Here are highlights of last Friday night's USL Pro Game of the Week, in which the Wilmington
Hammerheads defeated the Los Angeles Blues 2-1 in front of a Legion Stadium record crowd of nearly
6,000.
Our final regular-season telecast, this Friday at Charleston, could determine the eighth and
final playoff spot for 2011.
By JOHN BOSCHINI
With a week to go in the USL Pro regular season, the playoff picture is clearing up.
The National Division has its playoff participants settled following the Pittsburgh Riverhounds'
2-2 draw with the Charlotte Eagles. Pittsburgh will be joined in the playoffs by the Los Angeles
Blues, Harrisburg City Islanders and the Rochester Rhinos.
It's as if European soccer never left.
A full slate of games from overseas are on tap for this weekend as the Premier League joins the
Bundesliga and Ligue 1 as major leagues to start the 2011-2012 campaign. Defending Premier League
champion Manchester United opens up against West Brom on Sunday, but a game most Americans will
want to keep an eye on is the Fulham-Aston Villa tilt on Saturday.
By JOHN BOSCHINI
After 20 weeks of regular season play, the playoff picture in the USL Pro came into focus in
dramatic fashion with a flurry of high-scoring games.
The Charlotte Eagles failed to lock up a playoff spot with a mid-week loss to the Harrisburg
City Islanders and fell late in a 4-3 shootout with Charleston, which would claim the final
post-season berth in the American Division.
By JOHN BOSCHINI
After holding a dominating lead going into its nearly three week break, Orlando City S.C. finds
itself with a serious contender breathing down its neck.
The Wilmington Hammerheads won twice over the weekend in convincing fashion to put themselves
within three points of the American Division Leaders.
The final USL Pro playoff berth wasn't decided until the final whistle of last Friday's USL Pro
Game of the Week on FOX Soccer. Here are the highlights of the Charleston Battery's 4-3 win over
the Charlotte Eagles, one that included a two-goal, Player of the Week performance by the Battery's
Mike Zaher:
The playoffs begin Friday, with Rochester hosting Pittsburgh, Wilmington hosting Richmond and
Los Angeles traveling to Harrisburg.
