Commodore, a former Rhinos player, scored his seventh of the season. While he was at the right of Rochester’s net, he trapped a cross from Vincello with his chest and placed a shot in the top left corner, leaving goalkeeper Theo Zagar with no chance to make the save. Commodore, the Impact’s leading scorer, had come in at the half for Joel Bailey.
"I feel great. For the last couple of games I hadn’t done so well, so it was important for me to prove I could come back strong," said Commodore. "And against my former team, I wanted to show that I could score some goals."
"Fred showed a lot of character after a couple of games were things didn’t go as well for him," said Impact head coach Nick DeSantis. "He told me that this game, he would be ready to play."
Impact goalkeeper Greg Sutton picked up his 11th shutout of the season, which ties his personal best, established last year. He is only two away from the club record of 13 in a season, set by Paolo Ceccarelli in 1996.
Sutton came up big at the 75th minute, diving to his left to stop a header by David Wright. At the 29th minute, on a throw-in, the ball ended up at Corey Woolfolk’s feet, in excellent position, but the Rochester striker was only able to tap it, for an easy save by Sutton. His defence helped out as well at the 15th, deflecting a shot by Craig Demmin from the top of the box just wide of his net.
The Impact, which beat the Rhinos 1-0 Wednesday in Montreal, therefore swept the home-and-home series played this week against its greatest rivals. It was the Montreal club’s third win in its last four games played in Rochester. The victory also put an end to a two-game losing streak on the road. The Montreal players have a 7-2-2 away record so far this season.
"It was only a question of time until things turned around because we were playing so well," added DeSantis. "We knew we’d come out of it, and tonight we proved it by beating one of the best teams in the league. We kept pressuring them and they had no solutions."
The win allows the Montreal club to take sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference, three points ahead of the Rhinos and the Atlanta Silverbacks, and four points ahead of the Richmond Kickers. The Silverbacks will face the Kickers on Saturday, while the Rhinos will be hosting the Charleston Battery, Sunday.
Another home-and-home series will follow next week, as DeSantis’s squad will host the Syracuse Salty Dogs at Claude Robillard Stadium on Wednesday (7:30 pm, RDS, CKAC), and then face the same opponent in Syracuse, on Friday, July 16 (7:30 pm, CJAD, CKAC).
The Impact announced before the game that midfielder Adrian Cann had been added to the roster. This 23-year-old Canadian from Thornhill, Ontario was the Montreal club’s first draft pick on December 17, 2003. He was recently released by the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer.
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SOURCE:
bcomm
INFO:
Stéphane Banfi
514-328-3668 (ext. 27)
