BAYAMON, PR – The Puerto Rico Islanders may have played their best game yet, but their total lack of goal-scoring capacity doomed them once again.
Despite taking the initiative and creating more chances, the Islanders suffered their seventh loss of the season at the hands of the Rochester Raging Rhinos by a score of 1-0 on Thursday night.
Puerto Rico out shot Rochester 15-7 in the game and 9-3 in just the first half, but Rochester won on the only stat that matters: goals.
The game started with both teams being very active on the offensive front. Within the first two minutes Ryan Trout of Rochester and Alexis Rivera of the Islanders had scoring opportunities.
The Islanders were in desperate need for a win and continued their attack on Theo Zagar’s goal. In the 8th minute Luis Fernando Zuleta tested Zagar’s reflexes with his shot from about 25 to 30 yards out. The Rhino goalkeeper made a great stretching save.
During most of the first half, the Islanders dominated play thanks to the control and organization skills of midfielder Ricardo Alcerro; and had most of the scoring chances.
The big problem with the Islanders is that they have no true scorers. Clyde Geffrard tried his best in a lackluster performance.
It is the same old story, where they do not score and they pay the price.
They did in the 44th minute. Shaun Tsakiris of Rochester passed to Corey Woolfolk, who had entered the field just twenty minutes earlier. Whether it was because of the whistle blown from the crowd or the thought that the Rhino attacker might have been offside, the Islander defenders paused and allowed Woolfolk to beat goalkeeper Andrew Nucifora over his head.
The crowd and the players were stunned, but Woolfolk’s score counted.
This goal brought down the Islanders psychologically. The team came out flat in the second half and Chris Carrieri of the Raging Rhinos almost scored the 2-0 in the 47th minute. His free kick from around 30 yards would hit the crossbar.
The Islanders eventually picked up the tempo and moved forward in search of the equalizer, but by midway through the second half the Rochester Raging Rhinos stacked up defenders and closed all spaces.
Nevertheless, the Islanders came close on a couple of corner kicks; with Clyde Geffrard and Carlos Astondoa both missing by inches on headers.
PR: Nucifora, Zuleta, Novarini, Gores, A. Rivera, Alcerro (Astondoa 82’), Ortiz, Juninho (Nieves 74’), Zapata, Mauricio, and Geffrard (Mourelo 82’)
RRR: Zagar, Demmin, Sedgewick, Wright, J. Wilson (Mendes 91’), Tsakiris (Neto 45’), Trout (Steenkamp 45’), K. Wilson (Delgado 64’), Fuller, Carrieri, and Miller (Woolfolk 24’)
GOALS:
44’ Woolfolk, RRR 1-0
Yellow Cards:
67’ Juninho (PR)
