Four bad minutes early in the first half set up an uphill battle for the NSC Minnesota Stars, who fell 3-1 to the Puerto Rico Islanders to bring a soggy close to their three-game, season-opening road trip. "They got that early goal against the run of play, and it was tough on us," Stars head coach Manny Lagos said after the game. "To have a second scored against us so quickly was also tough, and it took a little while for us to adjust to being down 2-0." The Stars started the game well, putting pressure on Islanders goalkeeper Bill Gaudette in the first 10 minutes. Warren Ukah just missed a chance to put the Stars ahead in the third minute, but he couldn't quite stretch to meet Daniel Wasson's cross after Puerto Rico had failed to clear a corner kick. Despite the bright start, the Stars soon found themselves down a goal. Jamaican international Nick Addlery created problems for the Stars all game long, and it was his cross that led to David Foley's 13th minute opener. Addlery got free behind Stars left back Chris Clements, and Foley buried a half-volley into the side netting, well out of reach of goalkeeper Joe Warren. Four minutes later, Addlery got his own name on the scoresheet. The Stars failed to clear a Puerto Rico corner kick, and the ball fell kindly to Addlery about 10 yards from goal. With defenders bearing down on him, he calmly shot to the same spot Foley had only moments before. "We were trying to play good soccer and move the ball, but the field conditions weren't ideal and made it hard," Stars defender Brian Kallman said. "They scored a good first goal, but I felt like I could have prevented it if I'd found my mark inside the box a little quicker. It would have been a different game." The Stars looked shaky in possession for five to 10 minutes after the second goal, and the game as a whole turned sloppy as the wet field began to deteriorate and puddles stopped crisp passes in their tracks. Nonetheless, Lagos said he was pleased with the way his team eventually settled into the game, and he considered the Stars unlucky not to get a goal back right before halftime. The Islanders could thank Gaudette, one of the league's outstanding goalkeepers, for that. In the 24th minute, Gaudette closed the angle down and parried away a Leilei Gao shot after the Chinese midfielder had weaved his way into the box and created a shooting opportunity, albeit from a tight angle. Stars captain Johnny Menyongar would be the next to really test Gaudette, cutting around one defender and through another's legs before seeing his shot deflect out of bounds off Gaudette's foot. Ukah rose to meet Wasson's corner kick on the ensuing play, but he headed his shot right to Gaudette. Six minutes after halftime, the Islanders added some insurance with a lucky third goal. Warren could do little to prevent the Islanders' first two, but he could have done better on the third. Sandy Gbandi collected a pass at the top of the penalty arc and drove a low shot toward goal. The ball skipped on the wet grass about six yards from goal and slid under Warren as he dove. Lagos responded to the goal with his first substitution, bringing Simone Bracalello on for Andrei Gotsmanov in the 54th minute, but Puerto Rico kept pressuring the Stars. In the 56th minute, Addlery went down in the box, but the referee ignored his pleas for a penalty kick. Three minutes later, Gbandi tried his luck again from the same spot where he scored, but his shot was blocked. The Stars finally cleared their lines and composed themselves in the 61st minute when Puerto Rico captain Noah Delgado was yellow carded for diving. Lagos continued making changes, looking for an offensive spark. Brian Cvilikas came on for Ukah in the 68th minute, Ely Allen replaced Gao in the 75th, and Neil Hlavaty made his debut for the Stars in the 80th minute. Hlavaty and Cvilikas both had immediate impacts. Cvilikas thought he'd grabbed a goal back in the 81st minute when he rose to meet a Wasson free kick. His header beat Gaudette, but the assistant referee's flag went up to disallow the goal for offside. Nothing could deny the Stars their consolation, though, as Hlavaty finished a Wasson through ball from about eight yards out. Wasson had gathered the ball inside the penalty arc and looked to be shooting, but rolled a pass to Hlavaty instead as his footing went out from under him. Kallman said he was glad to see his teammate finally get some playing time. Hlavaty missed the Stars' first two games after complications transferring his player registration from his former Polish club, Jagiellonia Bialystok. "He wasn't able to make the first two games because of his situation, and it was good that he could come in and give us a solid 10 minutes and get a goal," he said. Lagos said the goal was a deserved bit of proof of how hard his team worked, and he hoped it would lift spirits ahead of the Stars' three-game home stand that begins Saturday against FC Tampa Bay. "The third goal took a bit of wind out of our sails, but I was really proud of the way our guys responded," Lagos said. "We've got a group of guys that understands that this was a tough part of the schedule, and I'm encouraged that our guys will get home and get excited about playing in front of their own fans."
