August 21, 2005 USL Toronto Lynx vs Puerto Rico

[Rocket Robin]

(from the Cybermax internet cafe in North York)

Result of the Sunday August 21st, 2005 USL game between Toronto Lynx and Puerto Rico Islanders played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke at 6:00pm.

51 min...Lynx Huffman Eja-Tabe GOAL...Lynx Robbie Aristodemo sent in

cross from right and Lynx Said Ali at left post heads ball down from 3 yards to Eja-Tabe who hits low 6 yard shot to right side of net behind goalie Dan Kennedy.

88 min...Islanders Corey Woolfolk GOAL...Islanders Peter Villegas (?) takes quick freekick from center near right sideline that finds way to edge of box where Woolfolk gets ball between Lynx defenders and chips 7 yarder over sprawling goalie Theo Zagar into center of net.

Final Score:.....Toronto Lynx......1......Puerto Rico Islanders.....1..

Attendance wasn't announced but given in the press box as 2638. The stands weren't completely full but there were a lot of kids on the far side berne that would have completely packed the stands so I'd estimate a good 2000. There had been a good well organized soccer youth day for much of the afternoon.

Lynx couldn't hold the lead again this game against the Islanders. That game had the Lynx still celebrating their 'winning' goal after coming back from behind 3-1 and taking a 4-3 lead with two minutes to go only to have Islanders tie it back up with one minute to go.

This game was different in that there were fewer chances and the Lynx were strong defensively and moved the ball around much better

(as they have their last few games). The Islanders had more chances in the last 15 minutes when the Lynx were hanging on. Even after the tying goal Islanders Drew McAthey had an 8 yard shot deflect to Zagar and a minute later Sebastian Rozental had a low 15 yard roller through a crowd of players caught by a diving Zagar. The Islanders had played Sunday, Wednesday, Friday and today so they should have been tiring but they pulled the stops to keep the chances coming. Hugo Maradonna (brother of Diego) is still the head coach as this team tries to catch the sixth and final playoff place. Hmmm their two final games of the season are home dates against the Lynx!

I cast my media vote for Lynx player of the year for Jamie Dodds. He's currently suspended by the league so was not in today's game. Wyn Belotte was not in the lineup either. The starting forwards were Said Ali and Robbie Aristodemo who was pushed up from his midfield winger roll. He handled the majority of the cornerkicks. Joe Mattacchione took the long freekicks.

The flag flap that got the Voyageurs upset the last time the Islanders were here was solved by doing with just the double sized Puerto Rican flag on one flagpole and the Canadian flag on the other pole at the center field as well as the Canadian flag in the north endzone. No American flag today but there were three anthems played before the game.

Rocket Robin

robing@eol.ca

[Rocket Robin]

Hey 26 people have read this between me botching up and sending just the title before I'd even ended up composing the body of the report.

That's a lot of folks still care for a Lynx result this late in the season.

Never anything like getting halfway through it and suddenly the keyboard switching to either Chinese or Korean! I'm not used to using an internet cafe.

[Daniel]

Damn, another loss of points against PR!

[Gian-Luca]

You missed the top story of the game - Assistant Coach Lyndon Hooper came off the bench to play for the Lynx in this game! First an ex-Lynx player plays in Goal in the English Championship League, then the next day a ex-Lynx ex-Ottawa Intrepid player from the inaugural CSL season comes off the coaching staff to play for the Lynx again.

Apparently we are signing Trevor McCallum to help shore up the back line, and Pasquale Di Luca is also coming back.

[dbailey62]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

You missed the top story of the game - Assistant Coach Lyndon Hooper came off the bench to play for the Lynx in this game! First an ex-Lynx player plays in Goal in the English Championship League, then the next day a ex-Lynx ex-Ottawa Intrepid player from the inaugural CSL season comes off the coaching staff to play for the Lynx again.

Apparently we are signing Trevor McCallum to help shore up the back line, and Pasquale Di Luca is also coming back.

Charlie Falzon still plays for Metro Ambulance. Sign him up!

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by Sigma

I always enjoyed watching Lyndon Hooper play. How old is he now? 38?

I think he's actually 39 or 40.

I was always a Lyndon Hooper fan as well. We cheered wildly for his appearance on the field, shouting "Hoop There it is!" over and over again.

But as great as that was, this says something else about the Lynx organization.

[Gian-Luca]

And that tying goal was as good as a winning goal since it gave us the lead in the aggregate at the time. Too bad we let in the aggregate equalizer (and allowed Australia to score on an own goal in the first leg back in Edmonton) after that and then lost on penalties.

That was an exciting game, I can remember staying up quite late to watch it live.

[zacRWE]

Hoop played! Why did Tom not tell me this when I called!!!!

Luca, how did he look?

[Gian-Luca]

He looked good actually, like a little terrier in a d-mid role. He was wrongly called for a couple of fouls and gave the ref an earful from the field this time, instead of the bench. He wasn't to blame for the tying goal (whoever was supposed to be helping Arango cover in central defense gets the goat horns there - defending a lead late and we ask him to cover two players all by himself).