Mon, May 17, 2004

New Rhino a whino

By MIKE KOREEN, TORONTO SUN

INCENSED AT the officiating and the result, Theo Zagar bolted to midfield to chew out referee Hu Liu when the final whistle sounded. This wasn't the way the Rochester Raging Rhinos star goalie envisioned his Toronto homecoming.

Zagar -- sold to the Rhinos from the Toronto Lynx during the off-season -- was livid at Liu after the referee played a big role in Toronto's dramatic 2-1 win.

Playing a man down after Liu ejected Rochester's Shaun Tsakiris for getting his knee high on a challenge on Edgar Bartolomeu in the 33rd minute, the Rhinos yielded the winner in the final minute of extra time.

Toronto's Darren Baxter broke a 1-1 tie when he converted an Ali Gerba pass. Seconds earlier, no call was made when Doug Miller was taken down in the Lynx penalty area.

"The whole game was frustrating," Zagar said. "We just weren't getting the calls."

While the red card to Tsakiris was questionable, Zagar also didn't agree with Liu's decision to give a penalty shot to the Lynx when the goalie came out of his net to challenge John Barry Nusum for a loose ball at the corner of the penalty area. On a close play, Liu ruled the takedown was in the penalty area, leading to a penalty shot goal for Gerba to open the scoring in the 69th minute.

"That was outside (the penalty area)," said Zagar, who allowed only one goal in his first three games, including a 4-0 season-opening win over the Lynx in Rochester. "Even the linesman agreed. He told me it was outside."

The Rhinos (2-1-1) tied it when Bill Sedgewick scored in the 82nd minute. The Lynx improved to 2-3-0 with their first win in a home opener since 2001.

"You have to keep putting pressure on them until the last minute," said Gerba. "It was a must-win situation."

The Lynx return to action for a home-and-home series against the Montreal Impact -- May 28 in Montreal and the next day at Etobicoke Centennial Stadium.

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