Baltimore MD - Crystal Palace FC USA begins a stretch of four games in nine days with a home fixture on Friday night at UMBC against Western Mass, the third encounter with the Pioneers this season. 48 hours later, the Baltimore side faces the Riverhounds in Pittsburgh to kick off a critical three game road swing. The Pioneers have hosted Palace twice this season at Lusitano Stadium, with honors even after a dramatic last-gasp 3-2 Baltimore win in the first encounter and a less-than-stellar 3-1 Palace loss in the second.  Palace’s only meeting this season with Pittsburgh was in the home opener at UMBC back in April when the Riverhounds succumbed 3-0 to the home team.

Friday night's match against Western Mass will feature a special treat for fans - the Baltimore Blast Cheerleaders will be bringing their unique energy and enthusiasm outdoors as they cheer for Palace and perform for the fans at half-time.

Palace's defeat in Cleveland was a setback in its quest to catch up with the league leaders but Co-Manager Pete Medd has faith that his players will be extra keen to return to their winning ways against the visitors tomorrow night: "We dropped the last decision in Western Mass. The Pioneers pretty much embarrassed us in that game and they weren't shy about letting us know, so that's all the motivation we need. We definitely owe them one."

Co-Manager and player Jim Cherneski looked ahead to Sunday's away fixture at Pittsburgh: "This will be our first time going up there, so we'll have to get used to the new surroundings. They have some good players, they're a dangerous club and we need to manage the team as we enter this crunch of fixtures. It's certainly not going to be easy."

Alex Ughiovhe remains the only injury worry, but a couple of other players have been away from training for other reasons: Dan Lader has been getting his National coaching certificate all week and David Feazell got married, so they probably won't be in the squad until after the Pittsburgh match. Look for Jim Cherneski to get his second start of the season against the Pioneers tomorrow.

Following Sunday's match, Palace travel to Harrisburg on Wednesday and then to league-leading Charlotte on Saturday.  The team returns to Baltimore for the derby clash with Real Maryland on Thursday July 31st , a game that will determine the winner of the inaugural DeOrsey Maryland Cup. 

Tickets for all upcoming home games can be purchased here.