Five years ago, Clipper Magazine Stadium was built for baseball and during the first half-decade, it hosted concerts and an outdoor ice rink.
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Thursday night, while the Lancaster Barnstormers visited Long Island, their home on Prince Street went from hosting America's pastime to hosting the world's pastime.
And in the first soccer game in stadium history, Crystal Palace F.C. topped Harrisburg City Islanders 3-1 in an international friendly.
With a little work from the grounds crew, parts of the infield and warning track were covered with sod to fit a regulation size soccer field that stretched across the outfield from deep left field to the Barnstormers' bullpen in right. An announced crowd of 5,099 was on hand and filled the seats behind the third base dugout and were scattered throughout the rest of the seating bowl and lawn seats in left field.
Among the fans were a group of Crystal Palace supporters, including some who followed the team overseas for their two-game U.S. exhibition schedule.
Will Block, of Chester Springs, moved to the United States from England in 2000, and was among the supporters providing vocal support for Crystal Palace and giving the match a little bit of a European feel.
"For me it's all about the camaraderie with your mates," Block said. "Having a laugh, a few beers, singing songs, being loud."
Block and his fellow Crystal Palace supporters had plenty to be loud about, joining the stadium sound system to sing along with The Dave Clark Five's "Glad All Over" after each of the team's three first-half goals.
Harrisburg battled Crystal Palace to a 0-0 tie deep into the first half before Freddie Sears slipped a shot past Harrisburg keeper Tomer Chencinski in the 34th minute to make it 1-0.
Moments later, Darren Ambrose scored on a strike from 20 yards out to double the lead and Neil Danns added one in 45th minute off a pass from Danny Butterfield to make it 3-0 entering halftime.
"I thought we were okay until we gave up the goal," Harrisburg head coach Bill Becher said. "We gave up the goal and had a little bit of a let down. We had a bad 15 minutes and made some mistakes and they punished us and that's what teams at higher levels will do to you."
Harrisburg would get on the board in the second half, when Brandon Swartzendruber fired a shot past Palace keeper Julian Speroni.
Overall, the City Islanders seemed to enjoy the experience of playing an international squad for the first time in franchise history.
"We're at the top of the USL-2 so as a team its great to get a comparison," said Kai Kasiguran, who played his college soccer at Messiah and spent last with the reserve squad of the MLS's Chicago Fire.
"Crystal Palace is in their preseason, they're a great side and they beat us 3-1. They taught us a lesson in a lot of ways. But at the same time, we can walk away with some confidence. We played a European team in the second division and we did okay ... We won the second half.
"We're not happy with the loss. But in the big picture its great for the sport of soccer to get this many fans out watching a European club and a local team."
And Becher sees the benefits of a game like Thursday's for his club. The City Islanders are tied with the Richmond Kickers atop the USL Second Division and they continue the regular season with a home game Saturday against Pittsburgh Riverhounds at 7:05 p.m. on City Island.
"I think its good for the players to see teams of this caliber," Becher said. "It's good to see their professionalism, to see the way they play and hopefully we learn some things from it."
Notes: The Mennonite Central Committee was collecting soccer balls before the game to send to southern Sudan. According to Larry Guengerich of MCC, all three teams donated balls and over 50 were collected to be sent to Africa.
E-mail: wwelliver@lnpnews.com
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