Sunday, June 04, 2000 - On a cloudy and cool June night, Rochester put forth a good effort against Reggina Calcio of the Italy's Serie A. Despite all the effort that Rochester put on the field Sunday, it was still not enough to win.
Most of the action in the first half was in the midfield. Reggina and Rochester changed possession of the ball often, but the teams did manage a few shots. Reggina had 4 and Rochester had 6 at the half. Rochester squandered its few scoring chances by placing the ball over the crossbar.
Reggina forward Gustavo Reggi provided the game's only goal in the 43rd minute from a nice pass by midfielder Giovanni Morabito. Rochester's goalie Scott Vallow, making his first home start of the year, had a bead on the ball and dove in the right direction, but the shot was well placed and sailed just over the top of Vallow to reach the back of the net.
Rochester's stating lineup was made up of players who are usually substitutes in the regular season. Surprisingly, this starting squad of Rhinos showed more intensity in the first half than the regular squad did in the Connecticut match the night before.
The second half saw the Rhinos replace all but three of the players who had started the match. Lenin Steenkamp entered the game in the 72nd minute and provided the most exciting chance for the Rhinos to even up the game. Lenin let a shot rip from well outside Reggina's penalty box, forcing Reggina keeper Emanuele Belardi to dive to block the shot. Belardi misplayed the ball and missed. However, Lenin's shot hit the post and came back out into play. Eddy Sebrango had positioned himself perfectly for the rebound, but his header went just over the crossbar.
Even though Reggina Calcio may not have had as many shots on goal as Rochester [Reggina 7, Rochester 14], they controlled the ball for most of the match. The clean, crisp passing and well-timed attacks were something that the Rhinos rarely face.
The Rhinos did play better at home against Reggina than they have against most league opponents. In the end, Reggina proved that they were the better team. Even though it may have been tough for fans to watch their team lose, they can take pride in the fact that Rochester was able to challenge a team from arguably the best division of soccer in the world.
Inside Track:
· Reggina Calcio finished their season in 12th place out of the 18 teams in the Italian Serie A
Scoring Summary
1 2 Final
REGGINA 1 0 1
ROC 0 0 0
Goals: Reggina: Reggi [43]
Assists: Reggina: Morabito [43]
Rochester Lineup: GK-Vallow, D-Zavala (Mercik 72), D-Demmin, D-Restrepo (Schweitzer 57), D-Walton (Kirmse 45), M-Garvais (Steenkamp 72), M-Ball (Tanner 45), M-Allnutt, M-Annan (Sebrango 45), F-Lowe, F-Butcher (Glenn 72)
