skip navigation

State pro notes: Ricketts scores in debut with Israeli club Hapoel Haifa

08/18/2014, 10:15pm CDT
By ERIC ANDERSON
Tosaint Ricketts

Tosaint Ricketts (UW-Green Bay) made a great first impression with his new team.

Ricketts scored in his debut for Israeli club Hapoel Haifa, giving the Sharks the lead in the 74th minute of their Toto Cup Ligat Al match Saturday, but visiting Bnei Sakhnin scored an 86th-minute equalizer to earn a 2-2 draw in a Group A opener.

The 27-year-old Ricketts was active throughout in his first match for Hapoel Haifa, which signed the Canadian international in July after his successful season with Turkish second-division club Bucaspor.

Hapoel Haifa plays at rival Maccabi Haifa in a Haifa Derby match Tuesday as Toto Cup play continues, then closes out the group stage Thursday with a home match against Hapoel Acre – those teams meet again Saturday in a Ligat ha'Al opener.

On Twitter: @TosaintRicketts

  • James Weber (Hartford) scored four goals – the final three coming in an 8-minute span – as Gullringens GOIF outlasted host BK Derby 5-3 in a Division 3 Nordöstra Götaland match Saturday in Sweden. Weber pulled Gullringens level at 2 with a penalty kick in the 40th, then scored in the 52nd, 57th and 59th. He's tied for ninth in the league with six goals, despite playing only three games, and has 25 goals in 27 career appearances for the fifth-division club. On Twitter: @TheJamesWeber
  • Also in Sweden, Alex Horwath (UW) stopped all three shots he faced for his seventh clean sheet of the season Sunday as host Ljungskile SK and GAIS played out a 0-0 draw in a Superettan match. The point was enough for Ljungskile (10-2-8) to remain atop the second division on goal differential (plus-20 to plus-17) over GIF Sundsvall (12-6-2) with 10 games remaining. On Twitter: @AlexHorwath
  • Matt Pyzdrowski (Marquette) made seven saves in his sixth shutout of the year as host Ängelholms FF blanked Hammarby 1-0 in Superettan action Monday. On Twitter: @MattPyzdrowski
  • Another former Madison 56ers standout is headed to 1. FCA Darmstadt in Germany, as Carlos McCrary joined goalkeeper Ryan Onwukwe for the trip to the city south of Frankfurt last week. The 22-year-old McCrary, who was part of North Carolina's NCAA championship team in 2011 and finished his college career at Creighton, scored 33 goals in four seasons with the 56ers and was the National Premier Soccer League Player of the Year in 2012. "I've been wanting to play in Europe since I first started playing soccer, ever since I was 7 years old," McCrary, a native of Roswell, Ga., said while driving to the airport. "It's crazy that this is the moment that's about to happen. It doesn't feel real yet ... I guess it will hit me when I land in Germany and I get on that roster." McCrary had a trial with Spanish third-division club C.D. Choco last January and trained with fourth-division club C.D. Valladares for five months and considered returning to Spain before agreeing to join 1. FCA Darmstadt. The club finished 10th in the Verbandsliga Hessen-Süd – Germany's sixth division – last season and is off to a 0-1-1 start this season. On Twitter: @CarlosMcCrary
  • Ethan Finlay (Marshfield) continued his breakout season for the Columbus Crew on Saturday night, scoring his sixth goal of the season and adding his fourth assist in a 4-1 rout of the visiting Los Angeles Galaxy. Finlay ran on to a nice pass by Justin Meram and buried a left-footed shot in the 33rd minute to give the home side a 2-0 lead (Watch below), then set up Ben Speas' goal in the 75th as the Crew scored four goals for the first time this season. All of Finlay's goals and assists have come in his past 13 appearances over the past three months. On Twitter: @EthanFinlay13
  • JC Banks (Milwaukee Riverside/UW-Green Bay) netted his seventh goal of the season in the Rochester Rhinos' 2-1 loss to the host Charleston Battery in USL PRO action Friday night. Tony Walls (Wauwatosa East/UW-Green Bay) set up Banks' 86th-minute goal, which came after the Rhinos took a short corner kick. A cross played into the box was headed into the air by a Battery defender and Walls leapt up and flicked the ball on to Banks, who finished past keeper Odisnel Cooper with a bicycle kick from 6 yards out – he's tied for ninth in the league in goals. The Rhinos (8-10-7), winless in their past four games, are seventh in the 14-team league with three matches left in the regular season. The top eight teams make the playoffs. On Twitter: @jcbanks11 @TWalls20
  • Shannon Smyth (Mequon/Milwaukee DSHA) scored her second goal of the year, but Amazon Grimstad still lost to Stabæk 2-1 in Norway's Toppserien. Second-place Stabæk scored twice in 7 minutes to take an early two-goal lead before Smyth halved the lead just before halftime for Amazon Grimstad (1-12-0), which is 11th in the 12-team top division on goal differential over Grand Bodø (0-10-3). On Twitter: @ShannonSmyth

Tag(s): Home  Pro  News