Hot Rhinos Down 'Caps
May 17, 2009 - USL First Division (USL-1)
Vancouver Whitecaps News Release
Vancouver Whitecaps FC men suffered a 2-1 defeat to Rochester Rhinos at Swangard Stadium on Saturday evening.
In the second match of the club's first doubleheader of the season, the Rhinos claimed their first victory in Vancouver since the 1996 season after first-half goals by Chris Nurse and Johnny Menyongar sent the Upstate New York club to the top of the USL First Division standings, where they sit level on points with Carolina RailHawks.
Despite out-shooting Rochester 23 to four during the course of the match, and earning a late goal from youngster Dever Orgill, Rhinos captain Scott Vallow made himself a strong candidate for the USL-1 Player of the Week honour after making 11 saves in the Rochester goal, including a decisive penalty stop midway through the second half.
Whitecaps head coach Teitur Thordarson made one change from the side that started last Sunday's 1-0 home win over Puerto Rico Islanders. Marcus Haber partnered Charles Gbeke in the Whitecaps attack, with the Canadian youth international taking the place of the injured Marlon James. The Saint Vincent and the Grenadines international pulled up with a hamstring injury in last weekend's win.
HighlightsRhinos head coach Darren Tilley, meanwhile, made four changes to the side that started Thursday's 2-1 defeat at Portland Timbers. Englishman Darren Kenton came into the visitors' backline for John Ball, while Kwame Sarkodie took the place of Nano Short in midfield. The former Whitecaps striker also changed his attack pairing for Saturday's game. Taiwo Atieno and Andrew Lorei replaced Mike Ambersley and Andrew Gregor in Rochester's forward line.
On a warm May long weekend evening, a sell-out Swangard crowd of 5,288 were left amazed by a first half that saw the Whitecaps dominate play, but find themselves two goals down at the break.
The first quarter of an hour belonged to the home side, with Gbeke heading Wes Knight's fine cross from the right wide of goal in the first minute, while winger Ansu Toure drilled a shot straight at Vallow a minute later.
On four minutes, Haber headed Gbeke's cross from the left wide of the target before Toure squandered a major chance to score his first Whitecaps goal when he half-hit his effort wide of goal after getting on the end of Vicente Arze's centering ball from the Rochester byline.
It seemed just a matter of time that a Vancouver goal would come, but Whitecaps fans were left stunned when the Rhinos took the lead against the run of play on 17 minutes. From their only corner of the half, Menyongar's set piece from the left found an unmarked Nurse, who easily headed the ball past Whitecaps goalkeeper Jay Nolly for a 1-0 lead.
The goal subdued the Swangard crowd, though Toure tried to reply by trying to get on the end of captain Martin Nash's cross at the far post. However, the ball eluded the Liberian and went out for a goal kick on 20 minutes.
'Caps fans had to wait until 31 minutes for their side to produce more quality goalscoring chances, with Knight curling another fine cross in from the right to Toure at the far post. With a clear sight of goal, the winger's header flew straight at Vallow, who reacted well to tip the ball over his crossbar for a corner. Two minutes later, Knight tried his luck from long range, but his well-hit strike found the assured arms of Vallow in the Rochester goal.
On 36 minutes, Ethan Gage hit a shot off the outside of his foot over the Rhinos crossbar after Toure had found him in the Rhinos box, as the 'Caps looked ever more likely they would draw themselves level.
A minute later, however, the home side were stunned again, as Rochester struck for a second time with only their second shot on goal. Nurse's forward ball from the right found the head of Atieno on the edge of the box. The Englishman's knockdown found an unmarked Menyongar, and with time and space to shoot, the talented Liberian struck a fine volley past a diving Nolly to give the Rhinos a 2-0 lead. The scoreline left many wondering if it was reading correctly on the Swangard scoreboard, with the Whitecaps having out-shot Rochester 11 to two in the first half.
The home side created two more chances through Arze before the break. On 40 minutes, the Bolivian struck a shot right at Vallow before the South American forced an even better save from the Rhinos captain in the one minute of time added on after he headed Takashi Hirano's cross from the left on target at the far post.
It made no difference to the scoreline, as Rochester took a two-goal lead into the halftime break.
