Soccer In Toronto 07.05.08

By Rocket Robin Soccer In Toronto

Final Score
Toronto Lady Lynx 8, Rochester Rhinos 0

Venue
Civic Stadium, Oshawa

Kickoff
4:00 pm

Highlights
18 min … Lady Lynx Stefania Morra GOAL
LL Brittany Bisnott runs on right and crosses into box from 20 yards and Morra chests ball from 5 yards that flying goalie Joy McKenzie blocks on right post. Morra than kicks rebound in from 6 yards over fallen goalie.

19 min … Lady Lynx Brittany Bisnott GOAL
LL Oni Bernard rolls pass in from right that Bisnott puts into net from 10 yards.

22 min … Lady Lynx Stefania Morra GOAL
LL Oni Bernard sends in low cross from 15 yards near right end line and has Morra get foot to and tip ball at 3 yards that rolls across box and over goal line. (The assist was given to Brittany Bisnott but me and ref assessor Gord Arrowsmith thought Oni Bernard got the assist)

39 min … Lady Lynx Brittany Bisnott GOAL
LL Kayla Afonso 50 yards on left passes forward to LL Alyssa Lagonia who runs along left sideline then cuts towards goal and crosses into box from 10 yards. Bisnott one-touches mid-air shot from 6 yards over flying goalie.

41 min … Lady Lynx Stefania Morra GOAL
LL Julia Bazi freekick from 40 yards has LL Morra flick-head ball from 6 yards over goalie and under bar.

65 min … Lady Lynx Brittany Bisnott GOAL
LL Brooke McCalla pushes ball from right to Bisnott up middle who holds off RR Emily Kelly and gets away 15 yard roller into right corner of net past diving goalie.

80 min … Lady Lynx Brooke McCalla GOAL
LL Kayla Afonso rolls cross from 25 yards from left and McCalla shoots low roller from 6 yards into right corner of net.

87 min … Lady Lynx Nicole Markowitz GOAL
LL Brooke McCalla rolls ball forward past defender and Markowitz rolls in 5 yarder to right side of net.

Notes
Attendance was about 400 on today’s hot, sunny day with today’s theme “Celebrating Durham Women in Soccer Day”. Oshawa is a city about one hour’s drive to the East of downtown Toronto. I tested that out when after this game I drove to BMO Field to see Toronto FC vs. Pachuca (Mexico). The soccer fun-park props that they usually have outside BMO Field were absent as they had been brought to Oshawa for this event. I can certainly see the Lady Lynx turning this into an annual event.

» Elise Kuhar-Pitters was in the net for the Lady Lynx having to make a few saves to preserve the shutout. Her biggest save was when Amanda Janosky gets a ball passed through the defenders on the right and she fired a 15 yarder that the diving goalie pushed wide left. A summation of the Rhinos day came when Gretchen Miller had a 35 yard freekick chance from the left with Rhinos players waiting on the right side of the box; her freekick hit LL Alyssa Lagonia forming a one person wall 10 yards from the freekick so the ball never even made the box.

» Lady Lynx dominated the game from the opening whistle. It took awhile, but they opened up the Rhinos defense with the three goals within five minutes. Hat trick scorers Stefania Morra was subbed out at 59 minutes and Brittany Bisnott was subbed out right after her third goal at 65 minutes.

» Although the Rhinos had three subs listed, there were no spare players on the bench. I don’t know why they’d throw away their season like that. The Rhinos were in 5th place in the division but with a respectable record of 4 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie with some games in hand on the division leaders. They were also one of the best defensive teams allowing only 11 goals up to today in 7 games and only 4 against in the 7-0 blowout against Ottawa Fury is not included. After today’s game with Toronto, Ottawa, and Laval only losing once, Rhinos look like they won’t make the playoffs.

» Rhinos midfielder Natalie Martineau was one of the few bright spots on their team. She was the Lady Lynx MVP in the 2006 season. We saw Adrian Ruhe-Lischke the team MVP of 2007 playing for Ottawa Fury a few weeks ago. No word on who the MVP will be for 2008.

» Next Lady Lynx game will be Wednesday at 11:00 am at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke against Laval Comets and this will likely decide which of these two teams will make the playoffs.