Photo: Courtesy of Harrisburg City Islanders

After a two week absence, PSP is back with a Harrisburg Report to give some insights on what you’ve missed. It was a lot. Five games in two weeks, including advancement in the U.S. Open Cup.

Most are talking about the City Islanders’ upcoming U.S. Open match against Philadelphia Union. But they’ve had an eventful last few games overall. We’ll run down the last few.

Pittsburgh 1-1 Harrisburg

The Islanders headed away to Pittsburgh to battle out a draw amid scattered thunderstorms. Harrisburg would fall behind in the first half during the 12th minute as Brian Fekete tapped in a pass from Michael Green. The Islanders would have to wait til the second half to find the tying goal. Jimmy McLaughlin would gather a pass from Jose Barril and cut through multiple defenders before smoking a shot past the keeper. Harrisburg nearly took the lead directly after scoring as Luan Silva missed just wide left. Nick Noble would make a late save on Jhonny Arteaga to keep all three points. (Video of the game here.)

Richmond 1-0 Harrisburg

Harrisburg lost to the Kickers for the second time in two weeks, this time away in Richmond at City Stadium. The only goal of the game came for the Kickers in the 9th minute with Matt Delicate’s header beating Islanders’ keeper Nick Noble. Sascha Gorres earned the assist on the goal.  The Islanders’ were not able to organize enough successful attacks to generate any goals. This second loss against Richmond meant that the Islanders were winless in their last three league matches (although they did win in the US Open Cup). (Video of the game here.)

Pittsburgh 1-3 Harrisburg

Jimmy McLaughlin, Clesio Bauque and Yann Ekra scored second half goals to take Harrisburg from a halftime goal deficit to a big win. Morgan Langley and Cristhian Hernandez assisted on two of the goals. McLaughlin buried his goal from the penalty spot after an infringement by Pittsburgh’s goalkeeper prompted McLaughlin to retake his kick after his first effort was saved. (Video of the game here.)

Standouts

Jimmy McLaughlin – The Union homegrown player has put together some good performances in the past few weeks, slotting home his first goal in league play and bagging 2 goals in the US Open Cup. He needs to keep this up to break into the Union first team. McLaughlin was also named to the USL PRO team of the week for the first time this season.

Morgan Langley – Still the Islanders’ leading goal scorer with 4 goals and 3 assists. If more players start clicking with Langley, he might start shooting up the league leaders board.

Union on Loan

Cristhian Hernandez has played seven games for the Islanders this season in league play and only has one goal and one assist. While that isn’t terrible, Hernandez is due to begin producing more.

Pedro Ribeiro is only just starting to make his way back from his hamstring injury back in April. Encouragingly, he went the full 90 in the road games against Richmond and Pittsburgh.

Richie Marquez has racked up the most minute played for Harrisburg this season with 900 minutes over 10 games played. Consistency is generally a great skill for a defender.

Upcoming Games

• Sat – June 14 vs Pittsburgh (home)
• Tues – June 17 at Philadelphia Union (away, US Open Cup)