Thursday, April 17, 2008

The Silverbacks saw their greatest postseason success in team history last year in reaching the championship match, but it came on a surprising playoff run after an odd season in which the club saw a continual series of positive and negative streaks throughout the campaign.

Atlanta opened the year with a 2-0-2 mark, but saw their fortunes turn the other direction with a run of 1-5-2 over the next eight. That was followed by a series of four consecutive wins that gave way to three without a win (0-2-1) and then another run of three wins. Fortunately, their status was enough to garner a playoff berth despite two wins in their final six games of the season (2-2-1).

Their fourth-place finish in a narrow race from fourth to seventh that was separated by just four points left the team with a difficult postseason path, but they persevered. A first-round showdown with fifth-seed and 2006 finalist Rochester saw the Silverbacks take a 2-1 lead from the first leg at home and successfully hold the advantage on the road for a 1-1 draw and 3-2 aggregate series victory over the Rhinos that put them in a semifinal series with second-seed Portland. Starting at home again against the Timbers, the Silverbacks played to a 1-1 draw and then proceeded to play a scoreless stalemate in Portland to force overtime and eventually penalties, where they would advance 3-1. The long-awaited postseason success, however, came to a bittersweet ending as the regular season champion Sounders dominated the championship game in Seattle 4-0 to win their fourth USL-1 title.

The 2008 Season

The most eye-opening change from 2007 is the loss of forward Dan Antoniuk, the league leader in points and assists last year. The counter-argument, however, is that while Antoniuk was the team and league’s scoring leader in cumulative stats, he played a minimal role in the club’s most successful postseason run, starting just once and coming off the bench three times in their five playoff fixtures for a total of 131 minutes of action. Only one of Atlanta’s four postseason goals came while he was on the field.

Antoniuk, however, was not the only scorer on the league’s leading offense last year. Returning will be Warren Ukah (four goals), Anthony McManus (four goals) and USL-1 Defender of the Year David Hayes (seven goals, four assists). The success of the club’s midfield, which also sees the return of Rodrigo Rios and Macoumba Kandji led to 13 different players tallying goals last year.

Up top the team has brought back 2006 Silverback Jason McLaughlin, who spent last season with the Vancouver Whitecaps. In addition the club added former Sounder Nathan Knox, Jerson Monteiro of DC United and Ansu Toure, an attacking midfielder from the Minnesota Thunder.

In addition to the departure of Antoniuk, the Silverbacks saw defender Omar Jarun head to Vancouver. While most of the additions to the back are relatively inexperienced, the team added experienced depth to the midfield with former Rochester Rhinos Josh Bolton and Mike Ambersley.

The First Five

The Silverbacks face Southern Derby rival Carolina, who finished eighth last year, in their opening game of the season at home April 19. The schedule, based on last year’s table, will see Atlanta facing a gradual increase with third-place finisher Montreal visiting the following weekend and the Sounders making a visit to Atlanta in a championship rematch May 2. Atlanta then hits the road for the first time for a May 10 date in Carolina with the RailHawks before returning home to play Minnesota, who were 11th last year.