Montreal Impact vs Pittsburgh Riverhounds [R]

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Final score is Montreal 2 - Pittsburgh 0. No more details are available yet.

[jonovision]

IMPACT WINS 2-0 IN PITTSBURGH

BETHEL PARK, PA, August 3, 2003 — Mauro Biello tallied his seventh goal of the season and Patrick Leduc scored on a penalty kick to lead the Montreal Impact to a 2-0 victory against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Sunday, at Bethel Park Stadium. The Montreal defense collected its ninth shutout in 22 games this season. It was goalkeeper Greg Sutton’s (photo) eighth in 20 starts.

The win pushes coach Bob Lilley’s squad back on top of Northeast Division and overall A-League standings, one point ahead of the Rochester Rhinos, who tied the Syracuse Salty Dogs 2-2, Sunday.

"Although we were tired, we played with a lot of discipline," said Lilley. "Our back four and Greg were especially sharp, but we also created some good scoring chances. Mauro is a warrior and he came up big again today, and players like Ali Ngon and Mark Rowland came off the bench and did well. Everyone stepped up to the plate."

Ali Ngon, who was acquired from the Toronto Lynx on Saturday, was sent in the game at the 73rd minute for Martin Nash.

"This is probably the game where we’ve had the most scoring chances all year," said Biello, who took five shots on net against the Hounds. "And defensively, we shut down Thiago Martins, their top scorer. It’s a big win because the Riverhounds have been beating everybody the last few weeks."

The Impact, which now has a 9-3-1 road record and is 2-1-1 against the Riverhounds this season, put an end to Pittsburgh’s six-game winning streak. The Hounds are trying to move up the Northeast Division standings in order to earn one of the two available playoff berths.

Pittsburgh played one man short as of the 47th minute, when Gary DePalma picked up his second yellow card of the night for a late tackle on Nash.

"Generally, referees are resistant to make that call, but we got a break and it did help our cause," said Lilley. "But the fact remains that we were clearly the superior team tonight and we deserved to win."

Biello scored at the 37th minute of play, assisted by Zé Roberto. The Riverhounds had several chances to clear the Brazilian midfielder’s pass, but missed, allowing Montreal’s leading scorer to take a shot from inside the penalty area that found the corner past goalkeeper Randy Dedini.

Leduc doubled the Impact’s lead at the 64th, scoring on a penalty kick like he did last Wednesday in the Can-Am Cup final. Montreal earned the PK when Zé Roberto was brought down by Brent Jacquette in the penalty area.

The Impact will be back at Claude Robillard Stadium this Wednesday as the Vancouver Whitecaps will be the visitors (7:30 pm, CKAC). The match-up will also count in Voyageurs Cup standings.

SOMMAIRE/GAME SUMMARY

Impact de Montréal 2

Pittsburgh Riverhounds 0

Bethel Park Stadium

Bethel Park, Pennsylvania

Buteurs/Goal scorers:

37: MTL Mauro Biello (Zé Roberto)

64: MTL Patrick Leduc (PK)

Formations partantes/Starting line-ups

MTL: Greg Sutton, Nevio Pizzolitto, Gabriel Gervais, Lloyd Barker, David Fronimadis (Chris Williams 57), Nick DeSantis, Zé Roberto, Patrick Leduc, Antonio Ribeiro (Mark Rowland 70), Mauro Biello, Martin Nash (Ali Ngon 73).

PIT: Randy Dedini, Michael Green (Jaman Tripoli 69), David Wright, Tim Glowienka (Matthew Chulis 53), Gary DePalma, Brent Jacquette, Justin Evans, David Flavius (Joey Worthen 60), Ricardo Villar, Thiago Martins, Corey Woolfolk (Aleksey Korol 45).

MTL : PIT

Buts/Goals – 2:0

Tirs/Shots – 10:3

Arrêts/Saves – 2:8

Fautes/Fouls – 18:18

Hors-jeux/Offsides – 1:2

Corners – 5:3

Avert./Cautions – MTL Biello (44) PIT: DePalma (37, 47), Villar (40)

Expul./Ejection — PIT DePalma (47)

Assist./Attend.:

1852

Arbitre/Referee

Joe Caroccio

Juges de touche/Linesmen

C.J. Morgante, Michael Toole

4e officiel/4th official

James Thomson

-30-

SOURCE:

bcomm

INFO:

Stéphane Banfi

514-328-3668 (ext. 27)