Whitecaps Lose To Rhinos

ROCHESTER RHINOS 2 – VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC 1
BURNABY, BC – Vancouver Whitecaps FC men suffered a 2-1 defeat to Rochester Rhinos at Swangard Stadium on Saturday evening.

In the second match of the club’s first doubleheader of the season, the Rhinos claimed their first victory in Vancouver since the 1996 season after first-half goals by Chris Nurse and Johnny Menyongar sent the Upstate New York club to the top of the USL First Division standings, where they sit level on points with Carolina RailHawks.

Despite out-shooting Rochester 23 to four during the course of the match, and earning a late goal from youngster Dever Orgill, Rhinos captain Scott Vallow made himself a strong candidate for the USL-1 Player of the Week honour after making 11 saves in the Rochester goal, including a decisive penalty stop midway through the second half.

Whitecaps head coach Teitur Thordarson made one change from the side that started last Sunday’s 1-0 home win over Puerto Rico Islanders. Marcus Haber partnered Charles Gbeke in the Whitecaps attack, with the Canadian youth international taking the place of the injured Marlon James. The Saint Vincent and the Grenadines international pulled up with a hamstring injury in last weekend’s win.

Rhinos head coach Darren Tilley, meanwhile, made four changes to the side that started Thursday’s 2-1 defeat at Portland Timbers. Englishman Darren Kenton came into the visitors’ backline for John Ball, while Kwame Sarkodie took the place of Nano Short in midfield. The former Whitecaps striker also changed his attack pairing for Saturday’s game. Taiwo Atieno and Andrew Lorei replaced Mike Ambersley and Andrew Gregor in Rochester’s forward line.

On a warm May long weekend evening, a sell-out Swangard crowd of 5,288 were left amazed by a first half that saw the Whitecaps dominate play, but find themselves two goals down at the break.

The first quarter of an hour belonged to the home side, with Gbeke heading Wes Knight’s fine cross from the right wide of goal in the first minute, while winger Ansu Toure drilled a shot straight at Vallow a minute later.

On four minutes, Haber headed Gbeke’s cross from the left wide of the target before Toure squandered a major chance to score his first Whitecaps goal when he half-hit his effort wide of goal after getting on the end of Vicente Arze’s centering ball from the Rochester byline.

It seemed just a matter of time that a Vancouver goal would come, but Whitecaps fans were left stunned when the Rhinos took the lead against the run of play on 17 minutes. From their only corner of the half, Menyongar’s set piece from the left found an unmarked Nurse, who easily headed the ball past Whitecaps goalkeeper Jay Nolly for a 1-0 lead.

The goal subdued the Swangard crowd, though Toure tried to reply by trying to get on the end of captain Martin Nash’s cross at the far post. However, the ball eluded the Liberian and went out for a goal kick on 20 minutes.

‘Caps fans had to wait until 31 minutes for their side to produce more quality goalscoring chances, with Knight curling another fine cross in from the right to Toure at the far post. With a clear sight of goal, the winger’s header flew straight at Vallow, who reacted well to tip the ball over his crossbar for a corner. Two minutes later, Knight tried his luck from long range, but his well-hit strike found the assured arms of Vallow in the Rochester goal.

On 36 minutes, Ethan Gage hit a shot off the outside of his foot over the Rhinos crossbar after Toure had found him in the Rhinos box, as the ‘Caps looked ever more likely they would draw themselves level.

A minute later, however, the home side were stunned again, as Rochester struck for a second time with only their second shot on goal. Nurse’s forward ball from the right found the head of Atieno on the edge of the box. The Englishman’s knockdown found an unmarked Menyongar, and with time and space to shoot, the talented Liberian struck a fine volley past a diving Nolly to give the Rhinos a 2-0 lead. The scoreline left many wondering if it was reading correctly on the Swangard scoreboard, with the Whitecaps having out-shot Rochester 11 to two in the first half.

The home side created two more chances through Arze before the break. On 40 minutes, the Bolivian struck a shot right at Vallow before the South American forced an even better save from the Rhinos captain in the one minute of time added on after he headed Takashi Hirano’s cross from the left on target at the far post.

It made no difference to the scoreline, as Rochester took a two-goal lead into the halftime break.

Game Report