Richmond, VA – (Tuesday, July 22, 2008) –The Richmond Kickers Future of the Premier Development League battled the Northern Virginia Royals to a 2-2 draw on the road on Friday, July 18th to conclude the 2008 campaign. Although the Future finished in the Mid-Atlantic Division standings basement, they rallied to a 2-8-6 record this season, drawing the division-leading Reading Rage during their final home match-up.
Most recently, the Future posted a 2-2 tie in Northern Virginia when midfielder Scott Robertson connected with Andy McIntosh to take an early lead in the 11th minute. McIntosh struck seven minutes later, this time on a Bobby Fogelsong assist, to double the score. The Royals retaliated before the end of the first half to close the margin on an AJ Sheta tally in the 37th minute. Soon after, the Future were left with just 10 men when McIntosh earned a red card ejection, minutes before the break. Despite the disadvantage, Future goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra posted eight saves to hold the lead until seven minutes remaining in regulation, when he could not stop the game-tying goal by James Strong.
The Future notched their first win of the season on June 21st, in a 2-1 affair against the Virginia Legacy. Later in the season, they knocked off one of the division-leaders, Fredericksburg Gunners, with a last-second tally by midfielder Boris Gatzky. The only Future player to be named to the PDL Team of the Week, Gatzky finished second on the team with five goals and one assist for 11 points. Player/assistant coach McIntosh led the attack with two more assists for a total of 13 points while Dykstra protected the nets during 13 games, recording one shutout and posting a 1.64 goals against average.
The Future missed post-season contention this year as just the three division champions in the Eastern Conference and the top-seeded second-place club (wild card) advance to the conference championship tournament, to be held this weekend, July 25th-27th. The winner of the conference championship advances to the PDL Semifinals, August 1st-2nd. The PDL Championship will be determined Saturday, August 9th. All playoff hosts are determined via a bid process.
