2011 Atlanta Silverbacks season

Atlanta Silverbacks
2011 season
Owners	Boris Jerkunica; John Latham
Head coach	José Manuel Abundis
Stadium	Atlanta Silverbacks Park
NASL	8th
Playoffs	Did not qualify
U.S. Open Cup	Denied entry
Top goalscorer	Matt Horth (6)
Highest home attendance	3,543 vs. MIN; (Apr 9, 2011)
Lowest home attendance	2,328 vs. CAR; (June 25, 2011)
Average home league attendance	2,866
Home colors	Away colors
	← 2008 2012 →

The 2011 Atlanta Silverback season was the club's fifteenth year of existence, and their first year in the North American Soccer League (NASL). It's the team's first year back after a two-year hiatus from competitive play.^[2]

On January 25, the Silverbacks announced their full schedule in the NASL. The Silverbacks will host each NASL opponent twice over the course of the season.^[3]

On March 8, the Silverbacks announced three preseason games against Southern Polytechnic State University, Georgia State University and Clayton State University.^[4] All three games resulted in a scoreless tie.^[5]

Background

The 2011 season marked the Silverbacks return to American soccer following a two-year hiatus, that did not see the organization field a senior men's team throughout the 2009 and 2010 seasons.^[6]

Review

The return season was arguably an abysmal campaign for the Silverbacks, as the club lost 20 of its 28 regular season matches, drawing and winning four matches apiece. During the regular season, the Silverbacks were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention with seven weeks left in the NASL regular season. José Manuel Abundis, then the head coach, was fired following the season replaced by then-assistant coach, Alex Pineda Chacón, whom played for the Silverbacks from 2003 to 2004. The announcement came on November 7, 2011.^[7]

Club

Roster

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	MEX	Felipe Quintero
2	DF	USA	Tyler Ruthven
3	DF	USA	Shane Moroney
4	DF	USA	Patrick Robertson
5	MF	USA	Ciaran O'Brien
6	MF	USA	Jordan Davis
7	MF	USA	Jose Parada
10	MF	ARG	Lucas Paulini
12	MF	PUR	Fernando González
13	DF	USA	Willie Hunt
14	MF	USA	Nico Colaluca
14	DF	MEX	Mario Pérez Zúñiga


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
15	DF	JPN	Kohei Matsushita
16	DF	USA	Josh Casarona
17	MF	LBR	Moussa Toure
18	FW	USA	Matt Horth
19	MF	SCO	Grant Kerr
20	GK	USA	Jimmy Maurer
21	MF	USA	Raphael Cox
22	FW	USA	Jon Cox
23	DF	SUI	Mattias Schnorf
25	FW	USA	Conor Chinn
26	GK	USA	Eric Ati

Technical Staff

José Manuel Abundis – Head Coach
Alex Pineda Chacón – Assistant Coach
José Pinho – Goalkeeper Coach
Rodrigo Rios – Director of Soccer

Competitions

Preseason

March 23, 2011 (2011-03-23)	Atlanta Silverbacks	0–0	Southern Polytechnic State University	Atlanta
16:30 EDT		Report		Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park

March 26, 2011 (2011-03-26)	Georgia State University	0–0	Atlanta Silverbacks	Atlanta
16:30 EDT		Report

March 30, 2011 (2011-03-30)	Atlanta Silverbacks	0–0	Clayton State University	Atlanta
16:30 EDT		Report		Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park

NASL

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
4	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	28	9	11	8	35	36	−1	38	Playoff quarterfinals
5	FC Edmonton	28	10	6	12	35	40	−5	36^[a]
6	NSC Minnesota Stars (C)	28	9	9	10	30	32	−2	36^[a]
7	Montreal Impact	28	9	8	11	35	27	+8	35
8	Atlanta Silverbacks	28	4	4	20	25	63	−38	16

Source: NASL Standings
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head record; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.^[8]
(C) Champions
Notes:

^ ^a ^b EDM: 8 pts; MIN: 2 pts

Results summary


Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
28	4	4	20	25	63	−38	16	3	1	10	14	32	−18	1	3	10	11	31	−20

