Saturday, May 5th 2001- The Rhinos opened their season at home looking to break the curse of home openers. After the first 2 minutes most figured this would be the year it was broken.
The Rhinos were awarded a free kick around the 1-minute mark, and the Surgeon Martin Nash stepped up to do his work. He sent in a cross that met the head of a diving Tommy Tanner and whipped past the Wolves out of position keeper, giving him the second fastest goal in Rhinos history. The remainder of the first half saw Rochester dominate at they got off 13 shots to Connecticut's 4.
The half-time speech must have either inspired the Wolves or sent the Rhinos into complacency as they came out stale. Losing their complete dominance of the midfield, Rochester began to show that this truly was the fist time most of these players have played together in a league match.
This lack of team play came helped out the Wolves in the 55th minute. Temoc Suarez sent a beautiful through ball past defender Bill Sedgewick and right to the foot of Fabio Zuniga, who buried it past Pat Onstad.
In the 70th minute defender Patrick Oparaku was sent off giving Rochester a man advantage. The Rhinos could not capitalize on this and the Wolves never could muster much of a counter attack. After a double overtime the game ended 1-1 and the worst team in the A-League during the 2000 season had been impressive thus far, having beat Minnesota and now tying the Champion Rhinos.
Scoring Summary
1 2 Final
CONN 0 1 1
ROC 1 0 1
Goals:
Tanner (Nash) 2' Roc 1 - Conn 0
Zuniga (Suarez) 55' Roc 1 - Conn 1
Rochester Lineup: GK- Onstad, D- Schweitzer, D-Dauda, D- Parra (Zavala 75'), D-Sedgewick, M- Daligcon (Annan 100'), M-T. Tanner (Wilson 55'), M- Nash, M- Steenkamp, F- Trotman (J. Tanner 87'), F- Kirov (Butcher 63')
Rating the Rhinos
On a scale of 8 (highest), here's how the Rhinos fared versus Connecticut:
| Pos. |
Name |
Keith's Rating |
Comments |
| GK |
Onstad |
6 |
Not really tested |
| D |
Schweitzer |
6.5 |
Usual High quality job |
| D |
Dauda |
6 |
Solid |
| D |
Parra |
6 |
Good but needed to be substituted early |
| D |
Sedgewick |
5 |
Costly mistake allowed through ball to get through to forward for goal |
| M |
Steenkamp |
6 |
Usual quality job |
| M |
Nash |
8 |
Excellent. Crosses pinpoint and assisted on goal |
| M |
Tanner |
8 |
Scored within 2' and was a constant presence on the field |
| M |
Daligcon |
5 |
Was pushed around put was able to at least hold his own |
| F |
Trotman |
5 |
Nothing spectacular but glimpses of why they signed him |
| F |
Kirov |
5 |
Same as Trotman |
| - |
Coaches |
6 |
First Game of season with 8 new players. Made still need to find right mix. |
