Rhinos Thrashed 4-1 at Home by League Leaders Portland

By: alessio | August 16th, 2009

My, how much a year’s difference makes. Late last August, I was flying pretty early out of Rochester to head back to college (I go to school in New Orleans) and I happened to see the entire Timbers team there, presumably catching a flight back to Oregon. I chatted with a few of them, asked them how their game against the Rhinos had gone (I hadn’t seen the game) and one grimaced and said “Not good.” Portland was an average team last year with a very forgettable season. That cannot be said for them this year.

[From Rhinossoccer.com...] The Rochester Rhinos welcomed the first place Portland Timbers to Marina Auto Stadium on Saturday night. The Timbers entered the match on a USL-1 record 21 game unbeaten streak but were winless all-time in Rochester going 0-5-1 since 2001.

The first scoring opportunity came early for the visitors when the Rhinos, playing the trap, allowed Ryan Pore to get loose on a breakaway with Scott Vallow left alone defending. The opportunity was squandered however as Pore fired his shot wide of the net.

In the 20th minute the Rhinos generated their first opportunity. Off a free kick Johnny Menyongar hooked a ball into the box to Chris Nurse. Nurse got a head on it and seemed to have Portland ‘keeper Steve Cronin beat but sent it narrowly wide of the net.

Portland opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when Ryan Pore racing toward the goal sent a ball wide to Taka Suzuki whose blast beat Scott Vallow to the near post. Rochester pressured at times but struggled to generate much offense as the Timbers controlled the pace of play for much of the first half, taking their one goal lead into the break.

The start of the second half of play didn’t yield much more in offense. The Timbers continued to possess the ball well limiting the Rhinos scoring opportunities until Danny Earls attempt with 17 minutes left to play. Tiger Fitzpatrick pushed through the center of the field leaving a ball out wide to Earls. Earls shot whistled toward the near corner before Cronin was able to tip the ball over the bar. Following Earls’ chance the Timbers countered with Mandjou Keita pushing the ball through midfield threading a ball between two Rhino defenders and sending Pore in alone on Vallow. Pore took the ball on the run and labeled a sixteen yard blast past Vallow for a 2-0 lead.

Minutes later after the goal, the Rhinos lost Menyongar to a red card ejection in the 76th minute putting them a man down. Four minutes after Menyongar’s ejection the Timbers extended their lead to 3-0. A free kick from 35 yards by former Rhino David Hayes curled into the box where Keith Savage was able to extend his left foot enough to deflect the ball into the net.

With time winding down in the 86th minute the Rhinos were able to get on the board. John Ball’s cross into the box found Warren Ukah who found himself alone, taking advantage of his positioning to head in his third goal of the season. Portland quickly regained their three-goal advantage in stoppage time when Tony McManus’ long pass again sent Keita streaking on goal. Keita cut in toward the net letting a quick shot go that Vallow was able to get a piece of but not prevent from scoring.

The 4-1 win for the Timbers extends their unbeaten streak to 22 games and give them their first victory in Rochester. With the loss Rochester falls to 9-8-5 on the season and remains in fifth place in the USL First Division table. They will remain at home on Wednesday when they host the Minnesota Thunder at Marina Auto Stadium beginning at 7:00 p.m.

While a 4-1 crushing at home is obviously quite disappointing, give all the credit to the Portland Timbers who are having a historic season, and without a doubt, the favorites to win the USL-1 playoffs. As it stands, we are still in the playoffs. The Rhinos have 8 games left to try and figure out a winning formula for crunch season.