Revolt of the cellar dwellers

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Jun 15, 2009

[USL-1] The USL First Division's bottom three teams all won over the weekend, putting them within striking distance of the pack.

Miami FC ended a seven-game winless streak with a 2-0 win over Austin, Cleveland got only its second victory since moving up to USL1 with a 3-0 win over Rochester, and last-place Minnesota beat second-place Carolina, 2-0, for its first win of the season.

Captain Godfrey Tenoff opened the scoring for Cleveland, and Pato Aguilera set up Julian Valentin and Joshua Boateng for the other goals.

"We've been dangerous in set plays and our guys have been working hard in getting to the right spot" said Aguilera. "Luckily for me, my teammates have started to understand where I want them on those set plays. I think we have a lot of potential to score a lot of goals and tonight we were able to do that."

On Sunday, Miami's win on goals by Diego Serna and Connally Edozien drew a season-low 805 fans at Lockhart Stadium.

Minnesota got goals from Brian Cvilikas and Lawrence Olum in the first half hour and held on for its first win in 10 games.

Results:
June 11
Carolina 0 Portland 0.
Red Card:
CAR: John Cunliffe 50
Att.: 1,473

June 12
Puerto Rico 4 Austin 1
Goals:
PR: Jonathan Steele (Scott Jones) 5
PR: Cristian Arrieta (penalty) 36
AUS: Jean Alexandre 45
PR: Cristian Arrieta (penalty) 70
PR: Nicholas Addlery (Fabrice Noel) 87
Att.: 4,014

Vancouver 3 Miami FC 2
Goals:
MIA: Zourab Tsiskaridze (Walter Ramirez) 10
VAN: Charles Gbeke (Wes Knight) 16
VAN: Charles Gbeke (Wes Knight) 34
VAN: Marco Reda 76
MIA: Richard Perdomo (Walter Ramirez) 78
Att.: 5,288

June 13
Cleveland 3 Rochester 0
Goals:
CLE: Godfrey Tenoff (Ryan Stewart) 52
CLE: Julian Valentin (Pato Aguilera) 55
CLE: Josh Boateng (Pato Aguilera) 64
Att.: : 1,512

Charleston 1 Portland 1
Goals:
CHA: Randi Patterson (Chris Williams) 64
POR: Mandjou Keita (Scot Thompson) 84
Att.: : 3,076

June 14
Miami FC 2 Austin 0
Goals:
MIA: Diego Serna 22
MIA: Connally Edozien (Paolo Araujo Jr) 30
Att.: 805

Minnesota 2 Carolina 0
Goals:
MIN: Brian Cvilikas (Ricardo Sanchez) 13
MIN: Lawrence Olum (Rod Dyachenko) 27
Red Card:
CAR: Kupono Low 90
Att.: 2,192

Standings:
TEAM W L T GF GA P
Charleston 6 0 6 13 4 24
Carolina 7 3 2 12 7 23
Portland 5 1 5 11 5 20
Puerto Rico 5 3 4 19 16 19
Rochester 4 5 2 10 12 14
Vancouver 4 4 2 12 13 14
Montreal 3 4 2 11 9 11
Austin 2 5 4 11 18 10
Miami FC 3 5 1 10 11 10
Cleveland City 2 7 2 8 19 8
Minnesota 1 5 4 8 11 7

Leading Scorers:
1. Arrieta, Puerto Rico 6
2. Menyongar, Rochester 4
3. James, Vancouver 3
3. Addlery, Puerto Rico 3
3. Alvarez, Austin 3
3. Pore, Portland 3
3. Gbeke, Vancouver 3
3. Keita, Portland 3