MONTREAL – For its last game of the 2016 USL season, FC Montreal will host the Harrisburg City Islanders this Saturday at 2pm at the Claude-Robillard Sports Complex.
Fans will enter the on the Southwest side of the field, starting at 1pm. Ticket cost $5, with $1 going to the Montreal Impact Foundation. Admission is free for season ticket holders on presentation of their membership card.
The team will want to move on from its last game in New York, where it lost 4-0 against Red Bulls II, the regular season champions, and focus more on its last eight games, where its performances were good for a 5-2-1 record.
“We want to finish on a high note,” said assistant coach Simon Gatti. “All these players are competitors, so no matter what the situation is, they want to come out and have a good performance and result. We’ve had a strong second half of the season so it will be the icing on the cake to get a good result in the last game. Harrisburg had our number in the last game last year, so it would be nice to get payback this year.”
The last time both teams faced off was on June 21 in Harrisburg. Montreal took a 3-0 lead on goals from Mastanabal Kacher, Zachary Sukunda and Anthony Jackson-Hamel, but the City Islanders came back strong in the second half, scoring twice. FC Montreal hanged on to win 3-2.
The only home game against Harrisburg was the last game of the 2015 season, a 5-0 loss.
“We will give everything,” said team captain Louis Béland-Goyette. “We don’t want to finish like last year with a big loss against Harrisburg. They will also want to put together a strong performance here because we won in Harrisburg.”
“We have a chance to leapfrog two teams in the standings to end the season,” said defender Thomas Meilleur-Giguère. “The beginning of the season was tough, but we have a chance to end well. If we could beat Harrisburg over there, we can beat them at home.”
A win against the City Islanders would equal FC Montreal’s number of wins in 2015, with eight. The team also could move in front of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and Toronto FC II in the Eastern Conference standings, depending on the results of their last game of the season.
