New-look Rhinos roll
Carrieri sparks rout of Toronto
By JEFF DiVERONICA
Staff writer (The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
(May 2, 2004) — Chris Carrieri kept telling himself to do the little things. Pass the ball quickly. Keep making the right runs. Put yourself in position.
His first goal as a Rochester Rhino would come.
It didn’t, though, in six preseason games.
Saturday night’s A-League season opener at Frontier Field was a different story.
The former No. 1 overall draft pick in Major League Soccer gave Rochester the lead in the 11th minute and tacked on two assists in the second half as the new-look Rhinos throttled the Toronto Lynx, 4-0, before a crowd of 9,698 at Frontier Field.
Forward Corey Woolfolk came off the bench to score twice in the second half on Carrieri passes, and Kirk Wilson also scored on a first-half feed from Noah Delgado, one of seven newcomers in coach Pat Ercoli’s starting lineup.
”It wasn’t just me. Eleven guys worked hard, look at it, 4-nil,” said Carrieri, 24, who was released in March by the Colorado Rapids and came to Rochester looking for a fresh start.
”We pressured hard defensively. We scored on our opportunities. We packed the front. We just worked as a unit. It’s great to be part of that.”
The speedier Rhinos used a new three-forward, 4-3-3 formation. It kept the pressure on the Lynx (1-1) all night. Rochester led 15-7 in shots, 10-0 in corner kicks.
Delgado, acquired in the trade with Syracuse for two-time A-League Defender of the Year Scott Schweitzer, started in place of Doug Miller, the Rhinos’ all-time leading scorer who is out with an ankle injury. Carrieri and sturdy Ryan Trout were the other forwards.
”They executed and they showed that speed certainly makes a difference,” said Ercoli, whose clubs have usually employed a two-forward, 4-4-2 formation the past eight years.
Carrieri got it started early, scoring on a sliding, left-footed shot from four yards. Trout initiated it all with a throw-in to the near post and Fuller made the play, winning a header in between two defenders and flicking the ball to the back post to Carrieri.
”It’s almost like a tap-in, but I’ve missed those before,” said Carrieri, who had three goals and eight assists last year after 11-5 in 2002.
He had missed a few in preseason, too, but he and Ercoli talked “about doing things that would improve his game that didn’t necessarily focus around scoring,” the coach said.
”I was a little nervous coming in,” Carrieri admitted. “I was expecting to maybe put one in the back of the net, but if I didn’t, there are other things you can do.”
Delgado did a lot, too.
Syracuse’s team leader in assists in 2003 set up Wilson in the 36th minute. Delgado stole the ball in the corner, ditched two defenders on the end line just right of goal and fed the ball in front, where Wilson out-battled defender Adrian Serioux for the ball.
”Chris was sitting up top open and I thought that was the obvious pass, so I kind of hesitated to play it and I saw Kirk making a run,” Delgado said.
It could have been more lopsided, but Toronto goalie Bryheem Hancock made two spectacular saves, stopping a header by 6-foot-4 David Wright off a Shaun Tsakiris corner kick and a Delgado shot.
”This team has a lot of firepower up front,” Wilson said. “We’re better off keeping it in their end and going at them than we are at sitting back and letting them come at us.”
The 2003 Rhinos never quite figured that out and as a result gave up a few late leads. But Woolfolk, who replaced Delgado in the 69th minute, locked the match up in the 80th minute, finishing from 10 yards in front off a perfect one-touch feed from Carrieri. The same duo also hooked up in the 86th.
”No one was worried whether Chris would score,” Woolfolk said. “I’m just happy he scored and he’s creating for others. He definitely came out with a spark.”
Toronto did have a pair of decent chances, but Joe Mattachione’s 17-yard shot in the 55th minute hit the right post and goalie Theo Zagar, the former Lynx keeper and two-time team MVP, was in the right spot to stop John Barry Nusum’s 12-yard header in the 68th.
”Essentially, it’s one game out of 28,” a cautious Ercoli said. “But we’re happy with the result.”
JDIVERON@DemocratandChronicle.com
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