Report by John F. Molinaro (SLAM! Sports)
by DJT

Saturday, July 21, 2001

Lynx rough up Long Island

By JOHN F. MOLINARO -- SLAM! Sports

TORONTO -- Toronto appear to be coming on strong in the second half of the season as the Toronto Lynx beat Northern Conference rivals Long Island Rough Riders 1-0 this evening before an announced crowd of 2,443 fans at Varsity Stadium in A-League Soccer action.

Toronto had their best outing of the year as they produced countless quality scoring chances while at the same time shutting down Long Island's ineffective forwards. The Lynx neutralized Long Island in midfield, controlling most of the game and enjoyed the majority of possession.

From the opening whistle, Toronto seemed like a team possessed, taking the action to Long Island and keeping its defense on guard all evening.

The Lynx squandered three scoring chances within the space of three minutes when forward Waldo Sponton tapped a cross pass from team-mate Robbie Aristodemo wide of the net in the 15th minute. A minute later, forward Juan Arango clinked a close range shot off the post. Arango had a chance to redeem himself shortly after when a through ball from midfielder Gregory Messam sent him on a one-on-one breakaway but the Colombian forward was pushed to the outside by the backtracking defender, forcing him to shoot high over the net.

Ten minutes later Sponton failed to capitalize on a scoring chance, firing the ball wide of the post from ten feet out.

Toronto's persistence paid off in the 28th minute when Sponton carried the ball down the left side and spotted Arango all alone in the middle who headed the ball home past a diving Long Island goalkeeper Adam Smith to put the Lynx up 1-0.

The second half kicked off with Long Island pressing Toronto's defense in their half of he pitch. The Lynx ran a deft counterattack, marching down the field and attacking the Rough Riders goal. A loose ball in Long Island's 18-yard box found Messam all alone at the top of the box, only to have the Jamaican shank a shot well wide of the net in the 42nd minute.

Long Island nearly tied it in the 67th minute when midfielder Steve Franske chipped a blistering shot on net from 20 yards out, only to have Lynx goalkeeper Theo Zagar make a nice, diving stop.

Toronto almost made it 2-0 when Sponton fought off the coverage of two Long Island defenders and sent a wicked shot from just inside the 18-yard box over the crossbar in the 75th minute.

Sponton had another scoring chance two minutes later when Aristodemo chipped a nice pass from the right side of the box into the middle to the Argentine who quickly headed the ball on net, only to have Long Island goalkeeper Adam Smith scramble back and tip the ball just over the crossbar.

Toronto substitute Bobby Randhawa found himself on a one-on-one breakaway in the 83rd minute. With the Long Island goalkeeper out to challenge, Randhawa stepped around him and had a clear run on net but midfielder Mick McDermott cleared away Randhawa's shot on net just as it was about to cross the goal line.

Toronto almost blew the game in the 88th minute when a high cross found Long Island forward Moussa Sy all alone at the side of the Lynx net, but the native of Guinea headed the ball just wide of the goal post.

After the game Toronto head coach Peter Pinizzotto praised his players for their hard work, but was frustrated with how his club almost let Long Island back into the game towards the end.

"We're happy with the result but I think we made it pretty difficult for ourselves," Pinizzotto admitted to SLAM Sports. "Tonight we had a lot of chances in the first half but we should have had five goals. We missed a few good chances but I think we definitely deserved the win."

Pinizzotto was especially happy with the play of midfielder Waldo Sponton who seemed to give the Lynx a spirited, hard working presence up front.

"Waldo can hold the ball, he's making a lot of things happen and when you have a guy like that, it's good for the team as a whole."

Goal scorer Juan Arango was happy that his goal proved to be the difference and relished playing with fellow South American Sponton.

"We play very well together," Arango said through an interpreter. "The last two games at home we seem to really compliment each other. I'm very comfortable with him."

With the win, Toronto's fourth shutout of the season, the Lynx are now 4-2-10 and gain a valuable four points on Long Island. The Lynx still sit in last place in the Northern Conference with 18 points, trailing Long Island who are in fifth with 19 points.

NOTES: The Lynx next host Northern Conference rivals Pittsburgh Riverhounds on Thursday, August 2nd at a special start time of 12 p.m... Defender Adrian Serioux missed tonight's game with a hamstring problem while midfielder Lyndon Hooper was still recovering from nagging injuries... Lynx Chief Operating Officer Nicole Hartrell commented on the announcement earlier this week that the Montreal Impact went into receivership after filing for bankruptcy: "The league right now has taken over the team and I know they're speaking to two or three investors who are interested in stepping in but in the meantime the league has taken over running the club. It's a big blow and should be a wake up call for Sports Canada and the governing bodies in our country"... Toronto previously lost to Long Island 3-0 on June 28th...

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