Last updated: September 22, 2012.
Source: Match results

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28
Stadium	H	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	H	A	A	A	H
Result	L	L	L	D	L	L	D	L	L	W	L	L	L	L	W	D	W	L	L	L	L	L	L	W	L	L	D	L

Source: Match results
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Match results

April 9, 2011 (2011-04-09) 1	Atlanta Silverbacks	1–2	NSC Minnesota Stars	Atlanta
7:30 PM ET	Horth 64'	Report	Takada 57' Gotsmanov 90'	Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park Attendance: 3,543

April 16, 2011 (2011-04-16) 2	Atlanta Silverbacks	0–1	FC Edmonton	Atlanta
7:30 PM ET		Report	Surprenant 11'	Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park Attendance: 3,161

April 23, 2011 (2011-04-23) 3	Atlanta Silverbacks	1–2	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Atlanta
7:30 PM ET	Pérez 16'	Report	Nuñez 14' Coudet 87' (pen.)	Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park Attendance: 3,227

April 30, 2011 (2011-04-30) 4	FC Tampa Bay	1–1	Atlanta Silverbacks	St. Petersburg, Florida
7:00 PM ET	Ambersley 74'	Report	Hunt 45'	Stadium: Progress Energy Park Attendance: 3,021

May 7, 2011 (2011-05-07) 5	Atlanta Silverbacks	0–2	FC Edmonton	Atlanta
7:30 PM ET		Report	Craig 69' Porter 76'	Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park Attendance: 2,433

May 14, 2011 (2011-05-14) 6	NSC Minnesota Stars	3–0	Atlanta Silverbacks	Blaine, Minnesota
7:30 PM CT	Cosgriff 17' Hlavaty 57' (pen.) Rodríguez 66'	Report		Stadium: NSC Stadium Attendance: 963

May 21, 2011 (2011-05-21) 7	Atlanta Silverbacks	0–0	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Atlanta
7:30 PM ET		Report		Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park Attendance: 2,764

May 28, 2011 (2011-05-28) 8	Carolina RailHawks	2–0	Atlanta Silverbacks	Cary, North Carolina
	Pablo Campos 81' Russell 90'	Report		Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park Attendance: 3,015

June 4, 2011 (2011-06-04) 9	Atlanta Silverbacks	0–2	NSC Minnesota Stars	Atlanta
7:30 PM ET		Report	Del Do 3', 64'	Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park Attendance: 2,447

June 8, 2011 (2011-06-08) 10	Atlanta Silverbacks	2–1	Montreal Impact	Atlanta
7:30 PM ET	R. Cox 13' Horth 34'	Report	Diouf 43'	Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park Attendance: 2,880

June 12, 2011 (2011-06-12) 11	FC Tampa Bay	3–2	Atlanta Silverbacks	St. Petersburg, Florida
6:00 PM ET	Ambersley 31', 54' King 86'	Report	Hunt 34' Davis 64'	Stadium: Progress Energy Park Attendance: 2,319

June 19, 2011 (2011-06-19) 12	Puerto Rico Islanders	3–1	Atlanta Silverbacks	Bayamón, Puerto Rico
	Faña 2' Hansen 81' Foley 90'	Report	Paulini 45'	Stadium: Estadio Juan Ramón Loubriel Attendance: 1,377

June 25, 2011 (2011-06-25) 13	Atlanta Silverbacks	1–5	Carolina RailHawks	Atlanta
7:30 PM ET	Horth 10'	Report	Barbara 21' Zimmerman 29', 63' Nurse 36' Rusin 88'	Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park Attendance: 2,328

July 4, 2011 (2011-07-04) 14	Atlanta Silverbacks	3–4	Puerto Rico Islanders	Atlanta
5:00 PM ET	Ciaran O'Brien 32' (pen.), 54' (pen.) Sandoval 59'	Report	Pitchkolan 27' Bouraee 38' Foley 65' (pen.) Faña 90'	Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park

