Rhinos close exhibitions with tie against Toronto

By Jeff DiVeronica 
Democrat and Chronicle 

(April 27, 2003) — HOUGHTON — Rochester closed its preseason soccer schedule on Saturday 
with a 2-2 tie against the Toronto Lynx at Houghton College, a good test for each of the 
A-League Northeast Division rivals. 

Play was spirited, plenty vocal and physical. 

“It’s good to get in a game like this because after you beat up on college teams you might 
think it’s going to be that easy (in league play) and it certainly isn’t,” said Rhinos coach 
Pat Ercoli, whose club went 4-1-1 in the preseason. 

Rochester, which opens the season Friday night at Frontier Field against Atlanta, scored on a 
pair of penalty kicks. 

Forward Doug Miller converted in the first half for his team-high fifth preseason goal. 

Midfielder David Hayes tied it at 2 with a PK at the 77th minute after forward Ian Fuller
was brought down in the penalty area. 

“Obviously we need to put away more of our chances, but they were there,” Ercoli said. 

Lenin Steenkamp nearly connected twice in the first half on headers and forward 
Jamel Mitchell also almost nodded in a Steenkamp feed and just missed 
connecting with Hayes across the goal mouth in the first half. 

Toronto scored in the fourth minute on a 28-yard shot by ex-Rhino Nikki Vignjevic and 
then Argentine newcomer * [Jorge Sebastian Barclay, name omitted in newspaper article,
Rocket Robin]* headed in a shot from about 12 yards in the second half. 

The Rhinos released two players on Friday, goalkeeper Rafael Quesada and 
forward Mac Cozier, to trim their roster to 20 players. 

Ercoli said one more player cut is possible. Quesada, 31, played the past 10 years 
in Peru but looked shaky in his two preseason appearances (135 minutes, three 
goals allowed) with Rochester. 

Cozier, 29, a former A-League All-Star with Jacksonville, was picked up by Atlanta. 

“When you look at the amount of people we have and their capability up top it was 
in both of our best interests to part ways,” Ercoli said. 

E-mail address: jdiveron@DemocratandChronicle.com 
 

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