The match-up, the first of a six-game home stand for Montreal, was played in front of 9,425 spectators at Claude Robillard Sports Complex. It was the fifth time in eight home games this season that more than 9,000 people were in attendance.
Greg Sutton collected his 13th shutout in 20 starts season, allowing him to tie the club record set by Paolo Ceccarelli in 1996, in 26 games. The Montreal goalkeeper had a relatively busy night as Charleston had the edge 9-7 in shots and 7-3 in corner kicks.
Collectively, the Impact now has shut out the opponent 14 times this season, including Andrew Olivieri’s shutout. The team record on that front is 15. It was established in 1997 by Ceccarelli (10), Peter Zaratin (3) and Ricky Tangredi (2).
“It was a tough game because there were certain stretches with little action, and then suddenly a lot of traffic in the box. But the team played extremely well defensively, and offensively as well,” said Sutton.
“They were looking to close us down and they were very well organized defensively, so we knew it would be tough to find openings,” pointed out Grande. “It’s always hard to score the first goal in games like these. But once you score, the play often opens up, and that’s what happened tonight.”
After taking a pass from Antonio Ribeiro, Grande shot a bullet from close to 30 yards out that went through the Charleston defensive line and ended up in the top corner, to the right of goalkeeper Chris Doyle. It was his fourth goal of the season.
Sebrango then collected his sixth of the season, his fourth in his last five games. Mauro Biello, deep in the Battery zone on the right side, placed the ball at the goal mouth, where Sebrango redirected it in a partially empty net.
The win gives coach Nick DeSantis’ squad a six-point lead over the Rochester Rhinos on top of the Eastern Conference standings. The Impact, which put an end to a busy stretch of nine games in 27 days in July with a record of 5-4-0, now has a 5-1-2 record in Montreal.
“I liked the fact that again tonight, we dictated the pace of the game,” said DeSantis. “That’s what we want. We want opposing teams to know that when they come to Montreal, they’re going to have a hard time.”
The Impact’s six-game home stand will continue next week with two games slated at Claude Robillard Sports Complex. The Puerto Rico Islanders will be the visitors on Wednesday, August 4 (7:30 pm, CJAD, CKAC), and the Western Conference leading Vancouver Whitecaps will follow on Friday, August 6 (8:00 pm, live on FSW and CKAC, tape delayed on RDS).
Source: bcomm
Info: Stéphane Banfi
514-328-3668 ext.27
