‘Tiger’ bares fangs for Atlanta in A-League

EX-TRINIDAD and Tobago and St Mary’s star footballer Leslie “Tiger” Fitzpatrick is making a big splash in the United States A-League. To date, Fitzpatrick has won two “Man-of-the-Match” awards in leading the Atlanta Silverbacks to second position in the league with 15 points — five victories in a row in six matches. Playing in the unusual position as a defensive left midfielder, Fitzpatrick still managed to score two goals for his team.

And he has both management and fans in jubilant mood lifting the Silverbacks who finished last in the league last season. Fitzpatrick earned his first “Man-of-the-Match” award when the Silverbacks played defending champions Charleston, and then against Rochester when he scored his first goal of the season. He was also instrumental in his team’s 2-1 victory over Syracuse in a match  televised live on cable televisioin channel Fox Sports, when he lashed in a powerful left-footed free-kick which led to the winning goal.

In another match last Sunday, Fitzpatrick who is only in his first month with his team, the Silverbacks edged Toronto Lynx 1-0 to be joint second with Rochester. Prior to joining the Silverbacks, Fitzpatrick was with Colombus Stars of Ohio, and trained alongside United States World Cup stars Brian McBride, Jeff Cunningham, the current scoring leader in Major League Soccer (MLS) and Frank Hedjuk. The “Tiger” also played alongside Honduran striker Alex Pineda Chacon and Bulgarian Velco Iotov at Columbus Stars. During his collegiate career, the 20-year-old “Tiger” helped turn things around for Columbia University “Lions” in the Ivy-League.