St Catherine Standard: Wolves Rally for
Victory
September 4, 2002
Wolves rally for victory
Rebound from slow start to hand
Croatia defeat in physical CPSL contest
Jim Wallace, The
Standard
stcatharines
Although physically manhandled by
a bigger Toronto Croatia team, the St. Catharines Roma Wolves fought back with
two second-half goals by Frank Zumpano to post a 2-1 victory in a Canadian
Professional Soccer League game at Club Roma Wednesday night.
Croatia
seemed more intent on knocking around the Wolves players instead of playing
soccer, leading to eight yellow cards and two ejections. For its part, Roma took
three yellow cards along with the brunt of the physical play.
And as has
been their custom this season, the Wolves rebounded from a terrible first half
in which they were completely outplayed. Roma dominated the second half and
could have easily had two or three more goals.
Even through injuries and
suspension, the Wolves came together with a patchwork lineup which included two
under-21 team players and others not normally in a starting role.
"Too
many injuries and suspensions," a tired Zumpano said after the
game.
"They're a talented team and they come out at us like that. But
(player-coach) Lucio (Ianiero) said keep it on the ground, go at them, go into
the corners, kick it low and finish them off. And we did.
"When they go
high, I can't go high like that," the 5-foot-10 player said with a laugh.
"They've got some trees back there."
Trees, but mobile -- and rough. With
a back line hovering at or over the six-foot mark, it was easy to knock around
the Wolves smaller players such as Carlo Arghittu, Mark Mulholland and Adam
Caruso with regularity.
"They're always a physical team," Ianiero said.
"They're a tall, big team and they came right at us the first four or five
minutes.
"But we played disciplined game, I was glad to see the team kept
their heads. Whether we deserved to win or not I don't know; I spent most of
second half getting some treatment for a groin injury."
As dominant as
Croatia was the first half, the Wolves carried the play in the second half.
Although goalkeeper Claudio Perry didn't face a lot of shots, he made a
big save late in the first half in between Toronto bouncing a shot off the post
and crossbar.
In the second half, it was almost all Wolves, starting from
the opening minute when Gary McGuchan one-timed a Billy Norburg cross over the
bar.
Zumpano cashed in one of McGuchan's passes and McGuchan just missed
one of his own when he chipped the ball over an advancing George Azcurra in the
Croatia goal, only to have it bounce over the bar.
Zumpano's second goal
came on a fine cross by Mulholland.
"Gary's shot was typical of the type
of bad bounces we've had this year, but they hit a post and crossbar, so I guess
it evened out," Ianiero said.
And for the physical play, "You always want
to show you won't back down," the coach added.
"We finish our tackles,
and we'll take the hits and give the hits."
NOTES: The Wolves were
without fullback Kevin Pitra, who was attending graduate school at the
University of Buffalo, and Matt Albrecht, who sat out a one-game suspension for
taking two yellow cards in one game. Norburg and Nick Aragona, up from the
Wolves under-21 team, filled in well.... The start of the game was delayed by 40
minutes because Croatia failed to bring their road jerseys from Toronto.
Apparently, it wasn't the first time that has happened this season. Because
their home sweaters are also red, the Wolves wore their road white jerseys with
black shorts.
THE SCOOP
Wolves 2 Croatia 1
Standard Star of
the Game: St. Catharines Roma Wolves striker Frank Zumpano with both his team's
goals.
For St. Catharines: Zumpano 2 (57 minutes, 86 minutes).
For
Toronto Croatia: Velemir Crljen (nine minutes).
Attendance:
350.
Wild cards: Referee Justin Tasev lost control of the game early and
ended up doling out 11 yellow cards, including two each to Toronto's Robert Fran
and Daniel Pilas, which resulted in automatic red cards and ejection from the
game. Wolves players took three of the yellows -- Lucio Ianiero, Zumpano and
Adam Caruso.
For the record: The Wolves improved to 5-6-6 and tied the
Hamilton Thunder for third place in the Western Conference. Second-place Croatia
fell to 6-4-4.
Up next: The Wolves travel to Brampton to play the Hitmen
Sept. 15 and close out the regular season Sept. 18 at home against Mississauga
Olympians.
© Copyright 2002 St Catharines
Standard
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