USL Official Match Information

Crystal Palace (3-5-4) dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker to the Western Massachusetts Pioneers at Navy Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis. Western Massachusetts (5-4-4) scored against the run of play with one of only two second half shots as Omar McFarlane dribbled down the left side of the Palace defense and dribbled past two defenders before slotting past Keeper Brian Rowland from 8 yards. Palace dominated long stretches of play as they out-shot the Pioneers by a 21 to 6 margin but were unable to tally the equalizer.

The loss put an end to the undefeated string that had reached seven matches before tonight’s loss.

Palace nearly scored twice in the first half when Gary Brooks beat two defenders in the box and centered to Harold Urquijo who missed wide to the left. Late in the first half, it was Gary Brooks again who set up another good opportunity when he played Andrew Herman through for a one-on-one with the Western Mass Keeper, Kevin Trapp, that resulted in a narrowly missed shot. In the second half, player-coach Jim Cherneski nearly scored on a bicycle kick off an Andrew Herman cross that missed just wide late in the match.

Except for the one lapse, the Palace defense was solid with good play from Alex Ugiohve, Shintaro Harada, Mateus Anjos and Alan O'Hara who came on in the 20th minute for injured Kante.

Crystal Palace will now go on the road for four matches starting next Friday in Harrisburg followed by trips to Bermuda, Western Massachusetts and New Hampshire before returning to Navy-Marine Corps Stadium for a July 25 th match against the Harrisburg City Islanders.

Palace has been successful on the road to this point in the season sporting a 1-1-3 record as road warriors. This will need to continue if Palace is to challenge for one of the four USL 2 nd Division Playoff berths.

Western Mass. 1 (0), Crystal Palace 0 (0)

Scoring Summary : WMA McFarlane 48

Cautions : CPB Brooks 54, CPB Herman 59, WMA Maciel 67, WMA Tagle 83, WMA Arias 90

Shots : WMA 6, CPB 21 Fouls : WMA 16, CPB 15

Saves : WMA 7, CPB 3

Corners : WMA 3, CPB 5

Offside : WMA 4, CPB 4

Lineups : Western Mass. - Trapp, Tagle, Willis, Lewis, Molinari(Pecorelli 89), McFarlane(Sampson 90), Maciel(Arias 80), Augustine, Deren(McMennamin 72), Wilson, Mannin

Crystal Palace - Rowland, Ughiovhe, Kante(O'Hara 20), Fucci(Herman 35), Harkin, Urquijo(Rush 81), Flores(Capecci 70), dos Anjos, Alcala(Cherneski 70), Brooks, Harada

A : 688

Officials: Debbie Coleman, Sam Elbary, Bryan Roslund, John White.