St
Catherine Standard: Wolves Defence gets the Job Done
Wolves' defence gets the job done in win over
Lions
Alison Rogers, The Standard
St Catharines Standard
Joe Carbonara takes pride in being in the right place.
For
most of Wednesday night's 2-0 victory over the Toronto Metro Lions, the St.
Catharines Roma Wolves sweeper was right where he needed to be, helping Claudio
Perri earn a shutout before an appreciative crowd of 450 at Club Roma
Park.
The fifth-year veteran made the move from right half to sweeper
this season, filling in for the departed Dan Gallagher. There he's the last line
of defence before opposition shooters get to either St. Catharines goalkeeper --
Perri or Jay Mason.
Carbonara broke up a scoring opportunity in the
opening minutes against the Lions and moments later blocked a blast from Metro's
Darryl Gomez with his butt.
"I've played this position before," said the
former Holy Cross Secondary School and Brock University player, with a "whatever
works" kind of shrug.
"I take a lot of pride, like the rest of the guys,
in keeping the ball out of the net."
Perri had to race from his goal to
make a sliding save on Fernando Tantalo late in the half.
The Lions were
the better team at the start of the second half, but things turned after Metro's
Mike Glasgow received a yellow card for bumping Perri.
Frank DelPriore
had two good shots at the Lions' goal, but goalkeeper Brian Bowes robbed him
both times. Wolves' striker Carlo Arghittu finally found a way to beat Bowes in
the 64th minute when he banged a shot off Lions' defender Paul Okumu for his
eighth goal of the season.
Bowes played almost at midfield late in the
second half and the Lions narrowly missed on three separate headers down the
stretch.
Player-coach Lucio Ianiero said it seems the Wolves are starting
to gain some confidence after struggles early in the season.
The Wolves
are also working their three American players, Kevin Pitra, Matt Albrecht and
Adam Caruso into the lineup. Carbonara said the addition of the 6-foot-2 Pitra
is a big help for the St. Catharines defenders.
"The game they're coming
from (U.S. college) is much more physical, with lots of crashing tackles," he
said. "We're asking them to play (different) soccer."
THE
SCOOP
Wolves 2 Lions 0
Standard Star of the Game: Frank Zumpano
with the winning goal.
For St. Catharines Roma Wolves: Zumpano (28
minutes), Carlo Arghittu (64 minutes); shutout by Claudio Perri.
For
(Toronto) Metro Lions: No scoring.
By the numbers: The Wolves climb to
3-2-3 and move ahead of Hamilton Thunder (3-2-1) into third place in the Western
Conference; Metro Lions are fourth in the Eastern Conference at
3-3.
Attendance: 450
Up next: North York Astros at St. Catharines
Roma Wolves, Wednesday, Club Roma, 8:15 p.m.
.
.