It's do-or-die time for Riverhounds in tonight's playoff game vs. Rhinos

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It's do-or-die time for Riverhounds in tonight's playoff game vs. Rhinos

Saturday, September 25, 1999

By David Assad, Tri-State Sports & News Service

The Riverhounds could be one errant clearing pass from soccer playoff elimination tonight against defending A-League champion Rochester.

Riverhounds At A Glance
DATA
Today: Riverhounds (17-13) vs. Rochester Raging Rhinos (25-6), 7:35 p.m., Bethel Park Stadium.
At stake: The second game of the best-of-three A-League soccer quarterfinal series between the expansion Riverhounds and the defending league champion Rhinos. Rochester won the opening game last Saturday, 6-2, at home.
RIVERHOUNDS
Players to watch: Goalkeeper Randy Dedini who was recently voted by his teammates as Riverhounds MVP. Midfielder Justin Evans, a Peters Township graduate, had five goals in the regular season. Evans has scored two goals and one assist in two playoff games. Midfielder Goran Vasic has been seeing more playing time in recent weeks. Vasic also has two goals and an assist in the postseason. Sweeper Tenywa Bonseu is the backbone of the defense.
Notes: A crowd of about 4,000 is expected for the game, including several hundred Rochester fans. Pittsburgh averaged 4,178 fans for 14 home games. The six goals the Raging Rhinos scored were the most the Riverhounds have given up in a game. The previous high was four in a 4-3 loss May 22 at Cincinnati and in a 5-4 win Aug. 1 at Maryland. Rochester has won all three meetings this season with the Riverhounds.
RAGING RHINOS
Players to watch: GK Pat Onstad has an 0.62 goals against average and the second lowest goals against average in the A-League during the regular season. Rochester is led by its forward tandem of Doug Miller and Darren Tilley, who scored two goals apiece in the playoff opener. It was the first time both scored in the same game since July 2. Tilley is Rochester's all-time A-League scorer in the postseason with nine goals and five assists in eight games over the past two seasons. Miller has five playoff goals in 10 appearances, seven of them starts.
Notes: While Rochester is 15-2 at home, the Rhinos also are 10-4 on the road, identical to the Riverhounds' home record. Rochester is riding an eight-game A-League playoff winning streak.
UP NEXT
If the Riverhounds win tonight, a third game will be played Tuesday night in Rochester. Tonight's playoff tickets at Bethel Park Stadium are priced the same as the regular season -- $12 for VIP, $10 for reserved, $8 for general admission and $5 for youth general admission. Ticket orders can still be placed this afternoon by telephone at 381-GOAL.

It is the second game of a best-of-three quarterfinal between the Eastern Conference's top-seeded Raging Rhinos and the fifth-seeded Riverhounds. Game 2 is set for tonight at Bethel Park Stadium, where the Riverhounds are 10-4.

Pittsburgh lost in the opening game of the series last Saturday at Rochester, 6-2, trailing, 4-0, just 18 minutes into the game.

Rochester took advantage of several misplayed clearing passes by the Riverhounds' defense. Sweeper Tenywa "T-Bone" Bonseu was the primary culprit. He had the ball stolen three minutes into the game, leading to a Rochester goal. Bonseu also had a pass blocked, which directly led to another Rochester goal in the opening 12 minutes. Rochester also scored on a corner kick and direct free kick in the rout.

Mistakes during defensive restarts are another element of the game Riverhounds Coach John Kowalski has been working to correct in preparation for this do-or-die game.

"It was a very unusual game [last Saturday]," said Kowalski. "Phil Karn [a Riverhounds forward] dribbled around their goalkeeper in the first minute, but missed an open net. And then at the other end, anything that we touched defensively was an assist for them. We just have to eliminate those kind of mistakes. We went over all those mistakes, and I think we're going to play a solid game."

Kowalski does not believe Bonseu will be haunted by the disappointing loss.

"T-Bone is a great defender and an all-star," said Kowalski. "His first three touches on the ball led to three goals [for Rochester], but that doesn't usually happen. There have been many other games where he controls the ball very well."

Pittsburgh is 6-9 when its opponent scores first. Perhaps, more importantly, Rochester is 19-1 when scoring first and 15-1 when leading at halftime. In 30 games, the Rhinos have produced 11 shutouts and given up no more than one goal 24 times. They also have never given up more than two goals, even in defeat.

"When they scored so quickly in the first 20 minutes, it was like a TKO," said Kowalski."

The Rhinos are the second stingiest team in the A-League, having given up just 22 goals (including the playoffs). The six-goal onslaught by Rochester stunned the Riverhounds and also surprised the Raging Rhinos, a team not known for great offense.

"We just got out on the end of a lot of quality chances," said Rochester forward Doug Miller, who scored twice against the Riverhounds. "You're not always going to get that many opportunities in one game."

"Everything dropped for us," said RochesterCoach Pat Ercoli. "This is a series and just because you beat someone up in one game doesn't mean you're going to win the whole thing."

Riverhounds midfielder Justin Evans, who has two goals and an assist in two playoff games, isn't ready to concede anything to the defending A-League champions despite losing all three games with Rochester this year.

"In our first game with them [during the regular season], we came out a little intimidated and they got on top of us early, but, for the most part in the next two games, we've played with them," said Evans, scheduled to play for several months after the season is over in the Polish professional first division.

"Even in the last game when we lost, 6-2, after watching the film, the game was a lot closer than that. It could have been a 6-6 or 7-6 game. We had some great chances to score."