This past weekend saw four New England teams from the USL PDL begin their 2012 campaigns. All three newcomers to the Northeast Division of the PDL Eastern conference, Boston Victory, CFC Azul, and Worcester Hydra, had their inaugural matches as New England soccer turned a new page. Here are the results from this past weekend:
Worcester Hydra 0 - 1 Seacoast United Phantoms
Hydra FC, a team with grand ambitions, started their season at home against the Seacoast United Phantoms from New Hampshire. Although Worcester was in control for much of the match, it was the Phantoms' forward Dylan George who scored the deciding goal in the 55th minute. The Hydra's next match is against fellow newcomers Boston Victory at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy, MA on Saturday May 12th, while the Phantoms will travel to Lusitano Stadium on Friday May 11th to take on the Western Mass Pioneers in their first match of the 2012 season.
CFC Azul 1 - 2 Boston Victory SC
It was a match that featured two former Revolution teammates, Ryan Kinne and Andrew Sousa, squaring off against one another for the first time since they parted ways with the Revs after last season. Kinne scored the first goal of the match in the 57th minute, but two late goals from Boston by way of defender Pat Hamilton (88') and striker Lucas Pessanha (90') turned the tables and secured 3 points for the visitors. Boston Victory now returns home to Quincy, MA for their first home game of the season when they will host Worcester Hydra on Saturday. CFC Azul will head to New Hampshire to take on the Phantoms on Sunday May 13th.
Other teams slated to open their 2012 PDL seasons this weekend are the Vermont Voltage and GPS Portland Phoenix, who will take the pitch at Deering High School in Portland, Maine on Saturday evening. We'll have results for all this weekend's Northeast Division PDL games here on The Bent Musket (hopefully earlier on in the week this time), so stay tuned.