RHINO DROPPINGS

July 7, 2004

Last time out: Hola amigos!  What's going on?  I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but I've had a lot of stuff goin' down.  Whoops!  Wrong article.  The RD staff is still more than a little freaked out over the Rhinos sweeping that West Coast swing a couple of weeks ago (can anyone say, "Best Road Trip Ever"?), especially considering the recent efforts we've seen at Frontier and all.

Up next: Montreal is fresh off a pair of shocking 2-1 defeats on a southern journey through Richmond and Virginia Beach.  Defender Nevio Pizzolitto was sent off in the first but sat out the next match, rather than miss action  against the Rhinos.  One of the two lonely Impact goals came off of the Biello-to-Sebrango combo that strikes fear into the hearts of Rhinos fans. Well, that and Biello-to-Commodore.  Or Gervais-to-Sebrango.  Or Sebrango-to-Commodore.  Or even Evers-to-Tinker-to-Chance.  Ze Roberto picked up his sixth yellow card of the year, which means he might have to miss one of the two matches against Rochester because of caution point  accumulation.

Those losses, while proving the Impact are, in fact, beatable, will probably just make them and their in-the-pocket officials even more angry when the Rhinos travel up there tonight.  Hopefully, we'll see the unveiling of the dreaded 5-4-1 formation, where the Rhinos pack it in and play for the draw.  Mind you, the RD isn't for that kind of nonsense against anyone other than Montreal, at the Claude, where Rochester has just one regular season victory in the last nine years.

.

Tail of the Tape
10-1-2 Record 8-4-2
4-1-1 (away) 2-2-0 (home)
8-1-2 Conference Record 6-3-2
2-1-1 (away) 2-2-0 (home)
1.61 GFA 1.57
1.33 (away) 1.75 (home)
0.53 GAA 0.50
0.83 (away) 0.50 (home)
1.08 Goal Differential 1.07
0.50 (away) 1.25 (home)
1 win Streak 2 losses
4 wins (away) 1 draw
8-0-2 Last 10 matches 5-3-2
4-2-4 (away) 3-5-2 (home)
11-2-14 Head-to-Head 14-2-11
1-1-11 (away) 11-1-1 (home)
8-2-4 July Record* 9-0-7
2-0-3 (away) 6-0-4 (home)
1-0-1 Wednesday Record* 5-2-5
0-0-1 (away) 5-2-5 (home)
1-0-1 July/Wednesday Record* 4-0-4
0-0-1 (away) 4-0-4 (home)
* - since 2002

.

Tail of the Tape
10-1-2 Record 8-4-2
6-0-1 (home) 6-2-2 (away)
8-1-2 Conference Record 6-3-2
6-0-1 (home) 4-1-2 (away)
1.61 GFA 1.57
1.85 (home) 1.50 (away)
0.53 GAA 0.50
0.28 (home) 0.50 (away)
1.08 Goal Differential 1.07
1.57 (home) 1.00 (away)
1 win Streak 2 losses
2 wins (home) 2 losses (away)
8-0-2 Last 10 matches 5-3-2
8-1-1 (home) 6-2-2 (away)
11-2-14 Head-to-Head 14-2-11
10-1-3 (home) 3-1-10 (away)
8-2-4 July Record* 9-0-7
7-2-1 (home) 3-0-3 (away)
11-3-8 Friday Record* 14-2-4
8-2-4 (home) 9-1-2 (away)
2-1-1 July/Friday Record* 4-0-2
2-1-1 (home) 2-0-2 (away)
* - since 2002

 

Prediction: Montreal takes it, 1-0, in Montreal, and then draws 1-1 at Frontier on Friday.  Expect two ejections and at least one pushing incident over the three-day span.

Where have you gone, Andy Restrepo? Who came on as a sub for Vancouver in their 3-2 loss to Edmonton last weekend?  Fuseini Dauda, that's who.  Next thing you know, Yogi McKay is going to be suiting up for Calgary.

Atlanta, led by yet another Mac Cozier goal, won their ninth straight, pummeling Puerto Rico 4-1 in a match that saw John Ball ejected.  Cozier is now second on the A-League scoring charts, amidst other familiar names as Fred Commodore, Greg Simmonds and Matthew Delicāte (hey, he was a Rhinos draft pick).

Around the A-League:  Toronto dropped the Salty Dogs 1-0 in Syracuse.  Scott Schweitzer made just his second start of the season and received a yellow card.  Rene Rivas sat out due to yellow card accumulation, which, for him, amass like inches of snow in the Salt City.

After being embarrassed via a 2-0 home loss to Puerto Rico, the defending champion Charleston Battery are winless in their last 10 matches.  And I STILL bet the Rhinos have a hard time scoring against them.  Charleston are currently in the basement of the Eastern Conference, behind Toronto, and even Syracuse.  It must suck down there.

David Hayes had the game-winning assist in Richmond's aforementioned win over Montreal.  Thanks for getting them riled up, Hayzee.

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.