A-League of Monday May 19th, 1997.

Here are the results of the A League game between the Toronto Lynx and Rochester Raging Rhinos played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto at 6:00pm.

Pregame ceremony involved a salute to former players who've played in Toronto over the years. Introduced were: Dick Howard, Robert Irushi, Graham Leggat, Carmen MacAntonio, Hector Marinaro (Senior), Carlos Rivas, and Pat Ercoli (now coach of the Rhinos). Also introduced were the Lynx president Enzo Iantorno. Then a mascot wearing a tan catsuit ran out and did a few lengths of the field.

Toronto Lynx (white socks and shirts, black shorts, purple numbers, yellow names, yellow numbers on shorts)

............................................1 Pat Onstad
9 Elvis Thomas...14 Martin Dugas...2 Ralph Golen...3 Franco Spadafina
...........12 Lei Gong...17 Daryl Holmes...11 Tommy Kouzmanis
...........5 Darren Tilley...10 Paul Stalteri...7 Dwayne De Rosario

Subs:...22 Joe Ciaravino (gk)...6 Armando Manjate...18 Rick Titus...20 Danley Johnson...23 Phil Caporella...25 Irvin Studin...

Rochester Raging Rhinos (black socks, shorts, and shirts, white numbers and trim)

.............................................1 Bill Andracki
.......4 Leon Minott...6 Rene Rivas...17 Fuseini Dauda
23 Lenin Steenkamp...18 Jimmy Glenn...10 Yogi McKay...16 Chris Kennell
.........19 Doug Miller...15 Ezikeo Alamo...9 Darci Monteiro

Subs:...0 Rett Thompson (gk)...7 Henry Gutierrez...8 Tommy Tanner...11 Nikola Vigajevic...22 Darrell Stuart

Officials: Referee Tony Comacho, linesmen Steve Mortimer and Zoran Christo, 4th official Jim Bainbridge. They wore turquoise uniforms which was a good move as there was too much black in the game.

After national anthems, balloons are released and the Lynx kick balls into the stand. Kickoff about 6:10pm. Weather cool 15C, 57F degrees, threat of rain earlier in the day.

1st Half (Lynx defend North end)
4 min...Rhino GOAL Glenn (assist by Steenkamp)...McKay from about 15 yards outside box rolls ball forward to Steenkamp racing about 5 yards into box, Steenkamp cuts in front of goalie and turns and crosses as he falls. Ball rolls by two defenders and charging Glenn outraces sliding Kouzmanis to tap in ball from two yards out.
12 min...Lynx Stalteri blasts ball into right side of outside net from 5 yards out on tough angle.
16 min...Rhino goalie must punch out high cross.
20 min...Lynx GOAL Tilley (assist by Gong)...Gong threads pass from 35 yards out and 20 yards wide of right side of net without a bounce straight to Tilley who heads it from left side of goal four yards out into right side of goal beyond sprawling goalie.
26 min...Lynx GOAL Stalteri (assist by De Rosario)...Kouzmanis intercepts defenders clearing pass 15 yards outside the box. Kouzmanis runs towards left sideline but turns and centre passes around guilty defender to De Rosario on edge of box. Another defender holds off De Rosario from charging the net but he turns and passes to charging Stalteri as McKay tries to get possession of ball instead of covering so Stalteri is left alone with another defender and five yards in front of net. Stalteri gets big right footed blast from five yards inside box to left corner of net a split second ahead of keeper's hand on dive.
29 min...Rhino Montiero passes to Miller who gets rushed shot off goalpost. Rebound is cleared for corner.
37 min...Lynx Holmes blasts ball over net through crowd from 30 yards.
38 min...Rhino Yellow card...Steenkamp for hip check on Thomas at Lynx 30 yard line.
39 min...Lynx offside goal whistled back but Thomas had been leveled in a crowd.
43 min...Lynx Yellow card...Gong for high kick at ball connects with Dauda's face injuring him for a minute.
45 min...Lynx Yellow card...Tilley for not giving 10 yards on a corner kick. Lynx keeper catches corner when they finally get playing.

Halftime score: Toronto Lynx......2.......Rochester Raging Rhinos.......1
halftime contest for $10,000 was for selected fans to kick a ball through a hole in a board. Participants were selected through their programs having an autograph on page 7. No winners tonight.

2nd Half
50 min...Rhino sub...Gutierrez replaces Glenn
53 min...Lynx sub...Titus replaces Gong
55 min...Lynx GOAL De Rosario (assist by Tilley)...ball won by Lynx 40 yards out and rolls to Tilley who from 30 yards out one touches banana pass to DeRosario who chests ball down and from edge of box bounces ball around Minott and gets shot from right side of net into lower left corner behind diving keeper.
56 min...Rhino sub...Vigajevic replaces Miller (who looked like he'd been playing with a cast on his arm).
57 min...Rhino Kennell gets away a diving header stopped by keeper.
60 min...Rhino GOAL Alamo (unassisted)...Rivas passes through two defenders to ????? who gets blast away from edge of box. Keeper makes huge save on blast but rebound pops up to charging Rivas and Alamo who heads into open goal from 5 yards out.
61 min...Rhino sub...Tanner replaces Alamo
65 min...Lynx Thomas's freekick chip headed wide by Titus who couldn't get ball to change direction enough.
66 min...Lynx Titus blasts shot wide on sitter caused by Rhino Dauda doing splits to make stop on previous shot.
71 min...Lynx DeRosario tees up ball from pass in crease but turns and blasts high.
74 min...Rhino Yellow card...Monteiro for tackle from behind on Dugas who was leading a 3 on 5 breakout at centreline.
86 min...Lynx Yellow card...Thomas for taking too long to set up a freekick from 25 yards out. When it's finally taken Stalteri blasts ball over bar.
87 min...Rhino freekick from outside box. Spadafina heads ball out from 3 yards.

Final Score:........Toronto Lynx............3.........Rochester Raging Rhinos........2......
Game ends 8:10pm. Attendance was announced as 1492. There were about 70 to 100 fans from Rochester.

1492? Well it's a start. It was the first long weekend of the summer. Were people out of town? It was cool weather with the threat of rain all day. I'll be interested to see the attendance on Friday night. The play got rougher as the game went on. The rivalry continues this Monday when the Lynx travel to Rochester. Lynx play two games against the Eastern teams but four against Rochester (closest team), Montreal (well that's more than a sports rivalry) and Worcester (not sure why).

The goal description was embellished by me being able to play the goals again and again from the CFMT sports news hilights.

Rocket Robin

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