Rough Riders tough-out 3-2 road win at Pioneers

Published on July 3, 2004 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Long Island Rough Riders News Release


(Plainview, N.Y.) – The Long Island Rough Riders can book their second win in a row after beating the Western Mass Pioneers on Saturday night, July 3, with 3-2. The game winner in this hard-fought battle was scored by Long Island defender Wilmer Cabrera in injury time with only ten second left in the game.

Long Island went up 1-0 early in the first half. In the 9th minute midfielder Jim Rooney put a long ball up the right wing. Carlo Espinosa ran onto the ball and crossed it to new signee Giovanni Savarese. He sent the ball with a flying bicycle kick to fellow forward Derrick Etienne, who put it in the goal.

After that the game became a counter attack affair. Long Island goalkeeper Daniel Sirota secured the lead in the 10th minute with an excellent save on an attempt by Fausto Klinger, and denied another attempt by Jeff Deren ten minutes later.

The game became increasingly physical with many hard fouls being committed by both teams. Long Island began to take control of the game, directed by midfielders Jim Rooney in combination with Stephen Franzke. The most dangerous Long Island weapon during the entire game was outside midfielder Carlo Espinosa, who continually attacked on the right side.

Shortly before halftime in the 41st minute a Western Mass counter-attack evened the score. A beautiful pass by midfielder Klinger to forward Everson Maciel made the score 1-1.

The start of the second half saw no lineup changes, and Western Mass had the majority of the play. The Pioneers' pressure finally resulted in their second goal by Maciel in the 58th minute off a direct kick from 20 yards out.

The game became a bloodbath with one hard foul after the other, seven yellow cards were issued that night. Long Island gradually took back the momentum through hard and efficient midfield play. A great combination in the 79th minute brought the equalizer. Savarese shot from 20 yards to Rooney. He went through the defense to feed substitute Moussa Sy, who had entered the game in place of Evan Bruno in the 72nd minute. Sy beat two defenders and goalkeeper Bryan O'Quinn before blasting a left-foot into the net.

Now the pace of the game became frenetic, with both teams pressing for the game winner. In the 81st minute Fausto Klinger saw the second yellow card within 20 minutes and was sent off the field.

In injury time Carlo Espinosa drove a corner kick to the back post, where Sy redirected it into the middle of the box. Giovanni Savarese chested the ball down, and Wilmer Cabrera got to it first to put it in the roof of the net.

Long Island Head Coach Ronan Wiseman after the match: "It was a hard-fought game. But we showed a lot of character from being 2-1 down." He also commented the debut of forward Giovanni Savarese, saying "Giovanni brought a new dimension to the Rough Riders attack."

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United Soccer League Championship Stories from July 3, 2004


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