MLS Colorado Rapids

Colorado Rapids Game Notes

Published on October 18, 2003 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Colorado Rapids News Release


LAST MEETING VS. THE CHICAGO FIRE: Rapids tie Chicago 1-1, Despite Playing a Man Down for the Final 21 Minutes

DENVER, CO (Wednesday, October 1, 2003) – Midfielder Mark Chung tied a career high with his 11th goal of the season as the Colorado Rapids (11-9-6, 39pts), reduced to 10 men, scored a late equalizer to extend their club record home unbeaten streak to 11 games (8-0-3) after a 1-1 tie against the Eastern Conference leading Chicago Fire (12-6-8, 44pts) on Wednesday night at Invesco Field at Mile High. The Fire, who registered a 7-0 advantage on corner kicks in the first half, scored on a corner kick three minutes into the second half. The kick was taken by forward Ante Razov from the left side and the ball fell to Damani Ralph, who escaped from his man marker Nat Borchers. The Jamaican native controlled the ball off his chest and fired a shot on the bounce from 15 yards out which deflected off teammate Jesse Marsch, who was lined up alongside the last defender just outside the six-yard box. The ball was redirected by Marsch inside the right post for his third goal of the year. Despite playing with a man down, the Rapids still found the back of the net in the 83rd minute on a free kick. With the ball positioned outside the Fire penalty area in line with the left post, midfielder Mark Chung curled the ball over the Fire wall and into the top left corner as Thornton scrambled in vain into the side netting. Chung's 11th tally of the year tied a career high set last year. The Rapids played without starting midfielders Pablo Mastroeni and Kyle Beckerman, who both served one game suspensions for red cards received in their last game. In a gametime decision Colorado was also forced to take the field without captain and leading scorer John Spencer due to a hamstring injury. Scoring Summary: CHI -- Jesse Marsch 3 (Damani Ralph 6) 48 COL -- Mark Chung 11 (unassisted) 83 Chicago Fire -- Zach Thornton, Carlos Bocanegra, Jim Curtin, Kelly Gray, Evan Whitfield, Chris Armas, DaMarcus Beasley, Orlando Perez, Jesse Marsch (Logan Pause 82) (Andy Williams 95), Damani Ralph (Nate Jaqua 76), Ante Razov. TOTAL SHOTS: 14 (Damani Ralph 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (4 tied with 1); FOULS: 16 (Ante Razov 6); OFFSIDES: 9 (Ante Razov 4); CORNER KICKS: 8 (Ante Razov 5); SAVES: 6 (Zach Thornton 6) Colorado Rapids -- Scott Garlick, Wes Hart, Nat Borchers, Robin Fraser, Ritchie Kotschau, Chris Henderson, Matt Crawford (Darryl Powell 76), Seth Trembly, Mark Chung, Chris Carrieri, Zizi Roberts. TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (Zizi Roberts 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 7 (3 tied with 2); FOULS: 16 (Zizi Roberts 4); OFFSIDES: 6 (Zizi Roberts 3); CORNER KICKS: 1 (Chris Henderson 1); SAVES: 3 (Scott Garlick 3) Misconduct Summary: COL -- Wes Hart (caution; Tackle from Behind) 6; COL -- Seth Trembly (caution; Reckless Foul) 49;COL -- Chris Henderson (caution; Professional Foul) 54; CHI -- DaMarcus Beasley (caution; Delaying a Restart) 62; COL -- Robin Fraser (ejection; Serious Foul Play) 79 CHI -- Chris Armas (caution; Professional Foul) 97 Referee: Hector Tobon; Referee's Assistants: Craig Lowry, Jose Andrade; 4th Official: Ben Chouaf; Attendance: 12,185

MISCELLANEOUS TEAM NOTES FOR OCT. 18:

RAPIDS HUNT FOR HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: The hunt for playoff home field advantage continues for the Rapids. Colorado still has a two-point lead against the Wizards for second place in the Western Conference race. The Rapids' next opportunity to clinch the second position in the West, and assure home field advantage in the 2003 MLS playoffs Conference Semifinals, will present itself this weekend. The Rapids need to defeat Chicago, while the match between the Wizards and Dallas has to end in a tie or a Dallas win. With any of these two combinations the Rapids would secure and clinch the second position in the Western Conference, assuring a home playoff game on November 8th at INVESCO Field at Mile High. Combinations for Rapids to Clinch Second Place in the Western Conference: Rapids (WIN) And Kansas City (LOSS or TIE), Or Rapids (TIE) AND Kansas City (LOSS)

HOME SWEET HOME: The Black and Blue ended their 2003 regular season at home without a loss in 12 consecutive games in the familiar grounds of INVESCO Field at Mile High. On the road, after having lost their first six games of the season, the Rapids have gained 11 points in the last 7 games, posting a 3-2-2 record.

DEFENDER NAT BORCHERS: MOST VALUABLE OR BEST ROOKIE? Colorado Rapids defender Nat Borchers has made a mark in his first year as a professional in Major League Soccer. The Pueblo, CO resident who signed a developmental contract with the team back on March 18, 2003 played in his first official MLS match May 25th at central midfield against the Chicago Fire, becoming the 100th player ever to play in an MLS game for the Rapids. He has played in 21 games for a total of 1921 minutes in his rookie season. Since taking over for injured starting defender Jeff Stewart (torn ACL) on June 7th, the 22-year old Borchers has solidified the Rapids back four shutting down most recently top scorers such as Preki (KCW), Taylor Twellman (NER), Damani Ralph (CHI), Landon Donovan (SJE), Ante Razov (CHI), and Brian McBride (CLB). In his 19 starts at central defense, the Black and Blue have posted a 9-4-6 record, gaining 34 points out of the 40 total points that the club currently has. The Colorado defense has posted seven shutouts with Nat in central defense. The Rapids are 2-6-0 in games in which Nat did not start in defense.

