United dodge Rhinos in exhibition
Moreno, Adu score in 2-0 win at Rochester's Frontier Field
Moreno struck first four minutes into the match. Being pressured by Earnie Stewart outside of his penalty are, Rhinos goalkeeper Theo Zagar played a poor clearance along the left sideline. Moreno controlled the ball and fired a 40-yard chip into the far side-netting. Settling into a smaller playing surface set into a baseball stadium, United struggled early to string together passes. The club would later recover by playing along the flanks and sending several dangerous crosses into the box. Moreno and Alecko Eskandarian both had chances to extend the first-half lead, but each had the ball stripped away by goal-saving tackles inside the penalty area. Stewart later sent Bobby Convey behind the Rhinos' defense. The U.S. international found Convey at the near post, but his deflection settled in the outside of the cage.
The exhibition also marked the return of United midfielder Dema Kovalenko to his hometown. A graduate of Greece Arcadia High School was honored at the half as the city's "favorite soccer son." An emotional Kovalenko thanked the fans in attendance for their support of the sport, hugging his family as he was presented a plaque.
Wholesale changes came before the second stanza, but United continued to create quality chances through quick ball movement. Jamal Sutton, a guest player from the Columbus Crew, gained the end line before sending a quality cross that was headed just wide by Josh Gros. Kovalenko's cross minutes later was just beyond a lunging Gros in front of an open net.
Kovalenko's effort was rewarded in the 70th minute. After corralling a weak clearance by substitute 'keeper Soren Johnson near midfield, the Rochester-native strode through the center of the park before feeding Adu for a calm left-footed finish. Sutton nearly added a third late in the game, but his whirling right footed blast mpassed just outside the right post.
The Rhinos played hard to the end, but the home side's two best chances were cleared from harm's way by Brandon Prideaux and Mike Petke, leaving Rimando without needed to make a save in preserving the shutout.
D.C. will next be in action next Saturday afternoon when they travel to Dallas to take on the Burn at the Cotton Bowl for a 4 p.m. ET kickoff (ESPN2).
Man of the Match: Jaime Moreno (D.C. United)
Rochester Rhinos vs. D.C. United
June 23, 2004 - Frontier Field
Scoring Summary
DC -- Jaime Moreno 4
DC -- Freddy Adu (Dema Kovalenko) 70
Rochester Rhinos -- Theo Zagar (Soren Johnson 46), Craig Demmin (David Wright 46), Carlos Mendes (David Wright 46), Billy Sedgwick, Carlos Semedo, Shaun Tsakiris (Yari Alnut 61), Ryan Trout (John Wilson 65), Lenin Steenkamp (Ian Pilarski 61), Kirk Wilson (Patrick Berry 65), Corey Woolfolk (Jefferson Dargout 46), Chris Carrieri (Alex Lake 65).
Substitutes Not Used: None.
TOTAL SHOTS: 7 (Chris Carrieri 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 1; FOULS: 15 (Carlos Semedo 4); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 3 (Theo Zagar 2)
D.C. United -- Troy Perkins (Nick Rimando 46), Brandon Prideaux, Mike Petke, Bryan Namoff (Jacob Traeger 46), Dema Kovalenko, Brian Carroll, Jaime Moreno (Josh Gros 46), Ben Olsen (Kevin Ara 46), Bobby Convey (Ezra Hendrickson 46), Alecko Eskandarian (Freddy Adu 46), Earnie Stewart (Jamal Sutton 46).
Substitutes Not Used: None.
TOTAL SHOTS: 7 (Freddy Adu 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 16 (Ben Olsen 5); OFFSIDES: 4; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 1 (Troy Perkins 1)
Misconduct Summary:
DC - Josh Gros (caution; unsportsmanlike behavior) 54
Referee: Hilario Grajeda
Referee's Assistants: Mikael Lundqvist, Kevin Barci
4th Official: Vladimir Fabre
Attendance: 14,426
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Clear-and-75-degrees
All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial.
