City Stars Fall 3-0 to Rochester Rhinos in Home Opener
Published on May 1, 2009 under USL First Division (USL-1)
Cleveland City Stars News Release
The Cleveland City Stars fell to the Rochester Rhinos 3-0 in a game played in a driving rain storm at Middlefield Cheese Stadium.
The Rhinos broke through in the 49th minute on a PK after a yellow card by Ibrahim Kante. Tai Atieno slipped the ball to the right of the diving Hunter Gilstrap to put the Rhinos up 1-0.
Rochester broke it open in the 55th when the Rhinos narrowly missed an off sides call and Johnny Menyongar broke into the open field and blasted the shot past Gilstrap for the 2-0 lead.
The final result came on a deflected goal by Mike Ambersley in the 78th minute, just a minute after the Midfielder replaced former Cleveland Crunch member John Ball in the lineup.
The City Stars tried to rally behind the substitutions of Eric Carpenter and Max Cream but where unable to break through.
The loss was Cleveland's first ever regular season loss at home. Coming into the match the City Stars were 14-0-6 in two seasons in the USL-2. The loss drops the City Stars to 0-3 on the season and the Rhinos move up to 2-1-1.
The first half got off to a fast start as the Rhinos had the first chance in the 15th minute when Rochester's Ball broke through the Cleveland back line to fire a shot on Gilstrap but the Cleveland keeper kept the clean sheet with a marvelous save.
The City Stars had its best chance of the young season in the 37th when Pato Aguilera back heeled a beautiful pass to Jason Hothkin and Hotchkin stepped into a perfectly timed shot. The Rhinos Tim Melia left his feet for the save and knocked the ball back into the path of Aguilera who missed wide right with an empty net header.
It was the last strong chance for the City Stars as the Rhinos possessed the ball for the majority of the second half.
The City Stars return to Middlefield Cheese Stadium at Bedford City Schools next Saturday May 9th for a 7 p.m. match with the Portland Timbers.
Cleveland: Hunter Gilstrap, Ibrahim Kante (Paul Ballard 62'), Gordon Kljestan, Godrey Tenoff, Ricardo Pierre-Louis (Max Cream 63'), Troy Roberts, Anthony Stovall, Warren Kanu, Stephen Cruickshank (Eric Carpenter 57'), Jason Hotchkin, Pato Aguilera
Rochester: Tim Melia, Daren Kenton, Kenney Bird, Brent Sancho, Danny Earls, Chris Nurse, Tiger Fitzpatrick (Kwame Sarkodie 81'), John Ball (Mike Ambersley 77'), Ryan Heins, Johnny Menyongar (Nano Short 70'), Tai Atieno (Ze Roberto 88')
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