Last time out. Who told you last
Friday’s match against Charleston was going to be the biggest and toughest
regular-season battle in the history of Frontier? The Score did, and that’s why you should read this column aloud
with your family before Sunday dinner each week. Things looked truly dismal for
the Rhinos when Ryan Trout scored in the 74th minute, especially considering
how incredibly close the first 45 minutes were. I mean, it’s not like anyone
was counting on Billy Sedgewick to come off the bench and score another huge
late-game goal, like he did against Pittsburgh the week before, but that’s just
what that wacky guy did one minute before time expired. Jimmy Tanner added the
winner in the 100th while everyone who left the stadium early pummeled the crap
out of their dashboards as they listened on the radio during their drive back
to the ’burbs.
I’m not saying Coach Ercoli is the
Miracle Worker or anything, but as downright questionable as his subs have
seemed at the time of actual substitution, they’ve paid off like nobody’s
business. Of the Rhinos’ four goals, three were scored (and two were assisted)
by players who didn’t start. Yeah, maybe it only seemed like yanking Mali
Walton, who got schooled by Trout all night long, was the obvious choice to
come out first. Perhaps replacing 8-foot forward Greg Simmonds with 4-foot
midfielder Temoc Suarez only seemed like a crazy thing to do with zeroes on the
board. It all worked out, though, and that’s all that matters… until it
doesn’t work.
Next up. The 2-0-0
Rhinos (10 points, 1st place in Northeast Division) travel to Charlotte to take
on the Eagles (3-0-3, 13 points, 4th place in Southeast Division) and
Canandaigua Academy graduate Andy Guastaferro. Charlotte is led by Jose Gomez
(2 goals, 3 assists, 7 points) and Dustin Swinehart (3+1=7), the latter of whom
was second in A-League scoring in 2001. Swinehart has scored in each of the
Eagles’ three wins this season, so if the Rhinos can shut him down… well,
they’ll still have to contend with other comically monikered guys like Pinch,
Mouw, and Norkus. Craig Demmin’s brother Dwayne anchors Charlotte’s backline,
which held the Rhinos scoreless in a 1-0 loss last season in the only meeting
the two clubs have ever had.
The Hall of
Shame. It really looked like former Rhino Henry Gutierrez had turned over a new leaf.
He didn’t resemble the Michelin Man when he played for Pittsburgh in the Rhinos
opener, and he actually went four whole matches without receiving any cautions.
That all changed this past weekend when the Riverhounds got spanked by Richmond
and Gutierrez was sent off after earning his second yellow card of the match.
Then, according to completely unreliable sources, he sat under the bleachers
and ate 11 hot dogs.
Speaking of
former Rhinos. Carlos Parra saw his first action of the 2002 campaign and
netted the game-winning golden goal in the 103rd off of a free kick as 5-0-0
Atlanta downed Montreal last Saturday. Eduardo Sebrango was the only scorer for
Montreal.
This article appears in May 15-21, 2002.
