Week Nineteen Wrap Up

Rose City 5 - 3 Second City


Rose City finished the week with an impressive win over Second City. Marco Di Vaio scored his first MLS goal and got two points in the BSL with the goal and an assist. Bringing Di Vaio in is starting to look like a really smart move from the Flyers front office. He's producing, helping the club's still low APG and will be a genuine threat all next season if the club can hang onto him. Three more points came from Rosales, the Captain, Mike Magee, and a clean sheet from Josh Saunders.

More interestingly is what's shaping up at the end of the season. Alamo City and Pennsylvania are tied in the standings with 40 points but they appear along side one another next week in the Game of the Week. This could give Rose City some room to slide into a position to threaten the Honors Trophy, but no one seems to be talking about it! It's true that these two excellent teams would need to show some bad form for the final three weeks of the season, but Rose City isn't out of it yet!

Continuing the post-season implications, a win or tie next week should clinch a playoff birth for the boys in red. They currently sit in 3rd in the Standings with 37 points and 6th in Majors Cup Qualifying with 13. The last three weeks of the season could make all the difference for the Flyers both for the Honors Trophy and a chance to participate in the Majors Cup. To that end, we look to Week Twenty.

Gold Coast visits in Week Twenty, carrying a record of 6-10-3 and 21 points. While they're not contending for a playoff spot, pride is still on the line and the team has scored at least two points in each of their last four outings. Tune in here for all the news, scores and lineups.

Week Nineteen Lineup and Recap

Rose City 1 - 1 Spartans 1612

The tie machine in New York rolls on. Even the Flyers couldn't escape in week eighteen as the last team in the BSL without a tie on the books. More importantly though, a win or tie with Second City in week nineteen clinches a spot in the BSL playoffs for this first year team.

"We've played well and, lets be honest, had more than our fair share of luck as a first year team," the coach agreed after practice. "We did what we had to do and we'll be looking to clinch our club's first playoff birth here this weekend against Second City."

The Flyers beat Second City 2-0 in Week Six.

Starters
Steven Beitashour
Marvin Chavez
Marco Di Vaio
Kosuke Kimura
Mike Magee
Darlington Nagbe
Mauro Rosales (Captain)
C.J. Sapong
Josh Saunders (Keeper)

Subs
Adam Moffat
Justin Braun
Dan Kennedy

Week Eighteen Lineup

Week Eighteen starts rockily for the Flyers as the GM sleeps in and posts the lineup late. That could matter against the Spartans. They have more ties than anyone in league history this season.

Starters
Steven Beitashour
Marvin Chavez
Marco Di Vaio
Kosuke Kimura
Mike Magee
Adam Moffat
Darlington Nagbe
C.J. Sapong
Josh Saunders (Keeper)

Subs
Justin Braun
Dan Kennedy
Mauro Rosales

Week Seventeen Recap

The Flyers were done in by the Battle in week seventeen 3-1. It's a painful score for Rose City who were looking to maybe top the standings again with a win. The only point on the board was a score from Saunders who kept the net clear for his first start. Once again the coach underestimated Kosuke Kimura, leaving him on the bench when he scored for the second time. To make matters worse, he would have come in had he been placed higher on sub list thanks to Bill Hamid's straight red.

The rest of the season is more or less downhill, with Rose City simply defending their playoff position against would-be spoilers like Spartans, Second City, and the CD Gunners for the last five weeks. That doesn't mean the team isn't taking the end of the season seriously though. A string of well placed wins here, paired with a few lucky shots to the Battle and Stoners could still hand the Flyers the Honors Trophy. Come back for all the rest of the action.

Week Seventeen Lineup

Okay folks! This is where the rubber hits the road. Rose City is sitting squarely in third place and has a chance to make it even better. They're playing the first place Battle in the Match of the Week and a win means moving up at least one (maybe two) places in the standings. It looks like they're a lock for the playoffs barring some sort of implosion. Now's the time to push for the Honors Trophy and win first place in our first BSL season.

The Battle lost the first meeting 4-3 this year and they surely will be coming for revenge. Rose City needs to hold out, put a good number of points on the board, and probably get a little lucky to pull this one out. Cross your fingers for the Suns to down Pennsylvania as well and you might see the Flyers back on top.

Starters
Steven Beitashour
Marvin Chavez
Marco Di Vaio
Mike Magee
Adam Moffat
Darlington Nagbe
Mauro Rosales (Captain)
C.J. Sapong
Josh Saunders (Keeper)

Subs
Justin Braun
Kosuke Kimura
Dan Kennedy (Keeper)

Lineup has changed as of 3pm PST. Bjorn Runstrom has been dropped. Josh Saunders will start at GK. Dan Kennedy will take the bench.

Week Sixteen Wrap-up

Rose City Flyers 3 - 0 KC Quest

Rose City demolished the bottom-of-the-table Quest this week 3-0 after lineup failures from both teams. What's most encouraging (aside from keeping the Flyers in the playoff hunt) is that this is the third time in three weeks that Rose City has scored three or more points. That might not sound like much but for a team that averaged 2.5 ppg before this week, it's encouraging. Rose City remains the only club with no ties in BSL play this season.

"Yeah. We talked that topic to death," the team's coach agreed in the post-match presser. "We've been working on getting more balls in the back of the net and it's finally starting to show." In particular, Marco Di Vaio scored his first BSL goal this week after the MLS transfer window opened up and he took the field for Montreal.

Next week features another Match of the Week for the Flyers, this time against the Battle. The teams have played only once before with Rose City sneaking a 4-3 result versus the current number one team.

"These two teams have been butting heads all season. We picked up that first result against them and jumped into first place. Another three points next week could really help things along," an upbeat coach added. "they're a really strong team with a lot of different angles of attack so we'll have to be on our toes." A win would definitely move the Flyers back into second and could mean the top of the table again if Gold Coast can tie or beat Pennsylvania.

Lineup Week 16

Strange things going on in life means late lineups.

Week Fourteen was big for the Flyers. They'd been talked down to for weeks about their weak offense and the number of points scored every game. They came out of nowhere to drop five points on a helpless Alliance team, all from assists. Marvin Chavez was Man of the Match with a pair.

Week Fifteen features a matchup against the KC Quest and, speaking from the future, the Flyers have a hill to climb. Their lazy GM managed to post the lineup late.

Starters
Steven Beitashour
Justin Braun
Marco Di Vaio
Marvin Chavez
Dan Kennedy (Keeper)
Mike Magee
Darlington Nagbe
Mauro Rosales (Captain)
C.J. Sapong

Subs
Adam Moffat
Kosuke Kimura
Bjorn Runstrom