Announcements

Rose City is pleased to announce the first offseason decisions for the club in 2015. Rodney Wallace will be returning to the Flyers as the club's 2015 Retention Player. His injury during the first part of the season and subsequent undrafted status make this a possibility. Wallace has been doing strong supporting work for the Flyers for two years now.

Giles Barnes - Rose City DP

In addition, Giles Barnes will be occupying one of the team's DP slots. His strong work ethic and the increased competition that the now Western Conference Houston Dynamo will face makes him a good choice to keep around. The team's second DP slot is available for trades and the team is actively looking for first and second round draft picks.

Feel free to make offers. All resources are available including player rights, allocation money, and the team's final DP slot.

EDIT: The club has just come to an agreement with the owner of the CD Gunners for the team's extra DP slot and other considerations. The deal earns the Flyers a second pick in the third round of the draft. Other resources are still available to make trades with further teams.

Rose City Advances to Finals

Rose City 6 - 3 Orange County

After dropping both games against Orange County this season by one point, the Flyers showed up in the Majors Cup Semifinal. Outscoring the opposition 6-3 in a game where they trailed by two for a long period, they remain undefeated in postseason play and now stand 4-0-0 in this year's edition.

Six points came off of strong play by the full group including braces from late season superhero Rodney Wallace and low round draft pick Jeff Larentowicz. Jaime Penedo added a save point as well as an assist from the hard working Lamar Neagle.

Rose City will now advance to it's first Majors Cup Final alongside first time finalist Union SC. They've only lost to the Commissioner's team once in their three years in the league and have already bested them three times this season including a battle two weeks ago in the group stages. Once again, a BSL club will take home the hardware. Look for it to be Rose City.

Week Thirteen: Union SC

Aurelin Collin should be back in for SKC and Rodney Wallace joins the squad. He's available for Portland vs Chivas. Will he see the field? The week starts early. Let's get to work.


Starters
Eric Alexander
Giles Barnes
Aurelien Collin
Marco Di Vaio
Diego Fagundez (C)
Ned Grabavoy
Jordan Harvey
Jeff Larentowicz
Lamar Neagle
Jaime Penedo (GK)
Maxi Urruti

Subs
Rodney Wallace
Saer Sene
Drew Moor

Reserve
Raul Fernandez

Flyers Dismantle Alliance FC

Rose City 6 - 0 Alliance

The international break doesn't seem to have slowed down the Flyers. The team crushed Alliance 6 - 0 this week in what is starting to become a seasonal ritual. The winning goal was the first one from none other than Marco Di Vaio but the talk of the town this week will be the continually rising star of Rodney Wallace. After receiving a call-up from Costa Rica but seeing zero minutes on the field, the winger was only available for one of Portland's two games this week. He only needed the one, putting in an assist hattrick to earn himself Man of the Match. Those points are important too.

While the win squeaked Rose City to within three points of a playoff spot thanks to a Spartans loss to Gold Coast, the points pushed the team's APG to 3.0 for the season and 4.0 since Majors Cup Qualifying began. Those points appear more and more likely to matter as the last two BSL playoff places and all of the MCQ spots seem to be up for grabs during a rapidly closing BSL season. There are only seven weeks left to play in the regular season and the Flyers face some imminently beatable competition. Lets take a look.

 Current Standings:

• Week 16: Union Southern California 9th, 5-7-3, 2.1 apg
• Week 17: Spartans 1612 4th, 8-5-2, 3.4 apg
• Week 18: Gold Coast 10th, 5-9-1, 2.5 apg
• Week 19: Capital District Gunners 8th, 5-7-3, 2.9 apg
• Week 20: Orange County Zodiac 2nd 10-4-1, 3.7 apg
• Week 21: Pennsylvania Stoners 12th, 2-12-1, 2.5 apg
• Week 22: Gateway United 7th, 5-7-3, 3.3 apg

Five of the seven remaining opponents sit below the halfway line on the league table. Most of them have an APG of under three, and it doesn't appear to be improving. Meanwhile, Rose City has been clinging tightly to the fifth place spot for several weeks with an APG that continues to increase. As of the end of week fifteen, the Flyers hold a 3.0 APG and have been averaging 4.6 goals per game since week nine when many of the club's injured players started to return. Indeed, since that week nine game against Gateway United the Boys in Red have put up at least four points all but once and put up six points three separate times.

Our other two opponents, the Orange County Zodiac and Spartans 1612 sit above the Flyers in the league table and currently occupy playoff positions. While the Zodiac appear uncatchable with thirty-one points, the Spartans are on twenty-six and are only one win out of the Flyers' grasp. They face top-of-the-table Alamo City next week and then are under Rose City's own control in Week Seventeen. Look for the next two weeks to really define those playoff spots.

Week Fifteen: Back in Action

What a brutal stretch of games the last few weeks have been. The Flyers didn't make out with all the points but are definitely still in the thick of things. That makes this week all the more important. The team visits Alliance this week and there couldn't be a better time for a pick-me-up. The Lions sit near the bottom of the league table in eleventh place and have had trouble scoring all season. Their APG is just 2.0 and that's after last week's 6-1 drubbing of the Zodiac. In fact, those six points are Alliance's best performance of the season so far.

