May 13, 2006 USL Toronto Lynx vs Rochester Raging Rhinos (from Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
Unbeaten Rhinos wary of being overconfident
Jeff DiVeronica
Staff writer
(May 13, 2006) — The Rhinos play in Toronto at 4 p.m. today in a match that has "trap game" written all over it, meaning coach Laurie Calloway has been reminding his team all week that it can't afford to overlook the Lynx.
"I'm very worried," he said after Friday's practice at Total Sports Experience in Gates. "I've been on them since our talk after (last Saturday's) game in Puerto Rico."
Rochester (2-0) is coming off an impressive season-opening road trip that included shutout wins over Miami FC and Puerto Rico, while Toronto is 0-2, has yet to score a goal and last year was outscored 10-4 by the Rhinos in losing all four matchups.
The Lynx also lost 3-1 to Rochester in an April 15 preseason match at Aquinas Institute.
However, Toronto signed three Brazilians this week, hasn't played since April 29 and today's match is its home opener at Centennial Park Stadium.
"They're going to have better players than they had (in the preseason)," said Calloway, who plans to use the same lineup that started the season opener in Miami. "Toronto has always knocked off one or two good teams every year, and we don't want it to be this game."
A loss would take some of the luster off last week's road trip and be cause for concern as Rochester heads into a West Coast trip that includes three matches in six days against a trio of solid opponents. The Rhinos play at defending champion Seattle (0-1) on Wednesday, at Portland (1-1-1) Friday and at first-place Vancouver (2-0-1) in a 1 p.m. start on Monday, May 22.
"Coach has been stressing that we can't go in overconfident," said midfielder John Ball, the USL First Division Player of the Week after scoring twice vs. Miami. "Toronto is the closest team to us (in proximity), so that makes it kind of a rivalry, plus it's their home opener. But the bottom line is, it's 11 versus 11 and if we play like we did we think we can come home with three points."
The Rhinos bench has been bolstered by the arrival of Greg Howes, a two-time indoor league MVP who recently signed a new one-year loan deal from Milwaukee.
Howes was Rochester's second-leading goal scorer last year with five (19 matches). Calloway likes the versatility Howes provides as a defensive midfielder — with an offensive mindset — or at forward.
"He can strike a great ball from the outside and just gives us a little more range," Calloway said. "I look at this squad and we've got (Matthew) Delicate and Charles (Gbeke) up front, two big guys, and we have the option of putting Johnny Menyongar up there with his speed for a different look. Howes gives us one more permutation there if we need it."
JDIVERON@DemocratandChronicle.com
.
.