As it was Rochester's second match in three days, Tilley opted to freshened up his side by making three substitutions for the start of the second half. Ball replaced Kenton in defence, while former Gregor replaced Lorei and Ryan Heins replaced Sarkodie in the visitors' midfield.
It made little difference to flow of play, as the Whitecaps kept pressing forward in search of goals after the restart. On 55 minutes, centre back Jeff Parke struck the top of the Rochester crossbar with a header from Nash's corner before Arze put a header of his own over the crossbar from a Toure cross two minutes later.
Vallow continued to deny the Blue and White with more saves from Gbeke and Arze on the hour mark. He also denied Toure on two occasions three minutes later.
Then as the match reached the midway point of the half, the Whitecaps were handed a chance to get back into the contest when match referee Justin Tasev awarded the home side a penalty after Rhinos defender Kenney Bertz had shoved Haber to the ground in the Rochester box following a fine forward run by the Vancouver striker. The responsibility of the spot kick fell to Toure, but Vallow was equal to his effort, making a fine save from the winger moments later.
The disappointment of Toure's penalty miss did not deter Thordarson from making two changes in midfield, as Tyrell Burgess replaced Arze, while Justin Moose came on for Gage. Burgess was soon into the action, with the Bermudan's header from Hirano's cross flying wide of the target on 72 minutes.
Four minutes later, Orgill replaced Haber to partner Gbeke in attack, as the 'Caps looked to try and salvage something from the match. However, on 77 minutes, Toure had another shot saved by Vallow before Gbeke struck another effort wide of goal from a Nash's ensuing corner.
Though they had been camped in their own half for much of the contest, Rochester were a threat on the counter-attack, with the visitors coming close to scoring a third goal on 84 minutes. Atieno took a fine ball in the Whitecaps box from Rhinos midfielder Tiger Fitzpatrick, but 'Caps centre back Wesley Charles was on hand to make a fine tackle and clear the ball away to safety.
As the match entered the 90th minute, the Whitecaps claimed a consolation reward and created club history at the same time. Toure made another searching run into the Rhinos box from the left flank before slipping a pass to substitute Orgill. The Jamaican youth international teed up a low shot that beat Vallow in the Rochester goal to make it 2-1, with the youngster celebrating his strike with a back flip. As a result, the 19-year-old became the first player from the Whitecaps Residency program to score a goal in a men's team match.
Thordarson feels there is more to come from the talented Orgill. "Though he's young and inexperienced, he scored a great goal tonight. We know that he is capable of doing that," he told reporters after the match. "Slowly and surely, he will get more minutes in our coming matches, and I think we have a lot of things to look forward to with him in the future."
With four minutes of time added on still to be played, the Whitecaps were in the ascendancy and kept pressing to find a very late equalizer. Though Parke came close with a header from Burgess' cross, the Rhinos held on to claim their fourth road win of the season, while Vancouver fell to their first home loss of 2009.
Thordarson was left in amazement with the way events unfolded on Saturday night. "I think that was one of the best performances we've had since I've been here," said the Icelandic tactician. "It was incredible that we created all those chances and did not score more than one goal. It's not normal to be standing here, having claimed nothing from a game like that."
The Whitecaps will now turn their attentions to the Nutrilite Canadian Championship, as they head to Quebec to face Montreal Impact at Stade Saputo on Wednesday night. Rochester, meanwhile, will complete their season-opening eight-match road stint when they visit Charleston Battery in South Carolina next Saturday evening.
With Major League Soccer club Toronto FC in command of this year's Canadian Championship after two home victories over Vancouver and Montreal, Nash believes only wins will do at this stage for the 'Caps, if they have any aspirations of winning the Voyageurs Cup. "I think we have to shoot for two wins over Montreal," said the Whitecaps captain. "Anything less than that will not be good enough to win the tournament, so that's got to be our mindset. We have to win those two games."
USL First Division Stories from May 17, 2009
- Impact Explodes for First Win - Montreal Impact
- Austin Aztex FC fall 4-0 in Montreal and suffer first defeat of season - Austin Aztex
- Hot Rhinos Down 'Caps - Vancouver Whitecaps
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