IMPACT LOSES 1-0 IN TORONTO
ETOBICOKE, Ontario, June 8, 2003 — A goal by Ali Ngon at the 90th minute of play gave the Toronto Lynx a 1-0 win against the Montreal Impact, Sunday, at Centennial Park Stadium, in the second matchup in three days between the two teams. After coming up with a 1-0 win at Claude Robillard Stadium, Friday, coach Bob Lilley’s squad faced a Lynx attack that was much more dangerous on its own field. The Montreal players resisted as much as they could for almost the entire match, but Ngon was finally able to score on goalkeeper Greg Sutton on a rare occasion where the Montreal defense was caught by surprise.
The Impact was awarded a free kick near the Lynx penalty area and Martin Nash shot a bullet that bounced off the defensive wall, all the way towards Ngon in the midfield. The former Impact player found himself with the ball on a breakaway with two defenders chasing him. Jason DiTullio tried to bring him down but failed, and Ngon ran all the way to the net, taking a low shot to the left of Sutton.
"It’s disappointing, because we worked extremely hard defensively," said Impact head coach Bob Lilley. "We lost a bit of our focus on their goal, and maybe there was a little fatigue involved. But the bigger issue is that Toronto played well this weekend, and they deserved to get a win out of these two games."
The Montreal team was trying to extend its undefeated streak to eight games, which would have been a new club record, but the loss stopped it at seven. First established in 1993, that record was therefore tied for the sixth time without being beaten. The loss also stopped a stretch of five away games without a loss — another record tied but not broken.
Furthermore, the Impact was trying to tie a team record by collecting a fourth straight shutout, but all hopes of that disappeared with Ngon’s goal.
"The effort was there, we had a few chances and put some guys in the box, but our level dropped a bit in the last 15 minutes and it cost us," added Lilley, who saw his team remain in first place in the Northeast Division, tied with the Rochester Raging Rhinos, in spite of the loss. "One of our objectives this year is never to lose a second straight game, and that’s why it’ll be important to keep our good run going in our next game."
Montreal will play another home-and-home series next weekend, against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds this time. The first game will be on Friday, June 13 at 7:30 pm at Claude Robillard Stadium (live on CKAC, RDS, Fox Sports World), and the second will follow on Sunday, June 17 at 6 pm in Pittsburgh (CJAD).
Soccer fans will also be able to get a close look at Impact players this Tuesday, as a public practise will be held at 7:00 pm in Boisbriand, on the fields located at the corner of Grande-Allée and Alexandre-le-Grand streets.
SOMMAIRE/GAME SUMMARY
Impact de Montréal 0
Toronto Lynx 1
Centennial Park Stadium
Buteur/Goal scorer:
90: TOR Ali Ngon
Formations partantes/Starting line-ups
MTL: Greg Sutton, Drew Kopp (David Fronimadis 82), Nevio Pizzolitto, Gabriel Gervais, Abraham François, Nick DeSantis (Jason DiTullio 67), Mark Rowland (Sita-Taty Matondo 71), Zé Roberto, Martin Nash, Eduardo Sebrango, Mauro Biello.
TOR: Theo Zagar, Jan Veenhof (Nicholas Blicharski 90), Mauricio Vincello, Josué Mayard, Tyler Hughes, Brian Ashton (Nikola Vignjevic 71), David DiPlacido, Joe Mattacchione, Elvis Thomas (Adrian Serioux 67), Sebastian Barclay, Ryan Lucas (Ali Ngon 73).
MTL : TOR Buts/Goals – 0:1 Tirs/Shots – 4:9 Arrêts/Saves – 3:0 Fautes/Fouls – 11:18 Hors-jeux/Offsides – 5:2 Corners – 4:3 Avert./Cautions - TOR: Brian Ashton 45, Mauricio Vincello 88, Nikola Vignjevic 89 Assist./Attend.: 1638 Arbitre/Referee Jose Farias Juges de touche/Linesmen Joe Fletcher, Michael Lambert 4e officiel/4th officiel Frank Marciello -30- SOURCE: bcomm INFO: Stéphane Banfi 514-328-3668 (ext. 27)
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