THE GAME AT A GLANCE
• In Montreal’s last game, Saturday in Rochester, the Impact and the Rhinos settled for a 0-0 tie in front of 10,043 spectators at Paetec Park. Goalkeeper Andrew Weber earned his third shutout in four starts since taking over for the injured Greg Sutton.
• It will be Impact midfielder Kirk Wilson’s second game against his former team. Saturday, Wilson started a second consecutive match and played 71 minutes before being replaced by midfielder Masahiro Fukasawa. Wilson has played the last five seasons in Rochester.
• The Impact is currently in fifth place overall in USL D1 standings with 19 points, three points behind first place — presently held by Vancouver Whitecaps. However, Montreal has four games in hand.
• The Impact is undefeated in its last seven games (4-0-3) this year and leads its opponents 10-1 in goals during that stretch.
• After nine games so far this season, two Montreal players have played every minute of every game (900): central defenders Gabriel Gervais and Nevio Pizzolitto.
THE OPPONENT
• The Rochester Raging Rhinos are still undefeated in 11 games this season (5-0-6), a first since the 1998 season for the club, when they went 13-0 to kick off the year.
• The Rhinos are 2nd overall in USL D1 standings with 21 points.
• Since 1996, the year Rochester joined the league, the Impact has a 19-11-5 lifetime record against the Rhinos.
• Montreal has not allowed a goal in its last 10 games at home against Rochester (8-0-2 record). Rochester scored its last goal in Montreal on July, 23, 2000 in a 3-1 win.
• After the 2005 season, general manager Chris Economides stepped down and was replaced by Matthew Ford, who was with Hershey.
• The Rhinos made several changes to their roster during the off-season in order to add punch to their offence. Among the newcomers are forwards Johnny Menyongar (Minnesota Thunder, USL D1), Matthew Delicate (Richmond Kickers, USL D1) and Charles Gbeke (Montreal Impact).
PRE-GAMES COMMENTS
HEAD COACH NICK DE SANTIS
“We want to continue what we started to build in Rochester on Saturday. We hope to score and take advantage of our chances on Wednesday, but we have to have the same approach than in Rochester because we played, I think, one of our best games this season. The teamwork was perfect and that’s the way we have to play. A win would be very good for the team’s confidence.”
DEFENDER GABRIEL GERVAIS
”We will approach the game the same way we did in Rochester. We had trouble scoring, but we will win games by playing this way. The key will be the same, which is to pass the ball well and to score on our opportunities. We now have to finish what we started on Saturday.”
CAPTAIN MAURO BIELLO
“We controlled the game in Rochester and we want to do it again in Montreal. We’re expecting a better game from the Rhinos, so we will have to play as well as we did Saturday or even better. Beating a team that has not lost this year would give the team a boost.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
IMPACT
• DANIEL ANTONIUK (F) - Impact’s goals leader this season tied with Mauricio Salles. (3G, 0A – 6 PTS)
• GABRIEL GERVAIS (D) - Has been picked on the USL D1 Team of the Week for the last three straight weeks.
• ANDREW WEBER (G) - 3 shutouts and 2 wins in his first four career games with Montreal. (2W, 0L, 2T – 0,250 GAA)
ROCHESTER
• MATTHEW DELICATE (F) - Currently the Rhinos’ leading scorer. (3G, 1A – 7 PTS)
• GREG HOWES (M) - Two goals against the Impact on August 20, 2005. (1G, 0A – 2PTS)
• SCOTT VALLOW (G) - Currently the league’s leader in shutouts (8) and is 2nd in wins (5).
FACTS TO FOLLOW
• The Impact has never played three consecutive scoreless tie games since 1993.
• If he plays in Wednesday’s game, it will be forward Darko Kolic’s 100th career game with the Impact. He will be the 11th Impact player to reach this mark. He also has tallied 99 points in the league.
INJURIES
Team – Player (Position) – Injury – Status
MTL - Leonardo Di Lorenzo (M) – foot - day to day
MTL - Antonio Ribeiro (M) – hamstring - should be back early July
MTL - Greg Sutton (G) – fractured index - return date TBD
MTL - Gerry Argento (G) – concussion - return date TBD
MTL - David Fronimadis (D) – knee - return date TBD
IMPACT LAST GAME IN MONTREAL
Sun. June 18: Portland 0- Impact 0 (@ Montreal, 9,273 spectators)
NEXT GAMES
Fri. July 7 - Vancouver Whitecaps @ Impact - Claude-Robillard Sports Complex - 8:00 pm
Tue. July 11 - Toronto Lynx @ Impact - Claude-Robillard Sports Complex - 7:30 pm
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Source: Patrick Vallée, Montreal Impact
Info: 514-328-3668, ext. 27
