COLORADO RAPIDS STAY UNDEFEATED AND UNSCORED UPON IN PRE-SEASON WITH 1-0 WIN OVER SAN JOSE CLASH

SAN DIEGO (Wednesday, February 17, 1999) - The Colorado Rapids defeated the San Jose Clash, 1-0, on Wednesday morning at the Arco Olympic Training Center in San Diego. Paul Bravo scored in the first half and Marcus Hahnemann and the defense turned in their second consecutive shutout to improve the Rapids' pre-season record to 2-0.

Following a win over the Clash, 1-0, on Sunday at Southwestern College in San Diego, Colorado has now played 180 minutes in the pre-season without giving up a goal.

In a game played mainly in the midfield, neither team enjoyed many solid scoring chances, but the Rapids were able to take one of their opportunities 23 minutes into the game. Marcelo Balboa controlled a ball to the left of the Clash penalty area, before finding Paul Bravo about 25 yards out from goal in the center of the field. Bravo collected the pass, turned and struck a shot towards goal. Clash midfielder Simon Elliott, attempting to block the shot, actually altered the flight of the ball enough with a slight deflection to send the shot looping over Clash goalkeeper David Kramer and into the net for the lone goal of the match.

Thirty minutes in, Colorado nearly doubled its lead when defender David Vaudreuil carried into the right corner, before turning back and hitting a swinging, left-footed shot that caused Kramer to awkwardly retreat and snare the ball out of the air just in front of the goal line.

San Jose's best chance of the half, and of the game, came ten minutes from the break when Kevin Legg struck a ball into the box for former Rapid Sean Henderson to leap and flick into the center of the box. It was there that a waiting Ronald Cerritos trapped the ball on his thigh before volleying with his right foot, but his offering sailed just wide left of the Rapids goal.

Cerritos was making his first appearance of 1999 after recently re-signing with the Clash.

San Jose enjoyed a good amount of the possession in the second half, but were unable to really threaten the goal of Marcus Hahnemann, the Rapids keeper never having to make a tough save. San Jose's best chances came when Richard Mulrooney chipped a searching through ball to the feet of Esmundo Rodriguez, who opted to attempt to volley the ball first-time from twenty yards, with the result going well wide to the right of Hahnemann.

The Clash had one final chance with five minutes to play when they were awarded a dead ball 20 yards out to the right of the Rapids' box. Carlos Farias stepped up and hit a cross aimed for the head of Jamie Clark, but Hahnemann stepped in front of the leaping player and corralled the cross, cementing the second consecutive win for Colorado over their Western Conference rivals.

The Rapids played the game without new signing Anders Limpar, as the Swedish midfielder remains in Sweden awaiting clearance of his work visa to come to the United States (see Myernick quote below). Colorado also played without midfielder Ross Paule (with the U.S. National Team) Joey DiGiamarino (in Spain with the U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team - will return February 20th), first-round college pick Andrew Mittendorf (knee injury), third-round college pick Bobby Meyer (finishing schooling at Dartmouth until the end of the month), midfielder Adrian Paz (contract dispute) and goalkeeper Garth Lagerwey (groin injury).

SCORING: Paul Bravo (Marcelo Balboa) 23

RAPIDS LINEUP: (4-4-2, left to right) - GK Marcus Hahnemann; Defenders Jason Bent, Peter Vermes (Steve Trittschuh 46), Marcelo Balboa (Chris Martinez 60), David Vaudreuil (Tim Martin 53); Midfielders Kevin Anderson (Tom Poltl 32), Matt McKeon, Paul Bravo (Non-rostered player Brian Wood 70), Darren Sawatzky; Forwards Marquis White (Tahj Jakins 46) and Wolde Harris.

CLASH LINEUP: (3-5-2, left to right) - GK David Kramer; Defenders Adam Frye (Joey Martinez 46), Richard Gough (Jamie Clark 46), John Doyle (Jimmy Conrad 46); Midfielders Anthony Farace (Max Viera 55), Jorge Salazar (Braeden Cloutier 46), Marcelo Vega (Kevin Legg 28), Simon Elliott (Carlos Farias 46), Sean Henderson (Richard Mulrooney 46); Forwards Ronald Cerritos (Esmundo Rodriguez 46) and Jeff Baicher (Wallace DeSouza 46).

NEXT GAME: Colorado will face the A-League Orange County Zodiac this Saturday, February 20, at 7:00 p.m. (Pacific) at Trabuco Stadium in Santa Ana.

RAPIDS COACH GLENN "MOOCH" MYERNICK: "No goals against in two games is something that I am very pleased with out of the team. We did not have as much possession today as I would have liked, but we prevented the Clash from translating their possessions into solid scoring chances, and I am quite happy with that fact."

"Anders Limpar's work visa is coming along as we planned, and we are expecting to have him join us within a week to ten days at the absolute latest. I am anxious to get him in here so that he and the guys can get on the same page as soon as possible."

CLASH COACH BRIAN QUINN: "I am very happy with the progress we have made between Sunday and today. At this point in the season, you want to see good progress day to day, and that is evident with the boys after today."

"I thought Cerritos did very well considering it was his first day back with the team. We know the player Ronald is and are not concerned with him. He looked fine today and we are just happy to have him back training with the team."

"One player who stuck out for me today was Richard Mulrooney. He was surprisingly good in the half that he played today, and it was good to see him do so well."

Sat.	2/20	7:00 p.m.	Orange County Zodiac (A-League)	Trabuco Stadium
Mon.	2/22	3:30 p.m.	San Diego Flash (A-League) Arco Olympic Training Center
Wed.	2/24	7:00 p.m.	Tijuana Chivas (Mexican D-2) Tijuana
Sat.	2/27	7:00 p.m.	Kansas City Wizards UNLV (Las Vegas)

Click Here to Return to COLORADO RAPIDS News Releases Home Page

Click Here to Return to COLORADO RAPIDS HOME PAGE