June 13, 2001

Last time out. The Rhinos (3-1-1) thumped division rival Pittsburgh (2-4-1) 2-1 at Frontier Field last Friday. It wasn’t as close as the score indicated, either --- Rochester outshot the Riverhounds 26 to 6, and Pittsburgh’s only goal came on an 89th-minute penalty kick.

The hero. Kirk Wilson, who made his first start at forward after netting the match-winner against Connecticut earlier in the week. Wilson reeled off six shots and, with a bit more luck, could have outscored Pittsburgh on his own. Martin Nash scored on a free kick and set up Scott Schweitzer’s goal as well. But the team’s performance seems to ride on the play of midfielders Tommy Tanner and Nate Daligcon, both of whom had their best matches of the 2001 campaign.

Interesting matchups. The Name Game pitted Rhinos defender Mali Walton against Riverhound forward Welton, and the Scuffle of the Sevens saw Daligcon square off against chunky Pittsburgh midfielder and former Rhino Henry Gutierrez, who, ironically, was traded to Seattle for Daligcon in 1997 (they both wear #7, too).

Next match. The Rhinos hit the road this weekend for the second of three matches against first-place Hershey (5-1-1). You can hear it on WYSL 1040 AM, and watch the Wildcats match live on uslsoccer.com’s live Saturday Night Soccer webcast.

US Open Cup. By the time you read this, the draw for the 2001 US Open Cup will have taken place, and the Rhinos will be trying to persuade the United States Soccer Federation to move their first match, tentatively scheduled for June 27, which is smack in the middle of a Red Wings home stand. Don’t hold your breath --- look for the Rhinos to play this one on the road, even though they’ve earned one of the tournament’s top seeds. If only we had a soccer-specific stadium…

Endangered Rhinos. If you’ve been wondering why defenders Andrew Restrepo and Carlos Parra have only managed one start between them in A-League action this year, it’s because they’ve both been on the trading block. Restrepo, the Rhinos’ steadiest anchor in the back and a key cog in the run to the 1999 US Open Cup title, is headed to Atlanta, where he’ll play with former Rhino Jimmy Glenn and current Rhino Billy Andracki, who has been on loan to the Silverbacks since the beginning of the season. The Rhinos will get future draft picks from Atlanta.

    Parra has been traded to the archrival Minnesota Thunder, with the Rhinos receiving Stoian Mladenov, a 26-year-old midfielder who has played eight matches this year, and tallied zero points on two shots while committing nine fouls. He did lead the Thunder with 10 goals and five assists in 2000, and seems to be management’s answer to the gap created by Yari Alnutt’s departure as an attacking midfielder (Mladenov’s numbers last season are eerily similar to Alnutt’s 10 goals and three assists --- and both players landed on the A-League’s First Team). In a strange twist, Minnesota turned around and shipped Parra to Atlanta for midfielder Steve Armas. The Thunder, who are an abysmal 1-1-8 and failed to qualify for the US Open Cup, have also unloaded forward Paul Schneider, who was 9th in scoring last season with 34 points. Schneider’s new team? The suddenly well-stocked Atlanta Silverbacks.

Venue vanguard. The USSF just announced the schedule for the 2001 NIKE US Women’s Open Cup, which will pit the US against China, Japan, and Germany throughout the first half of September. Columbus landed a nationally televised Cup match, something that Rochester could have hosted… if we only had a soccer-specific stadium.

Read the last issue of The Score here.