USL News Release

Wednesday, June 4, 2008 

TAMPA, FL – United Soccer Leagues announced today the Premier Development League Team of the Week for the seventh week of the USL calendar honoring midfielder Dan Stevens of the Vermont Voltage as Player of the Week.

Stevens earned the Player of the Week nomination following his team’s unheard-of, 5-4 turnaround victory over the Rhode Island Stingrays on the road. His teammate, defender Justin Van Matre, also earned accolades from the match following his two-goal performance, but Stevens stole the show as the catalyst behind one of the strangest matches in Premier Development League history.

Leading 4-0 with 20 minutes remaining in the match, neither the Stingrays nor the Voltage made any substitutions that would have led to such a dramatic turnaround. But oddly enough, in 71st and 75th minutes, Stevens set up teammate Santigui Tounkara for his first of two goals on the night. Stevens handed out his third assist to Van Matre in the 77th. Bojan Vuckovic picked out van Matre for his second goal in the 84th to draw level, and Stevens netted the game-winner in the 90th.

Back in reality (otherwise known as the first sixty minutes of this match), Rhode Island’s Jeffery Gonsalves found the back of the net three times and assisted on teammate, Ryan Kelly’s goal, a remarkable performance that was overshadowed by a once-in-a-lifetime affair.

Other notables of the week include Michigan’s Kenny Uzoigwe, who recorded all of Michigan’s goals in a 2-0-0 week for the Bucks, Cleveland’s Steve Zakuani, who burned Kalamazoo for more goals (4) than the first four teams the Outrage played this season and Ventura County’s Rodrigo Lopez, who had a hand in all but one of the Fusion’s goals in their 2-0-0 week.

“We had a strong showing last week,” said Ventura County General Manager, Ranbir Shergill. “Against the Fuego, defender Joe Buppert managed to shut down the defending PDL Goal Scoring Champion, Pablo Campos and Lopez, who was the best player on the field in both of our matches last weekend, knocked in two of our three goals.”

“Against the Seals on Sunday, Lopez picked up an assist on the game-winner,” added Shergill. “He is just a phenomenal player.”

PDL Team of the Week
Pos	Name	Team	Highlights
GK	Patrick Mitrovich	Atlanta	7 saves including a PK stop in 1-0 SO win over Carolina
D	Keith Armstrong	Mississippi	Top defender in shutout win over Austin, 2-0
D	Justin Van Matre	Vermont	2 goals in 5-4 win over Rhode Island
D	Jason Loizou	Virginia	Assisted on GW over Richmond; 180 min. in 2-0-0 week
M	Rodrigo Lopez	Ventura	2G, 1A week for 2-0-0 Ventura; 3-0 and 1-0 wins
M	Jeffery Gonsalves	Rhode Island	3 goals, 1 assist in 5-4 loss to Vermont
M	Dan Stevens	Vermont	3A and GWG in 19 minute span; 5-4 win over RI
M	Teddy Niziolek	Newark	3 goals for Newark in 3-0 win over Ottawa
F	Kellan Wilson	San Francisco	2 goals in 3-2 win over on road vs Orange County
F	Kenny Uzoigwe	Michigan	3G week,1-0 win over Cin. and 2-0 win over WV
F	Steve Zakuani	Cleveland	4 goals in 4-1 win over Kalamazoo
Honorable Mentions
M	Nelson Becerra	Long Island	2 goals in 4-3 win over Westchester
F	Mike Mattson	Central Florida	2 goals in 4-0 win over Nashville
M	Leonardo De Barros	Baton Rouge	2 goals in 4-1 win over New Orleans