FC Montreal Fall to Harrisburg in Season Finale

3-1 Loss Secures Last Place Finish In Eastern Conference

SportsTristan D’Amours — Published September 24, 2016

Goals by midfielder Cameron Vickers, forward Craig Foster and an own goal by defender Aron Mkungilwa marked a 3-1 win for the Harrsiburg City Islanders. Centre back Thomas Meilleur-Guiguère scored the lone goal for Montreal.

“We absolutely wanted the three points because we wanted to pass in front of [the Pittsburgh Riverounds] and [Toronto FC II],” said Mkungilwa. “Unfortunately, the result was otherwise but there’s no one else to blame but ourselves.”

“It’s symbolic to finish in front of Toronto.”

The first goal came at one of the worst times to concede—right before the halftime whistle. Harrisburg captain Bobby Warshaw ran past the defence on the right flank and crossed the ball to Vickers. He controlled the cross at the penalty kick spot and his shot passed Montreal goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau to open the score.

“[It’s a] big disappointment,” said Montreal head coach Philippe Eullaffroy. “I would have wanted to prove that the work we did is real but we did not see that today.”

Coming back from the half, Harrisburg added to their tally. At the 75th minute, Mkungilwa lost possession of the ball in his own half of the field and was intercepted by Foster. He was held defensively by Montreal defender Kyle Fisher but it wasn’t enough as his shot from the right side of the box zoomed passed Crepeau and into the net.

Meilleur-Guiguere brought the score back to one as his header from a cross by Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla found the back of the net at the 82nd minute. The thought of finishing in a draw vanished when Mkungilwa tapped it in his own net a shot loosely taken by Harrisburg midfielder Jose Barril who made his way into the box on the left flank.

Playoffs one day?

With the 2016 USL regular season coming to a close, FC Montreal ranked 12th and last in the eastern conference. Last year, the team managed to finish tenth, third to last at the time, and earned them the symbolic finish over Toronto FC II.

This means that FC Montreal will not participate in the USL playoffs for the second time in a row. However, Eullaffroy doesn’t think that playoffs are impossible for his team in the future.

“Will we win the USL? That sounds complicated to me. But making the playoff sounds absolutely considerable,” said Eullaffroy

Eullaffroy cites his team’s inexperience as the main reason for the team’s results. Most the players on the team only played 15 to 20 games at the professional level. For Eullaffroy, players with one season and a half of USL playing time will have what it takes to contend for a playoff spot.

“That’s what we don’t have and if we can restart with the tempo that we had in the last ten games, it would be considerable to finish in the top eight teams [next season],” said Eullaffroy. “We need to be patient but from the start we know that we will suffer and we will always suffer.”