July 9, 2011 (2011-07-09) 15	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	2–3	Atlanta Silverbacks	Fort Lauderdale, Florida
7:30 PM ET	Thompson 7' Arguez 74'	Report	Paulini 17' O'Brien 32' Horth 63'	Stadium: Lockhart Stadium Attendance: 2,661

July 17, 2011 (2011-07-17) 16	Montreal Impact	2–2	Atlanta Silverbacks	Montreal
3:30 PM ET	Sebrango 42', 90'	Report	Horth 17', 64'	Stadium: Saputo Stadium Attendance: 10,077

July 23, 2011 (2011-07-23) 17	Atlanta Silverbacks	2–1	FC Tampa Bay	Atlanta
7:30 PM ET	Sandoval 7' O'Brien 41'	Report	King 43'	Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park Attendance: 3,515

July 30, 2011 (2011-07-30) 18	Carolina RailHawks	1–0	Atlanta Silverbacks	Cary, North Carolina
7:00 PM EST	Barbara 8'	Report		Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park Attendance: 5,011

August 6, 2011 (2011-08-06) 19	Atlanta Silverbacks	0–4	FC Tampa Bay	Atlanta
7:30 PM ET		Report	Savage 28', 60' Ambersley 33' Clare 82'	Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park Attendance: 3,126

August 10, 2011 (2011-08-10) 20	Puerto Rico Islanders	2–0	Atlanta Silverbacks	Bayamón, Puerto Rico
7:30 PM ET	Foley 26' Villaroel 66'	Report		Stadium: Estadio Juan Ramón Loubriel Attendance: 1,182

August 14, 2011 (2011-08-14) 21	Montreal Impact	4–0	Atlanta Silverbacks	Montreal
6:00 PM ET	Ilcu 3' Camara 8' Ubiparipovic 35' Diouf 80'	Report		Stadium: Saputo Stadium Attendance: 11,136

August 21, 2011 (2011-08-21) 22	FC Edmonton	3–0	Atlanta Silverbacks	Edmonton, Alberta
9:30 ET	Saiko 63' M. Cox 71', 76'	Report		Stadium: Foote Field Attendance: 1,607

August 27, 2011 (2011-08-27) 23	Atlanta Silverbacks	2–4	Carolina RailHawks	Atlanta
7:30 PM ET	Hunt 26' R. Cox 76'	Report	Barbara 28', 79' (pen.), 90' (pen.) McManus 76'	Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park Attendance: 3,313

September 3, 2011 (2011-09-03) 24	Atlanta Silverbacks	2–0	Puerto Rico Islanders	Atlanta
7:30 PM ET	Matt Horth 28', 30'	Report		Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park

September 7, 2011 (2011-09-07) 25	FC Edmonton	2–1	Atlanta Silverbacks	Edmonton, Alberta
	Yamada 52' 90+4' Craig 90+3'	Report	Robertson 29' Josh Casarona 58' Ruthven 75' Hunt 88'	Stadium: Foote Field Attendance: 1,868

September 10, 2011 (2011-09-10) 26	NSC Minnesota Stars	2–0	Atlanta Silverbacks	Blaine, Minnesota
8:30 PM ET	Cosgriff 12' Kallman 15' Takada 63' Altman 84' (pen.)	Report	Hunt 72' O'Brien 80'	Stadium: NSC Stadium Attendance: 2,435

September 17, 2011 (2011-09-17) 27	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	1–1	Atlanta Silverbacks	Fort Lauderdale, Florida
7:30 PM ET	Morales 62' Stahl 68' Gordon 78' Shriver 90+1'	Report	Colaluca 90'	Stadium: Lockhart Stadium Attendance: 4,688

September 24, 2011 (2011-09-24) 28	Atlanta Silverbacks	0–4	Montreal Impact	Atlanta
7:30 PM ET	Ruthven 54' R. Cox 68' Davis 74'	Report	Pore 6', 30', 45+' (pen.) Montaño 18'	Stadium: Atlanta Silverbacks Park

