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Eagles likely will have a temporary summer nest

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Jun 20, 2019

Telegraph fle photo by TOM KING Construction at Rivier University has left the home schedule for top forward Quincy Appah, right, and the Nashua Eagles/ISC up in the air, although it looks now as if they will play their home schedule this summer at Manchester Memorial beginning June 29.

NASHUA – The Eagles are still looking for a local nest this summer.

Nothing has gone according to plan for the Eagles of the International Soccer Club of Nashua, the top-level amateur soccer team in the area and United Premiere Soccer League franchise.

And that’s either on or off the field for the second-year franchise.

The Eagles, forced to be on the road for the first five games of the season thanks to the $4.5 million renovation of Rivier University’s rectangular/softball facility, will likely now be unable to play there this season while that work is being completed in the next couple of months to be ready for the 2019-20 school year.

Instead, their likely temporary home wil instead be the turfed field at Manchester Memorial High School.

But that’s not the reason the Eagles won’t be able to have their home opener this Saturday as scheduled. Their slated opponent, Boston Seige, has apparently folded, leaving the Eagles idle this weekend. Instead, they will have their first “home” game next Saturday, June 29, at 2 p.m. at Memorial vs. Astoria FC of Brooklyn, N.Y.

And on the field, things haven’t gone all that well, either, as the locals sport a 1-4 record, now in last place in the UPSL’s Northeast Conference’s Patriot Division now that Seige has folded.

“It was a bit of a surprise,” Eagles co-owner and director of operations Jared Barbosa said. “It’s kind of one of those things. Amateur soccer is a tough business to say the least. It (a fold) happens, but you just have to have faith.”

And Barbosa has plenty of that, given the depth of the ISC of Nashua’s depth of teams at all age levels and grasp on the local soccer community.

Barbosa was optimistic the Eagles could play at Rivier this summer but as time went on, those chances diminished.

Signs months ago pointed to possible late June home games, but that just wasn’t possible as the facility, which the Raiders lacrosse teams used during the spring, is completely blocked off for construction, including the area around the Muldoon Center.

Barbosa was hopeful.

“We expected if we went in there it wouldn’t be completely done,” Barbosa said. “There’s still be work being done, but they weren’t doing anything to the turf. … They’re moving relatively quickly, and they have have to get their college seasons in (in the fall)

“Those things happen. Delays occur. … Rivier has been awesome with us and for us. Everything has been optimistic, it might just work, it might just work, but if there’s too much going on there … We don’t want to force it.”

But Barbosa says that playing in Nashua is priority number one for his franchise. The Eagles aren’t able to use Stellos Stadium because that is earmarked by city designation for youth sports only. And they can’t use the high school fields at either North or South because of league stadium requirements/standards.

The flip side? When the facility is ready, next season the Eagles, assuming they will remain at Rivier, will have one of the best facilities in the UPSL.

“It was really important for me and important for the club to try to stay in Nashua,” Barbosa said. “I just think that’s where, in terms of the amateur game, that’s where other teams struggle. They have fields, but they move their home field a lot. So it’s hard to kind of rebuild that sort of support. You’ve got a team out of Peabody, but you’re playing in Lawrence.”

The Eagles had a direct contact with Manchester Memorial, so they jumped at the chance to use it as Plan B.

“It’s unfortunate, but it’s 100 percent expected,” Barbosa said. “The future is bright. But we want to stay in Nashua (in the future). We’re 100 percent committed (to Nashua).”

The Eagles overcame bad weather in their inauguaral season to have a couple of well attended home outings at Raider Field and get some much needed exposure. However, exposure this season has been quite minimal, simply because the team hasn’t been around.

“We’re definitely not at the level of the Silver Knights (Nashua’s Futures Collegiate Baseball League franchise),” Barbosa said, noting he’s spoken with the Knights in the past on how to promote the Eagles brand. “I guess commercially speaking, it’s unfortunate.

“I would say honestly this isn’t hurting that much. And the reason I say that is because of our youth.”

Meaning that the ISC of Nashua has the pulse of the soccer community, all the way down to the youth levels it controls.

“It’s a timing thing,” Barbosa said. “When we start branching out, once that home is done and as beautiful as Rivier is going to be, now there’s a home. And we can really kind of build from there.”

And, as Barbosa said, other organizations in the UPSL “are travelling to their home games. It’s hard to bring in a fan base.”

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Barbosa said that the 1-4 start is one of the offshoots of not being able to play at home.

“I think anybody can say when you start a season five games in a row on the road, just recently coming back from playing in New York, it’s tough,” Barbosa said. “It’s tough to get it going, to get momentum going when you’re traveling. It’s funny to think I think sometimes people underestimate it.

“If you’re not in it, you tend to underestimate the fact of traveling. It really does play a role in performance and fluidity of things. We definitely much prefer an away-home, off and on (schedule).”

The Eagles lost their latest contest last weekend to Astroia in Brooklyn, N.Y., 3-1. Another long trip, outside of the Boston area, was to play HartfordAlso contributing to the slow start is a groing injury to their best player, last year’s leading scorer Quincy Appah. “It’s been a nagging injury for the last three weeks.”

The Eagles called up forward Josh Fishera, a Salem native, from their U-19 team and lower level adult team. In one day, he scored two goals for the U19 squad and a hat trick for the minor league squad.

“He’s stepped up that role (of Appah), but of course we haven’t had a lot of success putting the ball in the back of the net. He’s played well as a young player.”

Emmanuel Smith is the Eagles’ leading scorer with two goals. In goal, Nashua’s own Chris Jiminez has played the bulk of the time as last year’s starter, Kyle Connely, has been unavailable due to a couple of personal commitments.

“Jiminez is doing a good job, he’s doing what he can do as a keeper,” Barbosa said, noting that the Eagles have either been backed up in their own end or have wasted some scoring opportunities.

“When you get those opportunities, you have to put them away,” he said. “The other team is still fighting, still coming.”

Not helping is the fact a couple of key defenders are out, too – Jarod Rouleau (formerly of Merrimack College) and Hugh Townsend (formerly of SNHU). They are expected, especially Rouleau, who has been in England, to be back for the upcoming stretch of home games.

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Barbosa said the International SC is starting up two girls teams on the youth level, but future plans include a top amateur women’s team, comparable to the Eagles.

“That is definitely in our vision in the next few years,” Barbosa said. “That’s another timing thing. Amateur wise, you don’t see a lot of girls/women’s teams.”

But Barbosa is optimistic the entire club will contribute to the top men’s team’s popularity. “We have over 250 families involved in our club in some way, shape or form,” he said. “That’s playing with our travel teams, etc. All of our teams that can qualify for the New Hsmpshire Soccer League state tournament have qualified.”

Now all they need is to get entrenched in Nashua, because Year Two seems to be a wash.

“It’s like any business,” Barbosa said. “Some years you have you good ones, and other years you have to work harder, too.”

And having this week off, Barbosa said, “gives is time to decide where we want to play the rest of our games.

“You’r taking one step back to take two for the next year. I’m super excited what we’re doing as an organization as a whole. The IOC (Eagles) stuff is something that will get better in time.”

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