PLAYERS ON CAUTION WATCH: Five Rapids players currently find themselves with a Caution Warning. Should Kyle Beckerman, Wes Hart, Ritchie Kotschau, Pablo Mastroeni or Seth Trembly receive a yellow card on Saturday in Chicago, they will be suspended for the last game of the year against the Dallas Burn due to having accumulated 21 caution points. Kotschau and Mastroeni have already had 4 points removed from their records for having played three consecutive clean matched following their 18th caution point earlier this season. The 26-old Hart is the only Rapids player to start and play in every game in 2003. Yellow card caution points will not carry over into the playoffs. If a player receives a red card in the last regular season game, he will have to sit the first playoff game.

RAPIDS SCORING QUARTET UPDATE: Four of the top eight point getters in Rapids history are currently on the club's 2003 roster.

HENDERSON: Chris Henderson has played 139 games in a Rapids uniform, passing Paul Bravo for 2nd place on the games-played list for the club and closing in on Marcelo Balboa, who currently sits at 151 games. Henderson's goal on October 4th moved the midfielder to within 7 points of Bravo's mark of 100 points (39 goals, 22 assists). Henderson has scored 26 goals and assisted on 41 other goals for 93 points during his time in Colorado.

SPENCER: With his 12 goals this year, John Spencer became only the second Rapids player ever to score 30 goals as a Rapids player. His 31 goals and 15 assists in the Rapids colors, in only 64 games (58 starts), moves him to 3rd place on the team's scoring charts at 77 points.

CHUNG AND CARRIERI: Mark Chung and Chris Carrieri are battling and currently rank 7th and 8th respectively on the scoring list. Chung has started and played in 54 games as a Rapid, scoring 22 times and adding 14 assists for 58 points, while Carrieri has 55 starts (67 total), scoring 19 goals and adding 15 assists for 53 points.

SPENCER'S CASE FOR LEAGUE M.V.P.: Colorado Rapids striker John Spencer (12 goals) is currently tied for third place with San Jose's Landon Donovan in MLS's goal-scoring department, and is in the running for the League's Honda Most Valuable Player award and the Budweiser Scoring Champion. The duo are trailing Taylor Twellman (New England 15 goals), Carlos Ruiz (Los Angeles- 15 goals), and Chicago's Razov (14 goals) in this year's race to be the top goal-scorer in MLS. The Rapids are 7-2-3 record when the Scottish forward scores, and 4-8-5 when the 5'7" forward doesn't score. Combined with his 4 assists, Spencer's 28 points find him in 6th place for the Budweiser Scoring Champion award, 10 points behind Preki of Kansas City. Spencer's season career high is 14 goals scored (7 assists) in 2001, the same year that he was voted to the MLS Pepsi Best 11 Team.

USA NATIONAL TEAM HONORS: Five members of this year's Black and Blue squad were called in to the United States Under-23 National Team training camp prior to an international friendly against the U-23 National Team of Haiti on Wednesday night. Rookies Nat Borchers and Casey Schmidt , both making their first appearances with the U-23's, joined Rapids teammates Kyle Beckerman and Seth Trembly for the game at Lockhart Stadium. Rapids assistant and goalkeeper coach Mark Dougherty was also invited to assist Head Coach and former Rapids Head Coach Glenn ‘Mooch' Myernick in the camp. Borchers and Beckerman both played the full 90 minutes in the USA's 1-0 win, while Schmidt (87') and Trembly (74') entered as second half subs.

RAPIDS-FIRE CONNECTIONS: Ritchie Kotschau started his MLS career in 1998 wearing the Fire's colors, playing 28 games for Chicago, netting four goals and three assists. Billy Sleeth, who was selected by the Rapids in the 2002 waiver draft, played 12 games for the Fire in his first MLS season in 2002. Goalkeeper Scott Vallow grew up in Naperville, IL and went to Naperville Central High School.

THE GARLICK SHUTOUT RECORD CONTINUES: Scott Garlick has posted nine shutouts this season, which surpasses the club's total in 2002. The team's mark for most shutouts in a season is 12 and it was set during the 1999 campaign. Garlick also passed his personal best of seven shutouts, which he accomplished in 1998 with DC United en route to the MLS Cup. Garlick rankings on the League All-time Goalkeeper categories: 2nd in Wins with 81 (Thorton 90, Hartman 81); 2nd in Saves with 757 (Meola 881); 3rd in Games Played with 164 (Meola 192, Thornton 168).

CHUNG-SPENCER and RAZOV-RALPH CONNECTION: Rapids forward John Spencer and midfielder Mark Chung have 12 and 11 goals respectively this season, and on seven occasions, they have scored in the same game. The Spencer-Chung duo is tied with Chicago's Ante Razov and Damani Ralph with 7 games combining goals this season. Both achievements (Colorado and Chicago's) break the MLS single season record of six games, which had occurred seven times prior to the 2003 season, most recently with Diego Serna and Alex Pineda-Chacon while they were with the Miami Fusion in 2001. The Rapids' former all-time mark for teammates scoring in the same game is six, accomplished in 1998, by Wolde Harris and Paul Bravo.

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