Hlavaty PK Leads Stars Past Impact 1-0
Neil Hlavaty converted a penalty in the 33rd minute, and the NSC Minnesota Stars survived the Montreal Impact’s second-half onslaught on the way to a physical 1-0 win in front of 3,071 at NSC Stadium Friday night. Warren made seven saves to help the Stars rebound from last Sunday’s home defeat to Puerto Rico.
Hassoum Camara and Simone Bracalello collided in the box in the 30th minute to set up the penalty kick. Camara received a yellow card for his protest, as did Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush, two of Montreal’s six yellow cards and eight total issued in the match. Once referee Mark DeClouet restored the order, Hlavaty sent Bush the wrong way for his third goal of the season.
Montreal’s best chance of the half came in stoppage time after winning an indirect kick at the top of the penalty arc. Antonio Ribeiro rolled the ball to Camara, who blasted his shot under the six-man wall but just outside Warren’s near post.
Montreal brought former Minnesota fan-favorite Marco Terminesi in at halftime to replace the ineffective Mignane Diouf. Terminesi nearly proved the super sub, forcing several saves out of Warren in the second half and striking the upright in the 85th minute. The hit post was a lucky let off for the Stars after Warren had come out bravely to save Eduardo Sebrango’s shot from 10 yards out. The rebound fell to Terminesi in a crowd, and the Canadian forward pivoted and beat Warren with a slow rolling shot, only to see it carom off the post for Kentaro Takada to clear.
Minnesota picked its moments to attack carefully in the second half and nearly extended its lead in the 64th minute. Del Do couldn’t get out of the way of Hlavaty’s long-range shot, but he ended up controlling the deflection at the penalty spot before dragging a left-footed shot wide of the far post.
Montreal continued to threaten late, with Terminesi and Camara forcing saves out of Warren with long-range efforts. Substitute Brian Kallman had a half-chance for the Stars, but his outside-the-foot volley from distance was always swerving away from goal.
The Stars improve their season record to six wins, four losses and seven ties and moved into third place in the North American Soccer League with 25 points. Montreal slips to 2-9-6 and was shutout for the ninth time in 2011. Minnesota has two weeks off before meeting the Impact again, this time at Saputo Stadium in Montreal, on August 6.
Scoring summary
MIN – Neil Hlavaty 3 (penalty) – 33rd
Misconduct summary
MTL – David Testo, caution – 26th
MTL – Hassoum Camara, caution – 30th
MTL – Evan Bush, caution – 32nd
MIN – Simone Bracalello, caution – 48th
MTL – Ian Westlake, caution – 51st
MIN – Kyle Altman, caution – 57th
MTL – Simon Gatti, caution – 71st
MTL – Amir Lowery, caution – 75th
Lineups
MIN: Joe Warren, Justin Davis, Kyle Altman, Cristiano, Jack Stewart, Lucas Rodriguez, Kentaro Takada (Sandy Gbandi 88), Neil Hlavaty, Jeff Cosgriff (Brian Kallman 90), Devin Del Do, Simone Bracalello (Brian Cvilikas 85)
MTL: Evan Bush, Simon Gatti, Nevio Pizzolitto, Hassoum Camara, Philippe Billy, David Testo (Ali Gerba 80), Ian Westlake (Amir Lowery 75), Antonio Ribeiro, Anthony Le Gall, Mignane Diouf (Marco Terminesi 46), Eduardo Sebrango
Match stats
MIN: 11 shots (3 on goal), 3 corner kicks, 7 saves, 2 offsides, 8 fouls
MTL: 18 shots (7 on goal), 5 corner kicks, 2 saves, 4 offsides 17 fouls
Attendance: 3,071
Photo by Jeremy Olson, DigitalGopher.net
