From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Tired Rhinos top Toronto
Democrat and Chronicle
TORONTO
(Monday, May 28, 2001) -- The Rhinos were hardly road warriors last year,
going 3-8-2 away from Rochester.
But in their first A-League road game of this season, the defending
A-League champions pulled out a 1-0 victory last night over the Toronto
Lynx at Varsity Stadium.
Despite a few late defensive lapses, Lenin Steenkamp's 49th-minute goal
-- a 25-yard blast that glanced off defender Marco Reda -- held up to give
Rochester its fifth straight win (four were over third-division teams in
U.S. Open Cup preliminaries).
"I felt we were kind of flat all game, we didn't have our game legs,"
said coach Pat Ercoli, whose club played Saturday, winning 3-0 in
Rochester. "But we kind of picked it up at the start of the second half,
which we have tended to do. I told them, 'We don't have to entertain here,
all we have to do is win.' "
With five points, the Rhinos (1-0-1) are fourth in the Northern
Conference. They play Friday at first-place Hershey (2-0-1, 10 points).
The Rhinos were 0-2-1 at Toronto (1-1, 4 points) last year and only
managed a tie in one playoff match there.
Scott Vallow's shutout was almost spoiled in the final minutes. In the
87th, Francisco Dos Santos' 40-yard shot caught Vallow off his line but
went wide. A minute later, Aaron Benjamin was open in front on a cross but
his header just missed, and in injury time Benjamin again had room to
volley a shot from 12 yards, but Vallow had it covered perfectly on the
near post.
Ercoli substituted five times to keep his team fresh after Saturday's
win and late bus ride to Canada.
Forward Mickey Trotman, returning from national team duty with Trinidad
& Tobago, didn't arrive in Toronto until an hour before the game, but
the first-year Rhino played well. His smart pass back set up Steenkamp's
goal and he also almost scored on a sliding volley and long shot over
goalie Theo Zagar. Copywrite 2001 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
. .