A goal by Winston Griffiths of the Connecticut Wolves at 14 minutes of overtime dashed any hopes of the Montreal Impact gaining their first point of the season. Griffiths also had a goal in the first half to give the Wolves a 2-1 victory over the home team Impact in front of just under 2,400 fans.
The Impact, playing their first game at home this season, had a hard time penetrating the Connecticut defense, looking at times disorganized and a full step behind the Wolves. The Montreal team now has five losses in as many games.
The Impact started the game well when French midfielder Gregory Campi shot a volley from outside the box that just missed the Wolves net in the second minute. At the sixth minute, Connecticut countered with striker Patrick Beech going in all alone on Montreal keeper Jim Larkin and letting go a quick shot that gave the Impact goaltender some trouble. The Impact kept pressing but was beaten to the ball by the very tight Wolves defense. On the corner kick in the 20th minute, Impact midfielder Mauro Biello blasted a shot that was headed just over the bar by striker Niall Thompson. Thompson took advantage of a loose ball to score the first goal of the game at the 27th minute after Sunny Nwachukwu hit the goal post. It was Montreal's first goal of the season.
The Impact continued to hold their own until Thompson was yellow carded at the 38th minute. This seemed to cause the Impact players to lose their focus and just a minute later Griffiths tied it up when he went in all alone on Larkin and shot it into the top right hand corner. The Wolves kept pressing but were denied by the strong play of Larkin who was named player of the game despite the loss. Just a minute before half time, Fabio Zuniga blasted a cannon from the right side that Larkin just managed to tip over the bar.
In the second half the Impact players seemed to have a harder time of it, losing the one-on-one battles with the Connecticut players. The Wolves didn't stop attacking and at the 53rd minute midfielder Temoc Suarez fired a free kick, from 10 yards outside the box, just over the bar. Five minutes later, Nigerian striker Patrick Oparaku headed a ball just wide of the Montreal net. The attack by the Wolves was relentless in the latter part of the second half. Zuniga was let in all alone on Larkin and managed a precise low shot that Larkin deflected away with great difficulty. Zuniga got another chance a minute later, blasting a powerful shot that was stopped by the Montreal keeper.
The Impact wasted many of their chances at the end of the half. Mauro Biello got a great chance about 20 feet from goal but launched it several feet over the net. Just as the half was ending Montreal players Nick De Santis and Lloyd Barker got their signals crossed and collided into each other.
In the overtime period, the Wolves continued their domination of the play. Winston Griffiths sealed the victory when he was let in all alone and just lobbed the ball over the head of Jim Larkin 14 minutes into the extra period. Montreal coach Valerio Gazzola praised the strong play of his captain Nick De Santis calling him a workhorse. Gazzola was less enthusiastic when talking about his other players saying, "Some players have to pick up their game." On Jim Larkin's 11-save performance, Gazzola simply said, "Larkin did the job…the others must follow."
The Impact will try and regroup for Friday's home game against Long Island but Gazzola made it very clear that some players would have to dig a lot deeper if they want the club to put some points on the board. One thing is for sure, Jim Larkin can't do it all by himself and as long as he is left to fend for himself, the Impact will struggle.
Lineups:
Connecticut: Throop-Sewell, Zieky, Soto (Nealis 42), Williams-Zuniga, Oparaku, Suarez (Vaudreuil 69), Griffiths-Oyuga (Wood 100), Beech (Barbieri 53). Substitutes not used: Gatti (GK), Kelly, Rudolph.
Montreal: Larkin-Corneli, Kojic, De Santis, Barker-Bernier, Campi (Benhachem 60), Biello (Clark 100)-Kolic (Oliviero 68), Thompson (Diotte 82), Nwachukwu. Substitutes not used: Sutton (GK), Ribeiro, Leduc.
Goals: Montreal-Thompson (27); Connecticut-Griffiths (39, 104)
Cautions: Montreal-Thompson (38), Nwachukwu (82); Connecticut-None.
Ejections: None
Attendance: 2,348
Conditions: Cloudy, 68 degrees Fahrenheit