Most everyone is back from international duty but Flyers standout man Rodney Wallace won't be back with his Portland Timbers until this weekend. Everyone else is healthy and ready to go.


Starters
Patrice Bernier (MTL)
Jaime Castrillon (COL)
Marvin Chavez (SJ)
Aurelien Collin (SKC)
Marco Di Vaio (MTL)
Alan Gordon (SJ)
Zach McMath (PHI)
Daniel Paladini (CHI)
Martin Rivero (COL)
Mauro Rosales (SEA)
Rodney Wallace (POR)

Subs
Danny Cruz (PHI)
Teal Bunbury (SKC)
Eric Hassli (DAL)

Reserve
Luis Robles (NY)

Shootout in B-Town

Rose City 5 - 5 Burud Town

This week's match turned out to be a track meet. Rose City jumped out quickly with a hat-trick from Marco Di Vaio. Contributions from Bernier and Rodney Wallace drove the score to five. Unfortunately, Burud Town got two points from their quebecois player as well in Andrew Wenger. Couple that with another strong week from Colorado rookie Deshorn Brown and some fancy footwork from David Ferreira and we were tied at five going into Sunday. Rose City had hope that Mauro Rosales would play the hero, but Seattle were undone dramatically in their own 4-1 loss to the LA Galaxy.

Hat-trick Hero.

The result isn't the greatest but one point is better than none. Other results this week put Rose City five points back of both third and fourth place and let Second City jump them on the table again. The good news is that Second City is only one point ahead and that next week's opponent is Alamo City who've been trading between first and second place all season. A win there could do some good in climbing into the playoff picture. Finally, the draw puts the Flyers in third place in Majors Cup Qualifying with a 1-0-1 record and a 4.5apg.

Week Thirteen: Cracking the Playoffs

The next two or three games are especially important in the Rose City. A strong showing now could shove the Flyers into the playoff positions if they keep racking up points and improving on their already solid APG. It all starts this week with the season's second match versus Burud Town who currently own third place. Add in the fact that there's just five points separating the two teams and this one has consequences.

The Flyers currently own the lifetime series 2-1 but the Stags won the last meeting 3-2 after an injury riddled Rose City team came storming back to tie most of the way through the week. However, a lot has changed in the Flyers camp since Week Five. Since then, Alan Gordon has returned (and left and returned again) to the pitch as have Marvin Chavez and Martin Rivero. Daniel Paladini, Danny Cruz, and the newest pickup Eric Hassli have all donned the Red for the first time since that week five match as well. Mauro Rosales and the Sounders have (re)discovered what scoring is. And finally, Rodney Wallace has begun receiving major minutes for the Timbers and has proven to be the potent weapon no one but he, the Costa Rican national team, and apparently Caleb Porter knew he could be. All in all, this is a different team than the Stags saw just a few short weeks ago and that's a good thing because playoff positions are starting to firm up and competition for the Majors Cup began last week as well.

In addition, pending league approval, the Flyers will be dropping Michael Harrington (POR) and picking up Jaime Castrillon (COL). If approved, appropriate edits will be made to the roster before game time.

Starters
Patrice Bernier (MTL)
Danny Cruz (PHI)
Marvin Chavez (SJ)
Aurelien Collin (SKC)
Marco Di Vaio (MTL)
Alan Gordon (SJ)
Eric Hassli (DAL)
Zach McMath (PHI)
Martin Rivero (COL)
Mauro Rosales (SEA)
Rodney Wallace (POR)

Subs
Daniel Paladini (CHI)
Jaime Castrillon (COL)
Kekuta Manneh (VAN)

Reserves
Luis Robles (NY)

Week Eleven: Midpoint

Rose City 6 - 4 CD Gunners

It's officially the midpoint of the BSL season.  Rose City is sitting on a 5-5-1 record and 16 points after a strong 6-4 win over the struggling CD Gunners. It took this team some time to get healthy and find their feet, but the last few weeks have shown how strong they really are. The Flyers are now on a three game winning streak and are undefeated in four headed into the important second half of the season. Sitting in sixth place with a decent APG and a good trajectory, it's entirely reasonable to see the Flyers having a strong second half and making both the playoffs and the Majors Cup.

"We're in this to win it. We've got a Cup to defend and we intend to do everything we can to make that happen," a joyous Mauro Rosales said after the match with the Gunners. Looking stronger than they have since the BSL Cup final last season, the Flyers could well do just that.

Wallace celebrates with teammates Johnson and Nagbe.

Aided in that goal are two post-draft pickups that have really delivered for Rose City in Aurelien Collin and Rodney Wallace. Collin has been undervalued on the backline for Sporting Kansas City and Wallace is playing like a different player up top for Caleb Porter's new look Portland Timbers. Both players have now had multiple point games exactly when the club has needed it from them.

Next week the Flyers face Second City in a battle for fifth place. "If we're going to move up in the standings and challenge for a place in the playoffs, we have to take care of opponents like Second City," the Flyers coach offered after the game this week.