Metros defeat A-League Rochester, 2:1
August 1, 2001 (Official Game Summary)
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Mladenov
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Klinger
Valencia
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The MetroStars defeated the A-League Rochester Raging Rhinos in an exhibition, 2-1, before a crowd of 9,735 at Frontier Field in Rochester, New York. The MetroStars improve to 3-0 lifetime against Rochester with every game played since 1998 in Frontier Field.
Rookie Martin Klinger opened the scoring in the 37th minute off a cross by Harry Triana. Triana, a St. John's product and a midfielder on the reserve team MetroStars Black, dribbled the ball untouched down the right flank before crossing into the box for Klinger's stronger header between two defenders past goalkeeper Scott Vallow.
Rochester, who holds a 9-3-3 record this season in A-League competition, came close to scoring two minutes earlier when Lenin Steenkamp's poke off a Dimitri Stojanov's cross went over the crossbar, despite an open-net opportunity from five-yards.
The start of the second half saw extensive substitutions from both clubs with Zambrano leaving Steve Shak, Santander Ospina, Paul Grafer, and Pedro Alvarez in for the full 90 minutes on a cozy night in upstate New York.
The lead was extended to two in the 58th minute on Adolfo Valencia's penalty kick. Petter Villegas sent a free kick into a crowded box that one defender managed to handball. Valencia netted the goal past former Metro Billy Andracki to his left for the 2-0 lead that quieted the crowd.
The Rhinos, who increased their offensive intensity after Valencia's goal, managed to cut the lead to one in the 73rd minute. MetroStars Black defender Santander Ospina went high inside the box to beat two Rhinos players for a clearance during a corner kick, but in the process had his left hand touch on the ball as referee Erik Simmons immediately pointed to the penalty spot.
Midfielder Stojan Mladenov, who entered the game four minutes earlier as a substitute, beat Grafer to his right to cut the lead to one goal.
The MetroStars held off Rochester for the remainder of the game to pick up the exhibition win.
The MetroStars fielded three players from MetroStars Black with Triana (Brooklyn Knights), Ospina (Atletico Bacuramanga, Colombia), and forward Alex Dixon (Brooklyn Knights) wearing the black-and-red this evening. The teams in parenthesis denote their previous soccer affiliation.
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