USL Feature
Friday, June 10, 2011
By NICHOLAS MURRAY
Talking to both Rochester Rhinos coach Bob Lilley and Harrisburg City Islanders coach Bill Becher, the word consistency comes up frequently.
Both teams have been looking for the formula that will provide consistent results, and with the Rhinos having taken four points out of six in Antigua last weekend and Harrisburg having won three consecutive games as they enter Saturday night’s USL PRO Game of the Week on Fox Soccer, both appear to be starting to find it from their squads.
For the Rhinos, though, consistency has been hard to come by so far this season. Prior to their trip to the Caribbean, the Rhinos had been on a three-game winless streak, and still only hold a 4-4-3 record. With injuries to key players like defender Troy Roberts and forward Isaac Kissi, it’s been far from smooth sailing for a side many expected to be near the top of the league’s overall standings.
Lilley, though, is optimistic that his side will benefit in the long-run from the changes that have occurred in the lineup, giving more minutes and experience to those who might have been on the fringes of the team otherwise.
“[Antigua] was a great weekend to try and get some reserve players a lot of minutes,” Lilley said of last weekend’s games. “They did well with that, and we feel like we played well but we also feel like we were able to rest some guys over the weekend in Antigua who will now be ready with the heavy fixture list and Open Cup games. It’s where we’re hoping for the back half of the season we’re able to build off that weekend.”
Harrisburg has also had injuries to overcome, but the City Islanders have seen great improvement in their past three games. Now instead of giving up late goals, which earlier in the season cost the City Islanders points, they are scoring late goals to claim additional ones, such as Sainey Touray’s 89th-minute game-winner against Charleston last Saturday. The key to that has been the effort on the field, which for most of the recent homestand was strong.
“I think our work-rate has been very good, we’ve done a very good job defensively for most of those three games,” Becher said. “The disappointing thing, I think, was in the two games where we had a three-goal and four-goal lead we backed off a little bit and gave up some goals, but more than anything our work rate has been good and we’ve been playing together as a team.”
At the forefront of the City Islanders’ success has been young striker Jose Angulo, whose six goals lead the team. But the team has been getting strong performances by many others, including Brian Ombiji, who had two goals in the 4-1 win against Dayton on Wednesday, Jason Pelletier and David Schofield.
“Ombiji’s a guy that does a lot of the dirty work, does a lot of the stuff that goes unseen sometimes,” Becher said. “He’s had a couple of assists, but he’s always scored goals for us, he’s always come through with some big goals like in the 2007 championship game, so it was good to get him a couple of goals, it was well deserved.”
But Angulo has been the big story of the season so far for Harrisburg, and the 23-year-old’s work-rate and enthusiasm appears to be rubbing off on some of his older teammates.
“It’s been great watching him in practice,” said City Islanders midfielder Jason Hotchkin, also the oldest player on the team. “It’s inspiring for me to see his hunger for the game and to see his drive and will to be in the game. From where he’s come from to where he is now, it’s guys like that who keep old guys like me going, it’s fun to watch him in practice and games and see the success that they have and hopefully then moving up into MLS and maybe even beyond that.”
Angulo scored the only goal when the two teams met earlier this season at the Skyline Sports Complex in Harrisburg, and both Becher and Hotchkin believe that victory will add motivation to the Rhinos to gain a little revenge at home.
But Lilley believes the most important thing for his side is to get back to winning ways at Sahlen’s Stadium, where they have drawn each of their last two contests. To accomplish that, Lilley said they would need to continue to build the consistency that has been absent at times this season.
“I think if we’ve learned anything through the first 11 games this year it’s that if you’re not bringing your best to the table, you’re going to struggle to get results,” Lilley said. “We certainly respect Harrisburg and the form they’re in now and obviously it’s a big game with it being a home game and it being on Fox Soccer, but I think we just have to as a group make sure we’re collected for the full 90.”
As for the City Islanders, who could move even on points with the Los Angeles Blues at the top of the National Division with a victory, Hotchkin believes the team is where it needs to be to make a run into the playoffs.
“Obviously every team at this point would like to be all wins and no losses, but we can’t fool ourselves,” Hotchkin said. “We’re right where we need to be and where we want to be as far as learning lessons and gaining that maturity throughout the season that will carry us to the playoffs and hopefully to a championship.”