First Leg Ends in a Tie
Keith Kiedrowski
a-league.com Match Reporter
Rochester
ROCHESTER, NY, September 12, 2003 – The first round of the Eastern Conference finals kicked off on a cool summer night in Rochester. Charleston came into Rochester after soundly defeating Virginia Beach in the quarter finals, while Rochester managed to best Montreal by only 1 goal.
Charleston came out on the offensive right from the start
and kept the ball in Rochester’s half of the field for the majority of the
first ten minutes. Their best shot on goal came in the 7th minute
when a header went into the side netting.
Evening out the play a little, Rochester would create
chances of their own. Lenin Steenkamp sent a shot in from long range that just
went wide. Rochester would again create
another opportunity in the 29th minute went Kirk Wilson took a shot
from long range. However, like Steenkamp’s shot his went wide of the target.
Rochester’s last chance of the first half came when Doug Miller had the ball
deep in Charleston’s side of the field, but a sliding defender managed to knock
the ball away.
The first half ended with Andracki making a one on one
save that had the crowd cheering.
As in the first half, Charleston came out on the attack
and almost made good on their threats. Andracki came off his line in the 48th
minute to take the ball off the foot of the forward who was ready to fire a
close range shot.
The rest of the chances created where by Rochester, but
none of them found their way into the net. One shot just went over the crossbar
while another forced a turned around Hudock to make an over the shoulder save
and balanced him self as to not cross the line.
In then end neither side could break the deadlock. The
series will wrap up in Charleston on Sunday at 6pm.
|
Time |
Goal Scorer & Assist |
Score |
|
|
|
|
Starting Lineups
Y = Yellow Card
R = Red Card
Rochester Raging Rhinos
Formation: 4-4-2
1 GK – Bill Andracki
6 D – Carlos Mendes
3 D – Craig Demmin
4 D – Scott Schweitzer
11 D – Bill Sedgewick
10 M – Stoian Mladenov
21 M – Kirk Wilson
12 M – David Hayes
23 M – Lenin Steenkamp
24 F – Ian Fuller
19 F – Doug Miller
Opponent
Formation: 4-4-2
1 GK – Dusty Hudock
3 D – Terry Phelan
5 D – Mart Watson
7 D – Andrew Lewis
8 D – John Wilson
17 M – Rick Titus
6 M – Ted Chronopoulos [Jackson 74’]
10 M – Chris Goos [Trout 71’]
15 M – Steve Klein
21 F – Paul Conway
20 F – Josh Henderson [Bagley 84’]
How They Fared
Here’s how we feel the Rhinos fared against Opponent:
8 = Highest, 0 = Lowest
|
Player |
Keith’s Rating |
Comments |
|
1 GK – Bill Andracki |
6 |
Made Two great
Saves but never really tested |
|
5 D – Carlos Mendes |
6 |
Solid Defense |
|
3 D – Craig Demmin |
7 |
Excellent win in
the air |
|
4 D – Scott Schweitzer |
7 |
Controlled the
back and helped setup attacks |
|
11 D – Bill Sedgewick |
6 |
Started off a
little off but came on strong at the end |
|
10 M – Stoian Mladenov |
6 |
Have seen better
play but also worse from him. Seems like an off year for him |
|
21 M – Kirk Wilson |
7 |
Hustler on and
off the ball |
|
12 M – David Hayes |
5 |
Held on to the
ball to long |
|
23 M – Lenin Steenkamp |
5 |
Too many errant
passes |
|
24 F – Ian Fuller |
6 |
Great flick ons
but no one would be in space |
|
19 F – Doug Miller |
5 |
Didn’t seem to
communicate well with Fuller. Out of position many time |
|
Coaches |
5 |
Made no
substitution despite obvious fatigue and injury |
Statistics
SHOTS:
ROC: 7
MON: 5
SAVES:
ROC: 2
MON: 2
FOULS:
ROC: 10
MON: 9
CAUTIONS/EJECTIONS:
ROC: 0/0
MON: 0/0
ATTENDANCE: 10,071