LAST SEASON:
Regular season record: 11-3-14, 6th place in Eastern Conference and out of playoff contention
Record against active USL-1 teams: 9-3-10 (explanation)
RD's 2004 prediction: 12-7-9; 5th place and out of playoff contention
The Mariners scored goals like nobody's business, but they also allowed them at an alarming pace.  (goalkeeper Matt Nelson (1.462 GAA) saw more balls flying at his head than Lindsay Lohan).  The team was in the thick of things last year before stumbling to a 0-0-4 mark at the end of 2004.  Having a striker like Dante Washington will always keep you in the thick of things, though (he merely led the league in scoring, goals, made the Team of the Week four times, and was the runner-up for the MVP award).  One has to wonder how bad Virginia Beach would have been without his impressive presence, or god forbid, their second-best scorer, Carlos Garcia…

 

SEACREST, OUT:
F Dante Washington (17+6=40) to Columbus; All-League First Team
F Carlos Garcia (5+9=19)
Washington

 

BACK IN BLACK:
M Jakob Fenger (4+4=12); two Teams of Week
M Hamisi Amani-Dove (5+6=16)
M Steve Shak (3+1=7)
GK Matt Nelson (1.462 GAA, 4 SO)
Fenger

 

FRESH MEAT:
D Tim O’Neill (1+2=4) from Syracuse
M Darren Caskey from Peterborough (England)
F Dan Castellanos (5+0=10 in 11 starts) from Minnesota
F Teofore Bennett from Village United (Jamaica)
F Warren Ukah from Village United (Jamaica)
Caskey

 

LOCAL HISTORY:
- Rochester is 4-0-4 against Virginia Beach
- Rochester was 1-0-2 against Virginia Beach in 2004
- In 2004, Rochester was outscored 7-0 at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex
- Former Rochester midfielder David Hayes played for the Mariners in 2001
- Dante Washington scored in all three games against Rochester in 2004
- Hamisi Amani-Dove scored three goals for Rochester in 2002 (which, tragically, was good enough for fourth-best on the team)
- Rochester is 3-0-0 against Virginia Beach at Frontier Field

 

THE LOWDOWN:
Yeah, so losing your two best goal-scorers doesn’t exactly produce the greatest feeling in the world (does it, Rhinos fans?).  The young Castellanos showed promise for Minnesota during the second half of their season, and Bennett – capped occasionally by Jamaica’s National Team – both have some pretty big boots to fill (they’ve yet to make the scoreboard in the Mariner’s first three ’05 matches).  RD thinks a winning record would be a noble and worthy goal.  Or, if you believe the rumors, it might be an accomplishment to make it through the 2005 season without being taken over by the league.  Maybe the real question is this: Will 2005 Thug of the Year Jeff Bilyk beat last year’s amazing record of 12 yellow cards in 22 matches?  He’s off to a flying start, with two in his first three this season.  Now that's a man who really wants to hold on to his title.

 

RD's 2005 prediction: 8-5-17, 8th place and out of playoff contention

Back to the 2005 preview