Ocean City Barons - Ocean City Barons: Pro Barons

Youhill and Todd represent Great Britain

Barons in the pros report (8/13)

Former Baron Michael Todd (Hofstra / Cleveland, England), and current Baron Rob Youhill (Hofstra / Harrogate, England) are representing Great Britain at the World University Games in Thailand. They drew Mexico, Morocco and Kazakhstan in Group D and managed to escape unbeaten. They began with a 1-1 draw against Mexico, followed by a 4-1 victory over Morocco and a 1-0 win over Kazakhstan. However, after escaping the group stage, they fell 1-0 to Canada in the quarterfinals. Look for a more complete report on OCBarons.com once the boys return from Thailand.

The USL Second Division regular season came to a close last weekend. Only one of the two teams featuring former Barons qualified for the postseason.

The Harrisburg City Islanders closed out their regular season campaign with a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace Baltimore. Matt Nelson (Lynn Univ. / Tampa, FL) made four saves and Brian Devlin (Penn State Univ. / Philadelphia, PA) started and played the full 90 minutes. It was Devlin’s fifth start in the last six games.

Devlin finished the season with two assists in 18 matches (12 starts).

Nelson was among the best netminders in the league this year and will be a leading candidate for the Second Division’s goalkeeper of the year award. In 18 starts, Nelson was 10-4-4 for the City Islanders who finished in third place. His 10 wins was tied for second in the league, while his 10 shutouts were a league-high. He was also second in the league in goals allowed (11), and goals against average (0.611).

Harrisburg’s loss on the final day left them one point behind the second place Cleveland City Stars and three points behind the first place Richmond Kickers. They will take on Cleveland City in a road match on Saturday, in the USL Second Division semifinals. The winner moves on to the league championship game, which will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel.

The Wilmington Hammerheads closed out their season on a positive note with a 3-0 win over the Bermuda Hogges. Adam Williamson (Lehigh Univ. / Ocean City, NJ) did not play in the season finale, but he finished the season with one goal, two assists in 14 games played. The Hammerheads finished in seventh place in the league table with a 4-9-7 record.

The USL First Division is in the home stretch, and it seems like the teams with former Barons on the roster are going to be fighting for the eight playoff spots.

Vancouver’s fall down the table is now at a dangerous level. Last weekend, they earned two draws, which extended their winless streak to 11 games and sole possession of sixth place. On Saturday, Tony Donatelli (Temple Univ. / Glenside, PA) started for the Whitecaps in their scoreless draw at the Portland Timbers. The next day, a Vancouver own goal before halftime, tied their home game against Minnesota at 1-1, which is how the game would end. Donatelli came off the bench in the second half to help the Whitecaps earn their fourth straight draw.

The last time the Whitecaps won a game was June 22, when they won at Miami FC. There’s good news and bad news with the ’Caps last five games of the season. The good news is, all five games are at home. The bad news is, they are 3-2-4 at home this year, and haven’t won a home match since June 10 (vs. Minnesota).

One of the teams chasing the Whitecaps is Miami FC. Last weekend, they managed a scoreless draw on the road at the Montreal Impact on Friday. Chris Williams (Phila Univ. / Philadelphia, PA) and Pat Hannigan (Temple U / Philadelphia, PA) both played the full 90 minutes with Hannigan making eight saves. Two days later, they dropped a 3-1 decision to the Atlanta Silverbacks. Hannigan was in net once again, making three saves, while Williams was a second half sub, breaking his streak of nine straight starts for the Blues.

Miami is three points behind Vancouver, but they only have four games remaining. They have back-to-back games at Puerto Rico next weekend, before they return home for two straight games to close the season.

The Carolina RailHawks have a much bigger hill to climb in the final weeks after a 2-0 loss at Rochester last Friday. Matt Maher (Temple Univ. / Cape May, NJ) started his second straight league game (fourth straight, if you count exhibitions and Open Cup games), and played the entire game.

The Charleston Battery, without the services of Michael Todd (Hofstra / Cleveland, England), defeated the California Victory 1-0 on Saturday.

Meanwhile, overseas, Jeremiah White’s (Wake Forest / Lansdowne, PA) first season in the Danish Superliga is already well underway. White and his club AGF Aarhus are winless (0-1-4) in their first five matches in the top flight of Denmark. White started and played all 90 minutes in the first two matches, and has been an effective second half sub in the last three.