ROCHESTER, NY – FC Montreal fell 2-1 to the Rhinos in Rochester on Wednesday night.
The Rhinos scored the first goal in the 15th minute. On a free kick played in the box by Tyler Rudy, Colin Rolfe waited for the ball to bounce before hitting it in the back of the net, surprising goalkeeper David Paulmin.
In the 32nd minute, Christian Volesky intercepted a back pass from defender Mélé Temguia before dribbling past Paulmin and shooting into an open net.
“We got punished on individual mistakes, but we stayed in the game,” said defender Jems Geffrard. “We have to be more focused on these moments.”
In the second half, Tyler Rudy got his second yellow card of the game and was ejected as a result.
With a man advantage, FC Montreal applied pressure. In the 85th minute, a Rhinos defender tackled winger Victor Omar Ndiaye during a run with the ball. Winger Frédéric Lajoie-Gravelle took his chance on the loose ball and shot to the right of keeper Adam Grinwis to make it 2-1.
Philippe Eullaffroy’s team continued to push near the end of the game, but wasn’t able to score that second goal to level things up.
“We had a lot of opportunities against the best defence in the league,” said head coach Philippe Eullaffroy. “Our game principles are applied well now. Individually, we still made some mistakes that cost us the game, but I prefer to see the glass half full. It was the league leader and I never saw them being moved around like that.”
“We caused them a lot of problems,” added Geffrard. “The second half of the season will be much better. Many players will come out of this game more mature.”
The next FC Montreal game will be played on July 12, at 4pm, on the synthetic field at Stade Saputo, against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. Admission will be free and the game will be available via streaming at www.impactmontreal.com/fcmontreal.
LINEUPS
FC Montreal: David Paulmin, Janouk Charbonneau, Mélé Temguia, Jems Geffrard (John Dinkota 82’), Zachary Sukunda, Marco Dominguez (Philippe Lincourt-Joseph 78’), Nazim Belguendouz (Mastanabal Kacher 60’), Alessandro Riggi, Zakaria Messoudi (Victor Omar Ndiaye 70’), Fabio Morelli, Charles Joly (Frédéric Lajoie-Gravelle 60’)
Subs: Luca Leone, Mastanabal Kacher, Frédéric Lajoie-Gravelle, Philippe Lincourt-Joseph, Victor Omar Ndiaye, John Dinkota
Rochester Rhinos: Adam Grinwis, Sean Totsch, Onua Obasi, Vasileios Apostolopoulos, Julian Ringhof, Alex Dixon (Jonny Mendoza 73’), Tony Walls (Mike Garzi 55’), Tyler Rudy, Timi Mulgrew (Grant Van de Casteele 83’), Christian Volesky (Steevan Dos Santos 73’), Colin Rolfe (Asani Samuels 55’)
Subs: Brandon Miller, Grant Van de Casteele, Jonny Mendoza, Mike Garzi, Kenardo Forbes, Steevan Dos Santos, Asani Samuels
GOALS
ROC: Colin Rolfe 15’
ROC: Christian Volesky 32’
MTL: Frédéric Lajoie-Gravelle 85’
CAUTIONS
MTL: David Paulmin 15’
ROC: Tyler Rudy 15’
MTL: Zakaria Messoudi 56’
ROC: Tyler Rudy 65’
EJECTIONS
ROC: Tyler Rudy 65’
