Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Chris Eylander had an astounding night tonight. Rochester Rhinos goalkeeper Chase Harrison ... not so much.
Eylander made a series of excellent saves, including blocking Rhino Johnny Menyongar's penalty kick in the 83rd minute, while Harrison made a fatal mistake that led to the match's only goal in the Sounders' 1-0 victory tonight at PAETEC Park.
"(Goalkeeping) was a big difference," said dour Rhinos coach Laurie Calloway after the game. "(Eylander) didn't make any mistakes. We made one. That's the game right there."
To make matters worse, the Rhinos lost their top scorer indefinitely after a head-on collision.
Harrison's error came in the 71st minute, when he came out to challenge Seattle midfielder Sebastien Le Toux, who was attacking to the right of the goal. Harrison waited for the ball to roll into the 18-yard box so he could pick it up.
But the ball never quite got there, and Harrison and Le Toux scuffled for the ball. Harrison lost, and Le Toux just tapped the ball into an empty goal.
On the other end of the field, Eylander played a near-flawless game, making several diving saves, including two in rapid succession in the 72nd minute.
Then came Menyongar's penalty kick. The Rhino midfielder didn't get a solid foot on the ball, enabling Eylander to dive to his left for the save.
"When you're a goalkeeper, you get some of those, you miss others," Eylander said. "I just stood in there and read his body language.
"I was really, really calm and composed out there," he added. "I read the ball well from the forwards' feet and made some great saves."
Eylander's heroics kept the Rhinos scoreless for the second straight match.
"We're in a bit of a scoring slump," Calloway said. "Some guys need to step up. We had a lot of scoring opportunities tonight. We just didn't do well in front of the goal."
A serious head injury to leading scorer Matthew Delicate didn't help matters. Delicate went down in the 37th minute after he and Seattle defender Zach Scott lept up for a header and knocked heads. Delicate, blood on his face, left the game. After the game, Calloway said Delicate, who leads the Rhinos with five goals, had a broken jaw and a concussion.
After a blistering hot streak that saw the Rhinos go 5-0-2 between May 27 and June 17 and jump into second place in the USL First Division, Rochester has cooled off, going 0-2-1 over the last three First Division matches. They're now 6-5-6 overall, with a home match against Carolina Friday.
