Shaun Saiko 4 (Antonio Rago 1) – 14th minute
MIN – Neil Hlavaty 2 (penalty) – 57th
Misconduct Summary
EDM – Shaun Saiko, caution (unsporting behavior) – 19th minute
EDM – Daniel Antoniuk, caution (unsporting behavior) – 36th
MIN – Jack Stewart, caution (unsporting behavior) – 53rd
MIN – Justin Davis, caution (unsporting behavior) – 62nd
EDM – Alex Surpenant, caution (dissent) – 63rd
EDM – Shaun Saiko, caution (simulation) – 87th
EDM – Shaun Saiko, ejection (second caution) – 87th
MIN – Brian Kallman, caution (unsporting behavior) – 90+1
Statistics (MIN-EDM)
Shots, 14-8
Shots on Goal, 5-4
Fouls, 11-13
Offside, 0-4
Corners, 9-2
Lineups
FC Edmonton:Rein Baart, Antonio Rago, Paul Hamilton, John Jonke, Alex Surprenant, Shaun Saiko, Chris Kooy, Dominic Oppong, Kyle Porter (Conrad Smith 64), Daniel Antoniuk (Michael Cox 74), Shawn Chin (Sam Lam 80)
NSC Minnesota Stars: Joe Warren, Justin Davis, Jack Stewart, Brian Kallman, Kyle Altman, Neil Hlavaty, Andrei Gotsmanov (Amani Walker 74), Ryan Woods, Ely Allen (Sandy Gbandi 76), Simone Bracalello, Lucas Rodriguez (Tino Nunez 45)
Attendance: 1,315
