USL News Release
Monday, August 7, 2006
TAMPA, FL – United Soccer Leagues announced Monday its USL First and Second Division Teams of the Week for the 16th week of the season, honoring Joey Gjertsen of Vancouver and Almir Barbosa of New Hampshire as the USL First and Second Division Players of the Week, respectively.
Joey Gjertsen started the season off on a hot run with five goals in the first eight games to lead the Whitecaps to a 4-1-3 start. He then went dry for a 12-game stretch. The Whitecaps, meanwhile, held steady at the top half of the table with a 3-4-5 mark until a two-game road swing this week may kick the Caps into high gear.
Gjertsen immediately broke out of the slump less than a minute into Friday’s match at Puerto Rico as he helped lead the team to a 3-1 win over the Islanders.
Two nights later in Miami Gjertsen added two more in a close-fought 3-2 victory over the expansion side. Trailing 1-0 after 18 minutes, Gjertsen scored the equalizer in the 22nd minute. A David Testo goal gave Vancouver a 2-1 heading toward the break with Gjertsen adding a second in stoppage time to make it 3-1.
Gjertsen’s three strikes moved him to eight on the season, putting him in a tie for fourth in the league and the Whitecaps into second in the USL First Division table.
The New Hampshire Phantoms have been quietly enjoying a season of improvement over last year’s 6-11-3 campaign and used a 3-1 win over playoff-hopeful Cincinnati Wednesday to move to 9-7-1 on the year.
Forward Almir Barbosa provided all three goals in the game, scoring twice in the opening four minutes of the match to give the Phantoms a commanding advantage. He finished his natural hat-trick in the 17th minute with his eighth of the season as the home side cruised to the victory.
Barbosa, who now ranks second in the league in goals behind Richmond’s Robert Ssejjemba at 15, is the first Phantoms player honored as Player of the Week this season.