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		NASL
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	MEX	Felipe Quintero	10	0	10	0
2	DF	USA	Tyler Ruthven	22	0	22	0
3	DF	USA	Shane Moroney	18	0	18	0
4	DF	USA	Patrick Robertson	14	0	14	0
5	MF	USA	Ciaran O'Brien	19	4	19	4
6	MF	USA	Jordan Davis	23	1	23	1
7	MF	USA	Jose Parada	8	0	8	0
8	FW	BIH	Emsad Zahirovic	7	0	7	0
9	FW	HON	Junior Sandoval	15	2	15	2
10	MF	ARG	Lucas Paulini	22	2	22	2
12	MF	PUR	Fernando González	5	0	5	0
13	DF	USA	Willie Hunt	22	3	22	3
14	MF	USA	Nico Colaluca	4	0	4	0
14	DF	MEX	Mario Pérez	10	1	10	1
15	DF	JPN	Kohei Matsushita	13	0	13	0
16	DF	USA	Josh Casarona	8	0	8	0
17	MF	LBR	Moussa Toure	3	0	3	0
18	FW	USA	Matt Horth	22	6	22	6
19	MF	SCO	Grant Kerr	1	0	1	0
19	DF	COL	Cristian Quiñones	1	0	1	0
20	GK	USA	Jimmy Maurer	13	0	13	0
21	MF	USA	Raphael Cox	22	2	22	2
22	FW	USA	Jon Cox	12	0	12	0
23	DF	SUI	Mattias Schnorf	15	0	15	0
25	FW	USA	Conor Chinn	6	0	6	0
26	GK	USA	Eric Ati	0	0	0	0
65	MF	MEX	Paco Rueda	0	0	0	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Last updated: August 30, 2011

Clean sheets

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		NASL
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Clean sheets	Apps	Clean sheets
1	GK	MEX	Felipe Quintero	10	1	10	1
20	GK	USA	Jimmy Maurer	13	1	13	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Disciplinary record

No.	Nat	Pos.	Player	Total			NASL
No.	Nat	Pos.	Player
1		GK	Felipe Quintero	2	0	1	2	0	1
2		DF	Tyler Ruthven	5	0	0	5	0	0
4		DF	Robertson	2	0	0	2	0	0
5		MF	Ciaran O'Brien	1	0	0	1	0	0
6		MF	Jordan Davis	4	0	0	4	0	0
7		DF	Jose Parada	1	0	0	1	0	0
10		MF	Lucas Paulini	1	1	0	1	1	0
13		DF	Willie Hunt	2	0	0	2	0	0
14		DF	Mario Peréz	4	0	0	4	0	0
15		DF	Kohei Matsushita	1	0	0	1	0	0
16		DF	Josh Casarona	3	0	0	3	0	0
17		MF	Moussa Toure	1	0	0	1	0	0
18		FW	Matt Horth	2	0	0	2	0	0
21		FW	Raphael Cox	3	0	0	3	0	0
22		FW	Jon Cox	1	0	1	1	0	1
23		DF	Mattias Schnorf	4	0	0	4	0	0

Last updated: August 30, 2011
Source: NASL
Only competitive matches.

Transfers

In

No.	Pos.	Name	Age	Moving from	Type	Transfer window	Ends	Transfer fee	Source
15	DF	Kohei Matsushita	25	Ehime	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
23	DF	Mattias Schnorf	26	Winterthur	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
18	FW	Matt Horth	21	Gordon College Fighting Scotts	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
3	DF	Shane Moroney	22	Berry College Vikings	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
12	MF	Fernando González	21	South Florida Bulls	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
8	FW	Emsad Zahirovic	22		Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
7	MF	Jose Parada	23	Tulsa Golden Hurricane	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
4	DF	Patrick Robertson	24	Puerto Rico Islanders	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
14	DF	Mario Pérez	28	Club Atlas	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
10	MF	Lucas Paulini	21	Mississippi Brilla	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
6	MF	Jordan Davis	28	Atlanta Silverbacks U23	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
2	DF	Tyler Ruthven	22	Harrisburg City Islanders	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
1	GK	Felipe Quintero	31	Atlanta Silverbacks	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
5	MF	Ciaran O'Brien	23	Colorado Rapids	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
22	FW	Jon Cox	24	Georgia Southern Eagles	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
20	GK	Jimmy Maurer	22	New York Red Bulls	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
13	DF	Willie Hunt	23	Mississippi Brilla	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
21	MF	Raphael Cox	24	Real Salt Lake	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
16	DF	Josh Casarona	18	Deportivo Español	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
65	MF	Paco Rueda	27	La Piedad	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
17	MF	Moussa Toure	25	Fort Lauderdale Schulz Academy	Transfer	Pre-season	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
25	FW	Conor Chinn	23	Real Salt Lake	Transfer	Summer	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	NASL.com
14	MF	Nico Colaluca	25	Norrby IF	Transfer	Summer	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	NASL.com
14	GK	Eric Ati	22	Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves	Transfer	Summer	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	NASL.com

