ST. LOUIS, MO (July 19, 2010) – AC St. Louis, playing in the USSF Division 2 Pro League, begin two-game East Coast road trip on Wednesday evening in Montreal, Quebec. The trip will conclude on Saturday night in Baltimore, Maryland. AC St. Louis will be playing two games in a span of just four days for the second week in a row. The club earned a 2-2 draw last week at Minnesota, but fell 2-0 at Austin two days later. St. Louis has previously beaten both Montreal and Baltimore this year, and the team knows this trip represents a chance to earn points towards a playoff push,

“Obviously Montreal will be out gunning for us,” said Head Coach Dale Schilly. “They have made some changes, they have dropped some players, and brought some new players up. Montreal is going to be tough. Baltimore I don’t know as well. This trip is a different scenario for us because our players for the first time this year are heading into two games where they know they can get points rather than try and steal points. We’ll see how we can change things up and make it work for us for these next two games.”

And change things up is what Dale Schilly will have to do since the injury bug has bit AC St. Louis again. Most notably will be the absence of forward Chris Salvaggione who sprained his left ankle on Saturday night in Austin. Salvaggione’s injury came in the opening minutes of the match against the Aztex, and ended his two-game goal-scoring streak. Also injured, but questionable for Wednesday night’s game in Montreal, is Gauchinho. The Brazilian winger was forced to miss Saturday’s Austin match due to a left groin strain. Gauchinho is on the trip and hopes to be in the lineup against the Impact.
St. Louis has a few more walking injured such as; Zach Bauer – right hamstring, Mike Ambersley – right hip abductor, Brad Stisser – right ankle sprain, and Anthony O’Garro – right knee sprain. Regardless of injury all four are on the trip and expecting to play. Midfielder Jeff Cosgriff is definitely out for the next match due his ejection from last Saturday night’s game for a handball in the opposing penalty area.

AC St. Louis enters this trip with 14 games remaining in the season, and just two games out of a playoff spot. A win, or even two, on this roadswing would not only potentially move them off the foot of the table, but also pull them close to a playoff spot. Saturday night’s game against Crystal Palace Baltimore could figure to be one of the biggest of the year since it is Baltimore that sits in fourth place for the moment. St. Louis trails them by six points, but with one game in hand they could easily make up that difference.

After this road trip St. Louis will get a much-deserved break from airports, airplanes, and buses. July 28 will see the beginning of a five game home stand that gives the club a great late season opportunity to make up some ground in the standings.

“It will be nice for everybody to have a stretch of home games,” said Schilly. “The travel is starting to wear on everybody. The guys are tired mentally and physically so it will be good to get home and play in front of a home crowd. This is a special group of guys. They play really hard and represent the community very well. It would be nice to see big crowds come out and support them while they are at home.

AC St. Louis next returns home on Saturday July 28 match against the Portland Timbers. Tickets are still available and can be obtained by calling 1-888-STL-GOAL, or by visiting www.ac-stlouis.com.

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