Rhinos Head South With Lead

In Friday night's playoff showdown between the Rhinos and Battery both teams would play conservatively in search of a positive result. Aside of a shaky moment or two on Battery crosses, the Rhinos seemed to have the better of play, but were unable to get on the scoresheet for most of the match. Vallow also bailed his team out early in the second half. On a night where the rain held off, the Rhinos seemed destined for a disappointing 0-0 draw in their home leg of the first round. Determined not to head down to South Carolina as equals, the Rhinos forced the game in the late stages, and came away with a pair of late goals to put themselves in prime position to advance. Guppy struck first in the 86th on an assist from Menyongar, and Delicate added a second after a poor clearance from Charleston in the 90th minute to wrap up the game.

The Rhinos will defend their two goal advantage in a 7:00 PM kickoff at Blackbaud Stadium on Sunday. Expect some conservative play from the Rhinos leading to a low scoring affair, as the Rhinos need only to stay within a goal of the hosts to advance to the second round. Check in tomorrow evening for a running commentary.

Here is another photo of Blackbaud:

High School Roundup

It's been awhile since I've posted an update as to where the local high school teams stand. Heading into the last week of September, it's the Brockport Blue Devils (8-1-0) and Webster Thomas (6-0-1) boasting the most impressive records. Fairport, Webster Schroeder, Spencerport, Churchville-Chili, Pittsford Mendon, Pittsford Sutherland, Penfield, Greece Odyssey, Greece Athena and Victor round out the Monroe County league teams with .500 records or better.

More Bad News for the Red Bulls

Coming off a disappointing road loss to Colombus, the Red Bulls were dealt another tough blow ahead of the RSL matchup. The team, already without Dave Van den Bergh who is recovering from a sports hernia surgery, will also be left without playmaker Jorge Rojas and center back Gabriel Cichero who have both been called up to the Venezuela national squad for a World Cup Qualifier. Juan Pablo Angel may want to bring a book, otherwise he's likely to get bored in the offensive third.

In other MLS action, Dallas smashed the Fire in Chicago, and DC was beaten handily by LA as the Galaxy flexed their muscles and reminded people they are not yet out of the playoff conversation.

Red Bulls Falter in Colombus

In Thursday night's MLS action the Red Bulls bid to move up in the Eastern Conference playoff positioning was thwarted as the club gave up a 1-0 lead by allowing 3 unanswered goals against a Crew team that lacked playmaker Schelotto. While on the subject of MLS games, if you are home late on a Saturday night with nothing to do, tune to FSC for the goalfest that is the DC United vs LA Galaxy game, currently led by the Gals 3-2 early in the second half. For a full report of the Red Bulls match check Metrofanatic's story.

Rhinos Stumble into Playoffs

While the Rhinos will participate in the USL-1 playoffs, they will do so after a disappointing home result in the final home game at Paetec. The Rochester side played host to USL leading Puerto Rico on Friday night with hopes of making a statement heading into the postseason. Unfortunately a flat team was dealt a 2-0 loss in a game they never really got into.

The Rhinos stand at 11-9-8 with the 2 away games left. With games at basement clubs Carolina and Miami, the Rhinos look to move up to at least 4th in the playoff seedings.

US Cruises Past T&T

After 3-0 win in Chicago over Trinidad and Tobago, the United States now sits at the maximum possible 9 points through 3 games. This is critical because it not only puts them in the driver's seat to qualify for the next round of World Cup qualifying, but it should allow them to give some other players a look during some heated battles. To take this one step further, hopefully other players seize that chance and get EJ out of the forward picture for the US.

In a game the US dominated for at least 70 minutes, Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey got the US rolling in the first half, and Brian Ching's 2nd half goal sealed the deal. Bradley nicely redirected a free kick to open the scoring. Dempsey added the second when a ball got past a defender and reached him for a nice far post finish, and Ching iced the game when Onyewu managed a header over the keeper and the Hawaiian simply had to head the ball into an open net.

What's next? Let's hope some phone calls to Kenny Cooper, Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu!

Odyssey vs Cal-Mum

This evening I made the trip out to Caledonia to check out a non-league matchup between Cal-Mum and Odyssey in the Cal-Mum Tournament. The match was the first of two varsity games to be played for the tournament's final day.

The game got off to a slow start with the first real chance coming 20 minutes in when a long ball found the head of Odyssey striker Joe Walsh. Walsh redirected towards goal, but his header went just high of the crossbar. Shortly later in the 28th a thru-ball played in by Walsh was smothered by Cal-Mum's junior goalkeeper Erik Miles.

Cal-Mum found their first chance a minute later when confusion in the box lead to a dangerous chance with a portion of the net open after the ball was redirected, but the shot was sent over the crossbar. The first half continued rather unevenfully with Miles dealing with an Odyssey cross rather comfortably and no real chances coming for either side.

