On Saturday, Aboubacar Coulibaly came off the bench to score a second-half brace, as Junior Lone Star FC bounced back from last Wednesday’s shock away loss to Pocono Snow SC to beat 2013 Keystone Conference Champions Greater Binghamton FC Thunder 3-0 on Match Day 4 of Keystone Conference play in the National Premier Soccer League.

First Half

The Stars went into the match knowing that a win could boost their chances of qualifying for their first ever playoff appearance. Unlike last Wednesday, the Stars started the match with more urgency and it wasn’t too long before they had their first shot on goal in the 15th minute via Fatoma Turay.  Rick Pflasterer saved the effort comfortably in goal for the Thunder.

In the 20th minute, Jerome Pour had a chance to put the Stars ahead but he scuffed his chance in front of goal. Seven minutes later, a through pass from Seydou Ba put Jerome Pour free on goal but he was correctly called back for offside.

With the game heading to half-time, the Stars struck from a counter-attack off a corner kick in the 44th minute. A series of combination of passes from the defense saw Samuel Fahnboto lashing out a powerful shot which was parried by Pflasterer into the path of Seydou Ba to score his first goal of the season for the Stars.

Second Half

The Thunder made two changes at halftime, bringing in Jonathan Onyeaka for Emmanuel Egbosianamah, and Ross Holden for Cody Healy. The second half was played at a slow pace until the 80th minute when Coach Bobby Ali made two changes for the Stars, bringing in Dodji Freitas for Fatoma Turay, and Aboubacar Coulibaly for Jerome Pour.

Coulibaly would make an immediate impact. First, he received a yellow card on his first touch of the ball in the 82nd minute. Then, in the 85th minute, he scored the Stars’ second goal off of a pass from Seydou Ba.

Not content with their two-goal lead, the Stars were again involved in another counter-attack with defender Mohammed Mayah overlapping on the right to send a beautiful cross into the goal area. Coulibaly made no mistake with a powerful header goal to score his second goal of the match in the 90th minute, sealing the 3-0 win for the Stars.

With the win, the Stars climbed to second on the Keystone Conference table, tied on nine points with Conference Leaders FC LVU Sonic (who have a game in hand), and two points ahead of Greater Binghamton FC Thunder at seven points.

Junior Lone Star (3-1-0) will look to take the top spot in the conference when they host the 2013 Northeast Region Champions FC LVU Sonic (3-0-0) on Wednesday, June 4 at Monsignor Bonner High School in Drexel Hill. Kickoff is at  at 7 pm.

Junior Lone Star FC (3-5-2)
Damilare Adeleye; Samuel Fahnboto, Anthony Dunor, Mohammed Mayah; Aba Zoegar (Alhaji Aly 88′), Ayouba Fane (Harris Mulbah 88′), Yaya Fane, Tinashe Gwanzura, Fatoma Turay (Dodji Freitas 73′); Jerome Pour (Aboubacar Coulibaly 81′), Seydou Ba (Isaac Jardiah 86′)
Unused substitutions: Aboubakar Dosso, Sulaiman Kanneh

GBFC Thunder (4-4-2)
Rick Pflasterer; Bogden Yatsishin, Michael Koegel, Keleena Onyeaka, Patrick Thompson; Lucas Heffron, Jherrett Maroney (Cornor McKnight 87′), Matt Guinto, Cody Healey (Ross Holden 46′, Jonathan Onyeaka 61′); Ethan Kutler, Emmanuel Egbosianam (Michael Rood 46′, Sean Streb 87′)
Unused substitutions: Corey Hill, Devon Lash

Scoring Summary
44 — JLS: Seydou Ba (Samuel Fahnboto)
87 — JLS: Aboubacar Coulibaly (Seydou Ba)
90 — JLS: Aboubacar Coulibaly (Mohammed Mayah)

Disciplinary Summary
56 — JLS: Anthony Dunor
69 — JLS: Yaya Fane
82 — JLS: Aboubacar Coulibaly

Referee: Dan Richman
Attendance: 100