USL News Release
Monday, April 24, 2006
TAMPA, FL – United Soccer Leagues announced Monday the first USL First Division Team of the Week for the 2006 season, honoring Virginia Beach Mariners forward Greg Simmonds as the Player of the Week.
With his fifth club in eight years, the veteran USL-1 striker led the Mariners to a 2-0 season opening victory over the Toronto Lynx at home with a goal in each half. Simmonds scored the first 19 minutes in on a cross from midfielder Felix Brillant and the second off a cross from Ryan Mack in the 70th.
Simmonds joined the Mariners after two seasons with the Charleston Battery, where he tallied just eight goals in 44 games, a number well below his figures from his first two campaigns in 1999 and 2000 in Hershey. The 1999 USL-1 Rookie of the Year scored 16 goals in each of his first two seasons along with 11 total assists before bouncing around the league with Charleston in 2001, Rochester in 2002 and Richmond in 2003.
The first edition of the USL Second Division will be announced next week and will include the first two matches from this past weekend.
