The Connecticut Wolves continued their good form early in the 2001 season with a 5-0 victory against the Rhode Island Stingrays on Saturday night at Willow Brook Park in New Britain, Connecticut, in a match in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup competition.
The Wolves set the tone of the match in the opening minute, with forward Patrick Beech's diving header forcing Stingrays keeper Babou Gaye to make a fine save. Temoc Suarez made vital contributions to the Wolves attack in the creative midfield role, and he opened the scoring for Connecticut in the 14th minute.
Suarez dribbled into space 18 yards from the goal and shot low to the right corner to make it 1-0. Soon after the goal, the Wolves changed the look of their attack by moving Erik Barbieri from the right side of midfield to the left flank, with Winston Griffiths coming over from the left to take Barbieri's place on the right side. The Wolves continued to use this strategy throughout the game to cause matchup problems in the Stingrays defense, a move that Wolves coach Dan Gaspar put in as a key part of his game plan.
Gaspar also said that he was counting on Paul Oyuga to be the lynchpin in midfield, and indeed it was Oyuga who controlled the flow of play in the midfield for much of the game. After Gaye was forced to make another fine save off a header by Connecticut's Russell Hutchinson, Rhode Island also made changes in their game plan, as Stingrays coach Mario Pereira made two substitutions, putting in forwards Mark Manganello and Bjorn Hansen to attempt to spark their offense.
Still, Connecticut created the scoring opportunities in the first half, with Patrick Beech proving to be particularly dangerous up front. Beech directed a Winston Griffiths cross just wide past the right post in the 30th minute, and put a header on goal to force another save out of Gaye in the Rhode Island net moments later.
Paul Oyuga then showed his control of the midfield in beginning the move that led to Connecticut's deserved second goal five minutes before halftime. Oyuga dribbled into space to provide a pass for Erik Barbieri on the left side. Barbieri's cross found Patrick Beech in front of goal, and Beech tapped the ball in past Gaye from six yards to increase th Wolves' lead to 2-0. This was a vital turning point, as Connecticut began to play with greater confidence.
The Wolves nearly scored a third goal before the interval, but Beech's quick shot with the outside of his right foot off Wolves forward Fabio Zuniga's pass just missed wide.
Rhode Island came out with greater urgency at the beginning of the second half, putting together their best attacks of the match in the first ten minutes after halftime.
However, the Wolves soon regained control of the match, with Zuniga forcing Gaye to come off his line twice in quick succession to prevent a breakaway scoring chance. And it was Zuniga who added the third for Connecticut in the 58th minute, placing a shot from 15 yards inside the right post after a fine buildup that involved Wolves right back Max Zieky, in his first professional season after captaining the University of Connecticut to the national title last fall.
This made it 3-0, and effectively put the game beyond Rhode Island's reach. But to their credit, the Stingrays continued to press forward, with both Manganello and Hansen missing from point blank range.
The Wolves put the result beyond any doubt with two goals in two minutes near the end of the match. Bert Williams, who, along with Zieky, made dangerous overlapping runs out of the back throughout the match, put in the Wolves' fourth in the 83rd minute. Williams ran onto an errant pass at the back post and slotted the ball past a surprised Gaye from a very tight angle along the touchline.
In the 84th minute, Wolves substitute midfielder Brian Wood found the back of the net after pouncing onto a loose ball just inside the area. Rhode Island put pressure on in stoppage time with the Wolves reduced to ten men in the 88th minute after substitute Irasto Knights was sent off for an off-the-ball incident. Yet the Wolves maintained their margin and finished with a comprehensive and thoroughly deserved victory.
The Wolves' triumph takes them to the top of their Open Cup group, with a critical match at home next Saturday against the Boston Bulldogs.
Wolves 5, Stingrays 0
Goals: CT- Temoc Suarez-14th minute
CT- Patrick Beech-40th minute
CT- Fabio Zuniga-58th minute
CT- Bert Williams-83rd minute
CT- Brian Wood-84th minute
Cautions: RI- Jesse Simmons-80th minute
Expulsions: CT-Irasto Knights-88th minute
Lineups: Connecticut Wolves- 1-Adam Throop, 6-Max Zieky, 13-Antonio Soto, 5-Russell Hutchinson (4-Sean Nealis 70), 24-Bert Williams, 10-Erik Barbieri (14-Dan Rudolph 70), 17-Paul Oyuga, 9-Temoc Suarez (11-Brian Wood 64), 23-Winston Griffiths (20-Steve Medicini 78), 7-Fabio Zuniga (16-Irasto Knights 64), 19-Patrick Beech
Rhode Island Stingrays- 00-Babou Gaye, 23-Carlos Fernandes, 19-Jesse Simmons, 4-Dave Demello, 21-Rui Dias (24-Patrick Mulcahey 28), 9-Chris Leganski, 10-Manny Brito, 18-Ingy Fortes (3-David Kroma 66), 17-Martin Ferrara (11-Mark Manganello 20), 6-Ben Figueirido (2-Robert Risley 64), 22-Gabriel Toro (20-Bjorn Hansen 20)
