Revs lock horns with Rhinos again
Lusitano Stadium, Ludlow, Mass., 7:30 p.m. ET
This is the second consecutive year the Revolution and the Raging Rhinos have met in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup, again at Lusitano Stadium in Ludlow, the Revolution claiming a 2-1 victory a year ago. The Rhinos have claimed MLS victims five times along the way in their storied Open Cup history, while the Revolution lost to lower-division opposition in their first two appearances in the competition before reaching the 2001 final.
ROCHESTER RAGING RHINOS:
U.S. OPEN CUP HISTORY: The non-MLS side with the greatest U.S. Open Cup pedigree since 1996, the Rhinos are the only lower division club to lift the Dewar Cup trophy since then and are a side to be feared by any MLS team, having qualified for the competition proper in every season of their nine-year history. ... Rochester won the 1999 Open Cup, defeating Colorado Rapids 2-0 in the final, with goals from Doug Miller (66) and Yari Allnutt (90). ... The Rhinos began their run to the final with a 2-1 second-round victory against New York Freedoms, then defeated three MLS sides in a row: Chicago Fire 1-0 in the third round, before winning another extra-time game against Dallas Burn by 2-1 then getting a second-half stoppage time winner from Tim Hardy in the semifinals to defeat Columbus Crew 3-2. ... Rochester began their giant-killing exploits in 1996, defeating Tampa Bay Mutiny 4-3 (OT) in the quarterfinals and Colorado Rapids 3-0 in the semifinals, before losing to D.C. United 3-0 in the final. ... In 1997, they were eliminated by Tampa Bay Mutiny in the third round and then by Columbus Crew in 1998 at the same stage. ... They began defense of their title in 2000 with a defeat of Pittsburgh Riverhounds (A) before losing 3-0 to D.C. United and were dumped out at the first hurdle in 2001 by Hershey Wildcats. In 2002, after knocking off Des Moines Menace (PDL) in extra-time in the second round, lost 3-2 when Kansas City Wizards scored twice in the final four minutes of regulation time to force extra-time before a Chris Brown golden goal sent them through. ... Last year, the Rhinos cruised past PSL (third division) New Hampshire Phantoms 4-1 in the third round (Viktor Paco 17, Stoian Mladenov 67, Frederick Commodore 88, David Hayes 90 - Bjorn Hansen 10), before losing to the Revolution.
2004 OPEN CUP: The Raging Rhinos qualified for the U.S. Open Cup this year by defeating the Syracuse Salty Dogs 2-1 on aggregate in their preliminary series, the teams drawing 1-1 in Syracuse on May 14 (Christian Neagu 6 - Corey Woolfolk 67) before Doug Miller's 84th-minute goal in the second leg on May 22 put the Rhinos through. ... The Rhinos then survived a nervy third-round match against Chicago Fire Reserves, a Craig Demmin goal (80) sending them through. Here's the team Pat Ercoli ran out: Zagar - Demmin, Mendes, Sedgewick, Semedo, Wright, J. Wilson, Tsakiris (Aguilera 79), Steenkamp (Allnutt 65), Carrieri, Woolfolk (Miller 71)
2004 A-LEAGUE: The Rhinos come into the Open Cup tied for the best record in the A-League, with 37 points from 18 matches, leading the Eastern Conference by two points ahead of the Atlanta Silverbacks. ... Corey Woolfolk leads the team with seven goals, one assist, while Chris Carrieri has five goals, seven assists in 17 matches, good for seventh in the league in points. Doug Miller, long the icon of the Rochester team, also has three goals. ... Rochester enters the game off a 1-0 away victory against the Richmond Kickers last weekend, the only goal from Lenin Steenkamp (8). Here's Ercoli's team: Zagar - Demmin, Mendez, J. Wilson (Semedo 46), Wright (Allnutt 73), Neto (Aguilera 46), Sedgewick, Steenkamp, Trout (Delgado 68), Miller (Carrieri 58), K. Wilson
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION: The Revolution lost to the MetroStars in the quarterfinals last year after getting past the Rhinos in the third round, not entering the competition in 2002 after reaching the 2001 final. ... Last season, goals from Steve Ralston (25) and Taylor Twellman (45) answered a Mladenov goal on 23 minutes to send the Revs past Rochester. Here's Steve Nicol's team: Reis, Cullen, D.Kante (Pierce 46), Llamosa, Franchino, Ralston, Cancela, J.-M. Moore (Noonan 32), Kamler, Harris (J.Moore 67), Twellman. ... In the quarterfinals, the Revs lost 2-1 to the MetroStars behind an Amado Guevara golden goal (Mathis 29; Guevara 116 - Heaps 47+). ... The Revolution lost that 2001 final to the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 in extra-time - a year before the same result would occur in the MLS Cup final. ... Wolde Harris gave New England the lead on 30 minutes, but goals from Ezra Hendrickson (70) and Dan Califf (92) gave Los Angeles the trophy. ... The Revs began their run to the final with a 7-1 victory against PDL (fourth division) Mid-Michigan Bucks, then defeated Charleston Battery (A-League) 2-1, before knocking off Columbus Crew 2-1 in the quarterfinals and D.C. United 2-0 in the semifinals. ... This is just the fifth time New England has entered the competition -- and they were shocked by lower division in their first two entries. In 1997, Revolution lost 4-3 away to A-League Long Island Roughriders (Rinker 45, Rooney 75, 79; Mohammed 108 -- Kerr 6; Sawatzky 15; Moore 50), then a Chad Schomaker goal literally on full time gave Mid-Michigan Bucks a famous third-round victory in 2000.
