USL D1 - August 20 - Toronto vs Rochester [R]

[Rocket Robin]

Result of the Sunday August 20th, 2006 USL game between Toronto Lynx and Rochester Raging Rhinos played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke at 6:00pm.

4 min…Lynx RED card…Gordon Chin…A pushing match breaks out at the center line between a few players. Chin earns the direct ejection from referee Paul Ward for a head butt (we had to thank officials’ assessor Gord Arrowsmith for seeing that as it fooled everyone else). Rhinos Aaran Lines earned a Yellow card for his part in the shoving match.

20 min…Lynx Kevin Jeffrey GOAL…Lynx Matt Palleschi sends pass from 30 yards to right and charging Jeffrey gets ball at 25 yards and takes 12 yard shot from the right that’s low and into left side of net under sprawling goalie Scott Vallow.

56 min…Rhinos Aaran Lines GOAL…After ball is knocked around the Lynx box including defender Andres Arango making save off the goal line, Lines lobs a 12 yard shot up middle and through the crowd of players into the center of net over fallen goalie Theo Zagar.

Final Score:……Toronto Lynx……….1…………Rochester Raging Rhinos……….1………

Attendance was announced as 1054 (but looked like 700) on this warm overcast evening. The threat of rain may have cut into the walk up crowd.

I’d say the Lynx easily played their best game of the season but I wouldn’t have expected that after I groaned when I saw they’d be a man down for the last 86 minutes of the game! They actually looked better than the Rhinos in the first half and Zagar didn’t have any difficult saves to make until the second half.

At 8 minutes Chris Williams crossed from 12 yards on the right and Jamie Dodds not quite able to turn a header. A minute later Rhino defender Frankie SanFilippo had to slide back to break up a 2 on 1 Lynx rush in their box. Robbie Aristodemo took most of the early corners and free kicks and one at the 13 minutes mark had his 30 yard attempt headed by a leaping Andres Arango from 7 yards that was directly to the goalie for an easy catch. Kevin Jeffrey blasted a 22 yarder just over the net when he picked up a partial clearance at 16 minutes. At 25 minutes Marko Bedenikovic cross from 35 yards that has the ball touched and David DiPlacido blast a 25 yarder that deflects over the net after hitting a defender. At 31 minutes Palleschi’s rush up the left has his cross from 20 yards caught by the goalie. Bedenikovic took a 20 yard freekick that was just over the bar at 38 minutes. One last Lynx attempt at 43 minutes had Kevin Jeffrey giving a ball wide right to Palleschi and he ran in and crossed from the right end line but over the head of Jeffrey.

Rhinos chances in the first half consisted of Kenny Bertz take a long throw-in (as he did much of the game) from the left that had Aaran Lines blast a 25 yard shot up the middle just wide right after a partial clearance at just 3 minutes. At 7 minutes John Ball took a cornerkick from the left that had Greg Howes not quite able to turn a header. At 18 minutes Ball crossed from near the right end line and the sliding Howes miss connecting near the left post. At 26 minutes Nate Craft’s 25 yard blast from the left has the shot just wide right of post. At 32 minutes Bertz on one of his throw-ins from the left is into the Lynx box and Christopher Bagley heads 7 yarder wide right.

In the second half, the Lynx used a timely maximum five substitutions throughout and didn’t have any let up in speed or performance. At 48 minutes, the Lynx had one of their best chances when Chris Williams crossed from the right and the ball was knocked down and a Rhino defender blasts the ball off Kevin Jeffrey had it ricochet just yard wide of the right post. Rhinos Mike Ambersley took a 30 yard shot that was batted down by Zagar and picked up. That was just a minute before their goal. They almost scored again at 61 minutes but Rhinos Nate Craft ended the pressure by shooting over the net from 30 yards on a partial clearance. A charging David DiPlacido got his body to a Jamie Dodds cross from the left but the defenders clear. Kevin Jeffrey took a 40 yard freekick from the right that had the goalie miss when he crashed with Shawn Faria but the ball was wide left. At 74 minutes, Zagar made the save of the game when Kenney Bertz crossed in from 15 yards on the left and Christopher Bagley’s 5 yard shot was stopped point blank by the flying goalie. In the same minute, John Ball’s cornerkick from the left has the ball knocked around even with Ball getting to it but Scott Palguta head a 10 yarder over the net. At 85 minutes Dodds took a 40 yard freekick up middle that had Damien Pottinger head a 15 yarder that was caught by the goalie. At 89 minutes, Lynx Chris Williams rushed through two defenders on the right and his low cross had Pottinger grabbed in box on right post but the ball bounces through the box untouched.

This is the third meeting in a row where the Lynx have tied the Rhinos 1-1 after their 2-0 loss in their home opener. Rhinos move one point ahead of Charleston and Vancouver for 2nd place but with games in hand on those teams. Lynx should be proud of today’s result because of the circumstances but their first 11 game start to the season where they couldn’t win means they are now pretty much out of a playoff position despite a long home stand starting now.

The Lynx introduced their third kit which is a neon green long sleeved shirt (looking like the kind of golf balls I used to use when I still played that game) with everything else black. That may be why Jamie Dodds wore number ‘25’ tonight.

Rocket Robin

robing@eol.ca

[L.T.]

The Lynx played a strong, entertaining game (surprise!)

Man of the Match was Jamie Dodds (by far, in my opinion)

I saw the head butt - unnecessary and pretty much unprovoked - Chin cost his team big for absolutely no reason.

[SeanKeay]

Doddsy is getting better by the game.. it will be a total shame if he and arrango do not play for TFC next year. Those two are the class of the team... not that that is saying much but they are two VERY talented individuals