In a game where two Impact players were ejected — defender Adam Braz at the 17th minute of play and his teammate Mauricio Vincello at the 82nd minute — the Rhinos came out on top following goals by Noah Delgado, at the 25th, and Corey Woolfolk, at the 27th.
"The players didn’t react well in the first 20 minutes," said Impact head coach Nick DeSantis. "They should have understood the situation we were in — this was going to be playoff soccer. I don’t want to take anything away from the Rhinos, they came out strong early in the game, but it would have been nice to see the game unfold at 11 against 11."
The win allows the Rhinos, who were playing their last regular-season game, to clinch a playoff spot. They are third in the East for now, but a victory by the Syracuse Salty Dogs against the Mariners in Virginia Beach, Saturday night, would push them back in fourth place and put them against the Impact in the first playoff round.
Montreal, for its part, saw its undefeated streak stopped at eight games (7-0-1), but will nonetheless finish the regular season with a road record of 8-4-2.
The Impact was down one man as of the 17th minute, as Braz received a red card after a tackle from behind. The call seemed harsh as Braz was able to get to the ball on the play.
The Rhinos wasted no time in taking advantage, with two quick goals. At the 25th, Antonio Ribeiro lost the ball after being knocked down by Rochester’s Shaun Tsakiris, but the play continued and Ian Fuller jumped on the ball. Fuller saw his shot deflected by Impact defender Nevio Pizzolitto, and goalkeeper Greg Sutton, while diving to his right, still managed to stop the ball with his feet. Delgado was right there, however, to pick up the rebound.
At the 27th, Pizzolitto passed the ball back to Sutton, but the ball lacked pace and was intercepted by Chris Carrieri. Carrieri layed the ball over to Woolfolk, who was clear on the right side and beat Sutton on a low shot.
With Rochester’s goals, Greg Sutton’s streak of consecutive minutes without allowing a goal was stopped at 503 minutes. He therefore tied the club record which he himself set earlier this season. Collectively, the Montreal players, who shut out their opponents in their previous eight games, will have come up with a stretch of 773 minutes without allowing a goal. That is a club record.
The Impact tried to come back in the game in the second half, but goalkeeper Theo Zagar made successive saves on Antonio Ribeiro and Eduardo Sebrango at the 68th, then stopped Chris Lemire on a break at the 76th. Vincello was ejected eight minutes from the end, following a tackle on Carrieri.
"We did well under the circumstances," said Mauro Biello. "If their ‘keeper hadn’t made those big saves, we could have come back into it. The Rhinos know it. At least we have something to build on."
Sunday’s afternoon game at Claude Robillard Sports Complex, against the Richmond Kickers (4:00 pm, live on RDS, CJAD, CKAC) will be the last regular-season match-up for the Impact. DeSantis’ men will find out by then who will be their opponent in the first playoff round. Their home game in the conference semi-finals will be played on Sunday, September 5 at 7:00 pm.
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SOURCE:
bcomm
INFO:
Stéphane Banfi
514-328-3668 (ext. 27)
