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USL-2 Statistical Awards announced
Coggins, Burke and Gilstrap earn first set of honors
TAMPA, FL - United Soccer Leagues announced the Statistical Award winners for the 2007 USL Second Division season, honoring the Scoring Champion, Goal Scoring Champion, Assist Leader and GAA Champion. Charlotte's Jacob Coggins took the top scoring honors for the third time in four seasons.
After leading the league in points and goals in 2004 and 2005, Coggins saw his numbers drop off last year due to a season-limiting injury, scoring just four goals in 14 games. He made an impressive return in 2007, however, to earn the Scoring and Goal Scoring Championship honors for the third time in four years, finishing the season with 12 goals and 31 points. Coggins became the first player in the 14-year history of the league to earn the scoring honors three times. Luis Orrellana (1998, 1999) and Julio-Cesar Dos Santos (2000, 2002) were the only other players to win the awards twice. Coggins finished four clear of Cleveland's Adam Moffat in goals and an impressive 13 ahead of Moffat in points courtesy of his seven assists, which also ranked tied for second in the league with Baltimore's Matthew Mbuta.
Taking the Assist Leader honors was Richmond midfielder Mike Burke, who finished two ahead of Coggins and Mbuta with nine helpers on the campaign. Burke follows in the footsteps of Chris Carrieri, who won the honor with Richmond last year before returning to the USL First Division with the expansion Carolina RailHawks. Carrieri also had nine last year.
Finishing as the top goalkeeper statistically (minimum 900 minutes played) for the GAA Championship was Cleveland City Stars netminder Hunter Gilstrap, whose goals against average of 0.500 was the best in the USL Second Division. He also posted a 6-1-5 record and six shutouts for the expansion club.
USL-2 Semifinals
The USL Second Division playoffs begin this week with Semifinals Saturday. The regular season champion Richmond Kickers play host to the Charlotte Eagles in a rematch of the 2006 final. The Harrisburg City Islanders will visit the first-year Cleveland City Stars. Both games begin at 7:00 pm ET.
USL Public Relations - Gerald Barnhart / Jason Minnick - Tampa, FL - 813.963.3909 - fax: 813.963.3807
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Charlotte Eagles at Richmond for Semi Finals
The Charlotte Eagles finished off the 2007 regular season in fourth place with a record of 11-7-2, for 35 points. Charlotte's record was good enough to earn them the fourth seed in the USL-2 playoffs. The Eagles are matched up with the top seed in the playoffs, the USL-2 regular season champion Richmond Kickers (12-3-5, 41 pts). Charlotte and Richmond will play their single-game semi final on Saturday, August 18th in Richmond. Fans going to the semi final match in Richmond can visit www.RichmondKickers.com to get a coupon for $5.00 admission to the game. Winner of the Charlotte / Richmond game will advance to the USL-2 National Championship match on August 25 th, location TBD.
The Harrisburg City Islanders (11-4-5, 38 pts) finished as the third seed in the playoffs and will travel to Cleveland to face the second seed Cleveland City Stars (10-1-9, 39 pts) on Saturday in the other leg of the semi finals. For more information on the Harrisburg / Cleveland semi final match up, visit www.ClevelandCityStars.com.