Early in the second half, Odyssey subsitute Chris Terwilliger made his presence felt in the midfield, adding some bite in the center third and winning tackle after tackle. The intensity picked up for the team from Greece as they continued to win the ball and maintain possession, looking quite unlikely to concede a goal. This added pressure led to a turnover that eventually set up a powerful volley by Jason Snook that went just wide. Shortly after Snook's opportunity, Adam Cottorone sent in a corner kick that found the head of Tim Alesio to break the deadlock.

In the 76th minute Odyssey midfielder Kevin Booth got free and sent in a nice shot on goal, but Miles, who looked solid throughout, again was up to the task and tipped the shot over the bar.

Odyssey would eventually add a 2nd goal just 2 minutes from full time as a long range shot from Alesio provided an unlucky bounce for the Cal-Mum keeper and found the back of the net. Led by Alesio's brace, Odyssey improved to 1-1 on the season as Cal-Mum fell to 0-2-2.

The win game senior goalkeeper Joe Scarlata his first shutout of the year after his first bid for a shutout was wiped out with a penalty kick goal. His goals against average stands at an anemic 0.50 early in the season. Joe provided his thoughts on the match as well as the state of his team after the game.

Thoughts on getting his first shutout of the season:

"It feels good to get the shutout, but I've got to credit alot of it to the defense because I only got two shots on me today. They played well and really stepped up and won the ball and that keyed us to the win."

Thoughts on this year's team:

"Well, I think we have an opportunity to be better than we were last year. Our leadership has improved and the young guys really listen and learn. It seems like guys know what to do with the ball instead of panicking, and we're more fundamentally sound than last year."

Thoughts on the team moving forward:

"We're definitely a more mature team this year. It was great to get the first win out of the way, and now we can get a few more practices in and build off of this game. This should be a good foundation for the rest of the season."

Goalscorer Tim Alesio added that he thought that the improved intensity in the second half led to winning the ball consistently and giving him the opportunities he needed to find the back of the net. This intensity is contagious and really leads to improvements throughout the team.

Saturday Soccer Action

There are plenty of games taking place today so here is an update on all the action:

Results of interest in WCQ's-
Slovenia managing a 1-1 draw with Poland
Turkey beating Armenia 2-0
Albania playing Sweden to a scoreless draw
Ukraine knocking off Belarus 1-0
England holds a 2nd half 2-0 lead over Andorra courtesy of a Joe Cole brace
The Romanians who had success in Euro 2008 trail Lithuania 1-0 in the 2nd half
Austria has an early 1-0 advantage on France due to an own goal
Italy is locked a 1-1 with Cyprus in the 1st half
Argentina trailing Paraguay 1-0 in the 1st half.

Still to come-
US Men take on Cuba on ESPN Classic at 8 PM EST, watch it there since it's highly unlikely you will be in attendance.

Red Bulls vs Fire on FSC at 8:30 PM EST, expect a heated battle from two teams that strongly dislike each other.

I'm off now to the Cal-Mum tournament to see some of the Odyssey vs Cal-Mum and Batavia vs Kendall games.

School is in Session

My apologies to everyone for the once again infrequent posts, school has resumed and with it a very busy schedule for me. Being that it was my first week at a new school an inordinate amount of time and energy went into my efforts, so pencil me in on those teacher of the year ballots.

In any event, my efforts on Soccer the Rochester Way have been less than adequate, and I will do my best to catch up a bit now. It's been 5 days since the Red Bulls managed a well earned 0-0 draw in DC for their first shutout in DC in franchise history. Perhaps the highlight for Red Bull fans was when the much maligned Jaime Moreno sent a late spot kick wide right blowing the chance for 3 points. The Red Bulls look forward to another interesting road game when they take on Chicago tomorrow night in what will be Juan Carlos Osorio's first trip back to the Windy City since he left the Fire. NY looks to take advantage of the World Cup Qualifying schedule that won't leave them shorthanded, but will see the Fire without star playmaker Blanco.

In one of the more unusual MLS stories you will see, Toronto FC will be hit hardest by the WCQ's yet forced to play despite Chivas USA agreeing to reschedule. For an interesting read check out Ives' piece on the incident. http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/09/help-wanted-if.html

The Rhinos have been out of action since my last post, but will host the Portland Timbers at Paetec Park tomorrow night. The game is scheduled for a 7:35 kick-off so come out and support the club.

As I'm sure everyone knows by now, US Men's midfielder Michael Bradley has been transferred from Dutch club Heerenveen to newly promoted German club Borussia Monchengladbach. For those unfamiliar with German football, the club has a history of being very respectable, and stays in the top division more often than not. It may not be a widely known club here in America, but I don't think the move is a bad one as many suggest.

Lastly, the high school soccer season is now most certainly underway, and I will be moving on my high school posts and player highlights as promised. For now it is far too early to get excited about team records, but Hilton and Fairport have each jumped out to 3-0-0 records while Penfield and Webster Thomas sit a 2-0-0. Remember, I am by no means everywhere at once, so if you have any stories, scores or player info on local high school teams, please send them my way via e-mail.