Puerto Rico Islanders Secure First-Round Bye in 1-1 Draw Against Montreal

On Wednesday night, the Puerto Rico Islanders were a few minutes away from suffering their first home loss of the season before Islanders forward Jonathan Fana successfully converted his penalty kick in the 90th minute to tie MLS-bound Montreal Impact 1-1.

Fana's game-tying goal was his 11th goal of the season. He is the Islanders' leading goal-scorer. In addition, in the North American Soccer League, Fana is currently tied for second place in goal production with FC Tampa Bay Mike Ambersley and Carolina RailHawks Pablo Campos.

Playing in front of their crowd at the Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium, or La Islandera, the Islanders had to overcome a number of obstacles. Trying to rebound from Saturday night's 2-0 loss to the Atlanta Silverbacks, the Orange Troop entered Wednesday's match with a majority of their starters recovering from their CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers participation.

Without the usual starting lineup, the team had to rely on the goalkeeping skills of Ray Burse and the defense from the rest of the squad. To add to their dilemma, the Islanders were facing a hungry Impact team trying to win the sixth and final playoff spot. With Impact GK Evan Bush named NASL Defensive Player of the Week, Impact arrived to Puerto Rico with the intent of earning three points while putting an end to the Islanders' undefeated home record.

In the 30th minute of the match, the odds of Montreal winning on Wednesday night was heightened when Islanders defender Logan Emory was ejected for tackling Impact forward Miguel Montaño.

For the remainder of the match, the under-manned Islanders played well enough to escape with a tie and clinch a first-round bye. However, in the 88th minute of the match, Ryan Pore had given the Impact a 1-0 lead. Accepting a well-timed pass from forward Mignane Diouf, who seconds earlier forced Burse be in a bad position, Pore successfully found the back of the net as he scored his second goal of the season.

Less than two minutes later, Islanders striker Jonathan Faña, back from international duties with the Dominican Republic national team, was fouled as he was advancing the ball in the penalty. Seconds later, he successfully beat the NASL Defensive Player of the Week to level the match at one all.

With Wednesday's tie, the Islanders (13-6-7, 46 points) have clinched the second-best record in the regular season. For their achievement, the Islanders also have a first-round bye.

While a win would have been beneficial for the Impact (5-6-11, 26 points) in their quest of reaching the playoffs, they only trail NSC Minnesota Stars (7-8-10, 29 points) by three points.

Up next for the Islanders is FC Tampa Bay (10-8-7, 37 points), which has already clinched a playoff spot and are trying to remain in third place with the NASL season winding down. Following FC Tampa Bay, the Islanders conclude their regular season against the NASL regular season champions, the Carolina RailHawks.

Now that the top two spots belong to the Carolina RailHawks and the Orange Troop, the only thing left for both teams is to win the playoffs. Even though the RailHawks have been playing extremely well, the Islanders have been able to play some solid defense for their last few matches, considering nine of their players were away playing for their countries for the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers.

Once the regular season is over, Orange Troop supporters will expect to see the Islanders successfully defend their Division-2 championship against everyone—especially the Carolina RailHawks, in the case they meet in the championship match for the second consecutive year.

Other NASL results from Wednesday Night

Fourth-place FC Edmonton (10-10-6, 36 points) secured a playoff spot with a dramatic 2-1 victory over eighth-place Atlanta Silverbacks (4-18-3, 15 points).

Fifth-place Fort Lauderdale Strikers (8-7-10, 34 points) won 1-0 over first place Carolina RailHawks (17-5-3, 54 points). Wednesday's night win has positioned the Strikers from being a point away from clinching a playoff spot for the first time since 2006.

Despite the loss, the RailHawks clinched the NASL regular season championship. The RailHawks automatically have a first-round bye. With head coach Martin Rennie set to coach the Vancouver Whitecaps for the 2012 MLS season, the RailHawks are definitely in position and motivated to win the playoffs.

Cesar Diaz covers soccer for LatinoSports.com. He also writes for 5 Points Press and USSoccerPlayers.com, your source for American soccer news brought to you by members of the U.S. national team. Easily accessible, you may reach Cesar at [e-mail] and at Twitter at @CoveringSoccer.