Dante Levercok and his Harrisburg City Islanders teammates were on the verge of pulling a major upset at Skyline Sports Complex against the Rochester Rhinos but gave up a late goal to end the match at a 1-1 draw.
Harrisburg almost accomplished something no other team has been able to do this season, beat the Rhinos in regulation. They looked like they could have the win and three points but in the 87th minute when Rochester’s leading scorer, Christian Volesky, fired a low shot passed the outstretched fingers of Nick Noble and into the back of the net to knot the game up at one.
A win for the Islanders would have put them ahead of rival Pittsburgh in the standing, but the draw puts them in a three-way tie with the Riverhounds and New York Red Bulls.
The game started off very similar to the teams U.S. Open Cup match vs. Rochester less than one month ago. A lot of good defense from both teams with a lot of midfield play.
As the first half went on Harrisburg started to control the play. They had a few great looks on goal but couldn’t convert. Enric Valles had the two best chances early on but one went begging just wide and the other was saved by Adam Grinwis.
Rochester’s staunch defense was standing tall for the first half but the Isles started to push them back and finally found the quality to break the scoreless tie.
Valles played an arching ball over the top that fell right to the feet of Jason Plumhoff. The Rhinos goalie was aggressive and came out to stop the chance but Plumhoff just got a toe on it to put it in the back of the net.
Harrisburg went into halftime up 1-0 on the best team in the league.
Harrisburg came out of the break and controlled the play again for the first 20 minutes but the Rhinos were slowly pushing up and getting more quality chances.
The last 20 minutes of the game seemed to all be played in the Islanders end of the field and Rochester showed why they haven’t lost a game all season.
After a few great chances on the Islanders’ goal, Volesky finally found the quality to get one passed Noble. He dribbled through the Islanders defense and fired a low shot far side on Noble keeping Rochester undefeated record intact.
City had a few chances down the stretch to get their first win in three games but Grinwis stood tall behind the best defense in the league.
|