Last updated: February 2013

Out

N	Pos.	Name	Age	Moving to	Type	Transfer window	Transfer fee	Source
14	DF	Mario Pérez	29	Estudiantes Tecos	Transfer	Summer	Undisclosed	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
65	MF	Paco Rueda	27		Released	Summer	–	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
19	DF	Cristian Quiñones	19	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Loan terminated	Summer	–	NASL.com
8	FW	Emsad Zahirovic	23		Breach of contract	Summer	–	NASL.com

Last updated: February 2013

Loan in

No.	Pos.	Name	Age	Moving from	Type	Transfer window	Ends	Transfer fee	Source
9	MF	Junior Sandoval	20	Puerto Rico Islanders	Loan	Pre-season	August 12, 2011	–	AtlantaSilverbacks.com
19	DF	Cristian Quiñones	19	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Loan	Summer	2011	–	NASL.com
19	MF	Grant Kerr	26	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Loan	Summer	2011	–	NASL.com

Last updated: February 2013

Loan out

N	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Age	Moving to	Type	Transfer window	Transfer fee	Source
23	DF		Mattias Schnorf	27	SC Young Fellows Juventus	Loan	Post-season	–	AtlantaSilverbacks.com

Last updated: February 2013

References

^ "| NASL".
^ "Atlanta Silverbacks Men's Team Returns to Play in New NASL". NASL.com. December 2, 2010. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
^ "NASL Announces 2011 Regular Season Schedule". NASL.com. January 25, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
^ "Silverbacks Preseason Dates Announced". Atlanta Silverbacks. March 8, 2011. Archived from the original on August 26, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
^ "Schedule | Atlanta Silverbacks". Archived from the original on April 27, 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
^ Roberson, Doug (March 29, 2011). "Silverbacks are back". Atlanta Journal–Constitution. AJC.com. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
^ "Silverbacks Make Coaching Change". North American Soccer League. NASL.com. November 7, 2011. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
^ "NASL Standings".

[table_hth_EDM0.67274554663931-8] EDM: 8 pts; MIN: 2 pts

[1] "| NASL".

[2] "Atlanta Silverbacks Men's Team Returns to Play in New NASL". NASL.com. December 2, 2010. Retrieved February 21, 2013.

[3] "NASL Announces 2011 Regular Season Schedule". NASL.com. January 25, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2013.

[4] "Silverbacks Preseason Dates Announced". Atlanta Silverbacks. March 8, 2011. Archived from the original on August 26, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2013.

[5] "Schedule | Atlanta Silverbacks". Archived from the original on April 27, 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2011.

[6] Roberson, Doug (March 29, 2011). "Silverbacks are back". Atlanta Journal–Constitution. AJC.com. Retrieved February 18, 2012.

[7] "Silverbacks Make Coaching Change". North American Soccer League. NASL.com. November 7, 2011. Retrieved February 18, 2012.

[9] "NASL Standings".

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2011 Atlanta Silverbacks season

Contents

Background

Review

Club

Roster

Technical Staff

Competitions

Preseason

NASL

Standings

Results summary

Results by round

Match results

Statistics

Appearances and goals

Clean sheets

Disciplinary record

Transfers

In

Out

Loan in

Loan out

See also

References