RHINO DROPPINGS

June 16, 2004

Last time out: The crack staff here in the RD Utility Muffin Research Kitchen isn't exactly sure if outplaying a team with a worse record than Toronto for one half is anything to get excited about.  That's what we saw on Sunday, when Rochester (7-1-2) made Virginia Beach (2-2-6) take it like a Salty Dog for the first 45 before offering 10,156 fans a second half of truly listless, uninspiring soccer action.  The situation was made worse by the fact that the Mariners were without First Team All-League Pato Aguilera (called up to DC United for the weekend) and fellow midfielder Jeff Bilyk (yellow card accumulation), and that VeeBee also had to play again the following evening in Syracuse.

On the flipside, I don't think there's any doubt in anyone's mind who the Rhinos should be starting at forward for every match in the immediate future.  Chris Carrieri and Corey Woolfolk worked very well together, and each ended up with a goal, an assist, and, thanks to a number of acrobatic saves by Matt "Full" Nelson, several evenings' worth of nightmares for all of those shots that could have been. 

Also, it was a lot of fun to watch the head referee, who appeared to be the officiating world's version of the Soup Nazi (in demeanor, not appearance).  He was assisted by a linesman who got every offside call wrong.  They should be stars of their own sitcom.  Imagine the linesman sticking his flag up in the air at various inopportune times (like a call for lion bait volunteers, or a formal inquisition into who actually let the dogs out) and then the Ref Nazi getting really mad at him.  Pure comedic gold.

Next up: Prepare for an ugly road trip, Rhinos fans.  Rochester heads west to play Portland in what will be their first non-conference battle of the season this Thursday.  Yes, Portland - the team with the 7-0-2 record.  The team in first place in the Western Conference.  The team with two-time Player of the Week Alan Gordon, who has nine goals in his last six matches.  The team that just signed Andrew Gregor, an All-League First Teamer each of the last two seasons.  The team that Noah Delgado used to play for.  What does that have to do with the price of beans?  We don't know.  That's just how scared the RD is about Portland.

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Tail of the Tape
7-1-2 Record 7-0-2
2-1-1 (away) 4-0-1 (home)
0-0-0 Non-Conference Record 1-0-1
0-0-0 0-0-0 (home)
1.700 GFA 2.444
1.250 (away) 2.666 (home)
0.600 GAA 1.222
1.000 (away) 1.000 (home)
1.100 Goal Differential 1.222
0.250 (away) 1.600 (home)
1 win Streak 1 loss
2 wins (away) 1 loss (home)
7-1-2 Last 10 matches 8-0-2
2-3-5 (away) 7-1-2 (home)
1-0-0 Head-to-Head 0-0-1
0-0-0 (away) 0-0-0 (home)
9-2-4 June Record* 10-2-6
4-2-2 (away) 6-1-2 (home)
3-0-0 Thursday Record* 10-0-2
2-0-0 (away) 10-0-2 (home)
0-0-0 June/Thursday Record* 3-0-0
0-0-0 (away) 3-0-0 (home)
* - Last two seasons

On Saturday, Rochester swings in on Seattle, a fairly spotty team that does quite well at home even when their record is mediocre (46-6-8 over the last five seasons).  On top of that, you've got to deal with their lifetime winning record against the Rhinos (5-0-3, including a perfect 4-0-0 mark at home), a feat which is nearly as rare as Dimitar Stojanov sighting.  It all spells doom.  DOOOM!

Tail of the Tape
7-1-2 Record 5-1-4
2-1-1 (away) 3-1-1 (home)
0-0-0 Non-Conference Record 0-0-0
0-0-0 0-0-0 (home)
1.700 GFA 1.600
1.250 (away) 2.000 (home)
0.600 GAA 1.100
1.000 (away) 0.800 (home)
1.100 Goal Differential 0.500
0.250 (away) 1.200 (home)
1 win Streak 1 win
2 wins (away) 3 wins (home)
7-1-2 Last 10 matches 5-1-4
2-3-5 (away) 6-1-3 (home)
3-0-4 Head-to-Head 4-0-3
0-0-3 (away) 3-0-0 (home)
9-2-4 June Record* 11-2-5
4-2-2 (away) 3-0-0 (home)
18-2-3 Saturday Record* 16-2-5
6-2-2 (away) 9-2-1 (home)
5-1-0 June/Saturday Record* 6-0-1
2-1-0 (home) 2-0-0 (home)
* - Last two seasons

 

Prediction: 3-2 loss to Portland, and a 2-0 loss to Seattle. And before anyone accuses the RD of picking on the Rhinos too much, we'll remind you this is the first time we've picked them to lose all year. To win just one of these matches would be considered a successful road jaunt.

Where have you gone, Andy Restrepo? On Friday in Syracuse, Atlanta beat the hapless Salty Dogs when Mac Cozier found net in the 90th minute of what previously was a 1-1 deadlock.  It was the S-Backs' fifth straight win, Syracuse's fourth straight loss, but it did end the S-Dogs' 321-minute scoring drought.  Baby steps, Dawgs.  Baby steps. Rene Rivas and fans throughout Central New York were shocked when Rene Rivas received a yellow card.

Those same S-Dogs managed to beat Virginia Beach 1-0 on Sunday.  See? Baby steps.  Next thing you know, they'll win by more than a goal.  And then maybe string together two victories in a row.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves, or else Baby might trip.  Cristian Neagu, saw yellow and that means he's been carded in every game since he scored against Rochester in the 1-1 draw on May 14.  Before you start hatin', that just might be the way they play over there in the Carpathian Mountains.

Atlanta, meanwhile, got Win No. 6 in a row when John Ball's goal was the clincher in a 1-0 win in Toronto.  It was the first time the Lynx lost with Richard Goddard in the net.

Around the A-League:  Seattle is 5-0-0 when Welton scores, and 0-1-4 when he doesn't.

Montreal ran their record to a perfect 9-0-0 with a pair of road shutouts against Vancouver and Calgary.  Mauro Biello sat out both matches with an ankle injury.  Fred Commodore had another goal off the bench, leaving behind this gaudy statistic: 4 goals in 94 minutes as a sub.

MLS update:  Diego Gutierrez received a red card for playing like a girl, and San Jose won their first non-Onstad match of 2004.

Miscellaneous droppings:  We're looking for ideas here at RD headquarters.  If you can think of some fun weekly addition we can add to our coverage, drop us a line at rhinodroppings@sick-boy.com.