SUMMARY
At the 8th minute of play, Ali Gerba missed a good opportunity to open the score for Montreal. After accepting a pass from Mauro Biello in the midfield, Gerba spun and fired from just inside the 18-yard-box, but the shot went just wide left of Rhinos goalkeeper Dusty Hudock’s net.
Then, in the 36th minute, Patrick Leduc served a deep ball to Gerba who snuck in behind the defense. Rhinos defender Frank Sanfilippo was able to harass Gerba just enough to prevent the Montreal striker from taking a shot on net.
At the 51st minute, Impact defender Nevio Pizzolitto took advantage of a poor clearing attempt and hammered a shot that just sailed over Hudock’s net.
Impact goalkeeper Greg Sutton earned his fifth shutout of the season, making three saves.
With 12,086 fans at the game, a new team record was established for attendance at an Impact home opener. The previous mark of 8,877 fans was set last year.
It was also the largest crowd ever for an Impact regular season game, as well as the second highest attendance in team history. There were 13,648 fans in attendance for the Impact’s championship game on September 18, 2004.
The Impact plays its next two games at home. The Toronto Lynx visit on June 3 (7:30 pm - RDS, CJAD, CKAC). Then, on June 22, Nick DeSantis’ squad will face the Charleston Battery (7:30 pm).
COMMENTS
Impact head coach Nick De Santis: “We would have loved to score a goal today, especially in front of our fans, but we have to take the positive from this game, we had many scoring chances. It’s an important point for us, and a fourth against the Rhinos. They are a team that doesn’t give a lot of room, but we kept attacking.”
Captain Mauro Biello: “We played very well defensively. We never gave them a chance to take the lead. They have a good team and play with intensity every game.”
Ali Gerba : “We had many scoring opportunities, but we just couldn’t score. We would have loved to put one in for the fans.”
Nevio Pizzolitto: “It is always a war when we face the Rhinos. There were a lot of positives in today’s game, and we are getting better game by game.”
IMPACT LINE-UP
Greg Sutton, Mauricio Vincello, Adam Braz, Lars Lyssand, Nevio Pizzolitto, Masahiro Fukasawa (Mesut Mert 80), Patrick Leduc, Zé Roberto, Mauro Biello (Antonio Ribeiro 70), Eduardo Sebrango (Kevin Wilson 60), Ali Gerba
RHINOS LINE-UP
Dusty Hudock, Tenywa Bonseu, Scott Schweitzer, Frankie Sanfillippo, Bill Sedgewick, Kirk Wilson, Rene Rivas, Doug Miller (John Ball 51), Johnny Steele (Stoian Mladenov 82), Jonathan Bolanos, Tony Rougier (Pato Aguilera 74)
SHOTS: ROC 5 MTL 9
SAVES: ROC 5 MTL 3
FOULS: ROC 24 MTL 10
OFFSIDES: ROC 3 MTL 7
CORNERS: ROC 3 MTL 5
CAUTIONS
ROC: Tenywa Bonseu 27
ROC: Bill Sedgewick 30
MTL: Antonio Ribeiro 31
ROC: Rene Rivas 41
>b>REFEREES
Sylvio Petrescu, Jean-François Corriveault, Daniel Belleau, Guy Verna
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Source: Patrick Vallée
Info: 514-328-3668 (ext. 27)
