Crystal Palace USA?s offense has exploded, albeit too late for the first-year team to make the playoffs.
Led by newly-signed forward Gary Brooks, the new-look offense has dominated its opposition, finding the back of the net 15 times in the last six games. This came after scoring only 11 goals in its first 14 games.
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“It?s a lot of fun,” said Brooks, who?s scored a team-high six times in only eight games. “You can?t have more fun than this.”
Since being shut out by the Harrisburg City Islanders on July 13, Crystal Palace (8-6-5, 29 points) changed its offensive game plan.
The forwards and midfielders are playing more aggressively, anticipating the switch in field position and attacking the opposition?s vulnerabilities. Crystal Palace, despite being eliminated from the United Soccer League Second Division playoff picture last week, is 5-1 since the draw in Harrisburg, Pa., outscoring its opposition, 15-4.
“We?re trying to get more numbers going into the attack, more players making runs off the ball,” Crystal Palace co-coach Jim Cherneski said. “When the ball comes into a man and another man is already making
a run. It?s paying dividends.”
And it was no more apparent the switch is paying off than against the Bermuda Hogges. The Hogges (3-11-3, 12 points), who have been in last place all season, have been Crystal Palace?s resident whipping boy. In three meetings with Bermuda this season, Crystal Palace is 3-0, outscoring the Hogges, 12-2.
Crystal Palace hammered Bermuda during an 8-1 win on July 28. On Sunday, Matthew Mbuta, Brooks and forward Harold Urquijo each scored against the Wilmington Hammerheads in a 3-0 victory.
“At the beginning of the year, we would have died for three goals,” Crystal Palace co-coach Pete Medd said.
As he took his team into the locker room during halftime locked in a scoreless tie with Wilmington on Sunday, Medd and Cherneski urged their team to take control. And that?s exactly what Crystal Palace did.
“If we sat back, things weren?t going to happen,” Medd said. “So we made a decision to be the aggressors, and I think it showed.”
Crystal Palace closes out its season Saturday when it plays at Harrisburg.
