Rochester Clinches Playoff Spot

Keith Kiedrowski,
a-league.com Match Reporter
Rochester

ROCHESTER, NY, August 24, 2003 – On a cool in Rochester, the Rhinos and Kickers were both playing for their playoff lives. In order to keep their playoff destiny in their hands Rochester needed to win and Richmond needed the points to catch the second place Virginia Beach Mariners.

With no lead safe with Rochester’s questionable defense of late, Richmond fielded 4 forwards, in a hope to continually press the defense and test Rochester’s young goalie, Soren Johnson.

With the exception of a few new faces, Rochester stuck with their standard formation and took control from the starting whistle. A few close offside calls and last ditch defensive efforts by Richmond kept the Rhinos from scoring quickly. However, with an odd formation in use, Richmond seemed confused and often left Rochester’s outside midfielders unmarked. A long crossing ball was sent to a wide open David Hayes who sent the ball immediately to Kirk Wilson. The defender who had come to challenge Hayes was left flat footed as Hayes ran past him and onto a through ball sent in by Wilson. With only the goalie to beat, Hayes placed his shot just out of the keeper’s reach on the far side.

Rochester continued to press for the rest of the half and Richmond reorganized enough to counter and save any opportunity the Rhinos created. With 5 minutes left in the half, Richmond again was caught off guard. Once again Wilson would send in a beautiful through ball and Doug Miller was able to beat all the defenders to the ball. Gaining control he dribbled to the end line and sent in a hard angle shot that found its way past Richmond’s defense and keeper.

The second half would be much different from the first as Richmond came out knowing that their playoff hopes were dim and they need to score quickly. The majority of the flow of the game was dictated by Richmond but they could get nothing past Rochester’s defense. What shots they had were gobbled up by Johnson.

Rochester did muster some offense and once again caught Richmond out of position. In the 53^rd minute Hayes sent in a ball from the corner to an unmarked Ian Fuller, who only had to redirect the shot into the mostly open net.

With the game apparently in hand and only around 20 minutes of regulation time left, Rochester began to fall back. The substitutions made gave Rochester a more defensive posture in hopes of protecting their 3 goal lead. This would prove costly.

In the 77^th minute Paul Lekics dribbled past Rochester’s defense and pulled his team to within sticking distance of Rochester. Again counting on defense Rochester mounted little offensive threat for the remainder of the game and in the 85^th minute they would begin to sweat.

Of a set play Knight was able to get one past Johnson to pull Richmond to within one goal. Rochester had seen leads evaporate before their eyes before but none could be as costly as this.

Despite continued attack and pressure, Rochester was able to hold on to their lead and assure their post season birth while Richmond could only look towards next season.

Time	Goal Scorer & Assist	Score
19’	Hayes [Wilson]	Roch 1 – Rich 0
40’	Miller [Wilson]	Roch 2 – Rich 0
53’	Fuller [Hayes]	Roch 3 – Rich 0
77’	Lekics [Ukrop]	Roch 3 – Rich 1
85’	Knight [Williams]	Roch 3 – Rich 2

Starting Lineups

Y = Yellow Card

R = Red Card

Rochester Raging Rhinos

Formation: 4-4-2

25 GK – Soren Johnson

3 D – Craig Demmin

4 D – Scott Schweitzer

6 D – Carlos Mendes

11 D – Bill Sedgewick

10 M – Stoian Mladenov [Lavrinenko 80’]

21 M – Kirk Wilson [Mitchell 90’]

12 M – David Hayes

23 M – Lenin Steenkamp

24 F – Ian Fuller (y) [Valencia 65’] [Dinunzio 87’]

19 F – Doug Miller [Suarez 73’]

Opponent

Formation: 4-2-4

22 GK – Ronnie Pascale

3 D – Kevin Knight

5 D – Chris Fox (y) [Stockton 90’]

20 D – Matt Bobo

25 D – Peter Luzak

7 M – Jason Russell [Goodlett 83’]

9 M – Paul Lekics

6 F – Rob Ukrop

16 F – Greg Simmons [Williams 57’]

10 F – Kevin Jeffery

23 F – David Testo

How They Fared

Here’s how we feel the Rhinos fared against Richmond:

8 = Highest, 0 = Lowest

Player	Keith’s Rating	Comments
25 GK – Soren Johnson	6	Two goals can be placed on lack of defense. Great saves for most of the match
3 D – Craig Demmin	6	Solid presence
4 D – Scott Schweitzer	6	Steady and good clearance of the ball
6 D – Carlos Mendes	6	World class effort
11 D – Bill Sedgewick	6	Great added pressure when pulling up
10 M – Stoian Mladenov	5	Seemed a non factor
21 M – Kirk Wilson	8	Two assists and never quits
12 M – David Hayes	8	Has gotten over his dribble happy ways and was key to the victory
23 M – Lenin Steenkamp	6	Missed a few shots and had some saved. Decent added presence up top
24 F – Ian Fuller	8	Excellent work Rate and great positioning
19 F – Doug Miller	8	Missed or miscued a few great chances but did score a great goal at a very tough angle
Coaches	3	Have yet to realize that they cannot sit on a lead. Rely too heavily on an aging and slower derfense

Statistics

SHOTS:

ROC: 9

RICH: 12

SAVES:

ROC: 8

RICH: 2

FOULS:

ROC: 20

RICH: 19

CAUTIONS/EJECTIONS:

ROC: 2/0

RICH: 2/0

ATTENDANCE: 12,622