GALAXY RULE THE RAPIDS IN ROSE BOWL.
COLORADO DROPS TO 0-2-1

HENDRICKSON'S GOAL IN THE 44TH MINUTE MAKES 10 OF 11 FOR THE GALAXY AGAINST THE RAPIDS IN THE ROSE BOWL.

Los Angeles (Saturday, April 21, 2001) - The thought of beating the odds is what gives stock brokers and underdogs goose bumps. But thinking about shooting the moon and actually doing it are two different things. The Rapids came into Saturday night's Rose Bowl match against the Galaxy as a statistical underdog. The Galaxy had beaten them the nine out of the last 10 times they played in Pasadena. Clearly, the odds were not in their Rapids' favor. But statistics only reflect the skill, the heart and the passion that players exhibit on the field. And on this night, the Rapids were not going turn things around at the Rose Bowl.

The first half was a clear indication that the Galaxy was well on their way to making that 10 out of 11. The Rapids looked disorganized and out of sync. The defensive markers Steven Herdsman and Lance Key lost sight of their men on several occasions, and had trouble keeping their footing - a problem that was not shared by the Galaxy.

Time of possession told the story. The Galaxy were in the Rapids side of the field for most of the first half, and had control of the ball for 22 minutes, as opposed to the Rapids's 19. And although the three minute differential may not sound like a lot - it was enough to win the game.

LA scored the only goal of the game in the 44 minute when defender Ezra "easy" Hendrickson put the ball into an empty net, as Rapids' goalie Adin Brown came out after Imad Baba had fallen down when he made contact with Hendrickson. The goal was set up by Greg Vanney's thirty-yard arching pass that left Hendrickson in a one-on-one breakaway. After Baba went down, Brown attacked, but Hendrickson deftly lifted the ball into the unprotected net.

And although the score was only 1-0 in favor of Galaxy at halftime, it could easily have been 3-0 or 4-0. In fact, the Rapids really only had one legitimate scoring opportunity. In the 35th minute, Lance Key launched a long pass deep into the Galaxy's end of the field. Junior Agogo wrestled the pass away from Brian Mullan but missed the mouth of the goal as the ball just slipped wide left of Galaxy goalie Matt Reis' fingers.

Some of the Rapids lack of organization and cohesive effort could be attributed to forward John Spencer's absence. Spencer was held out of the game after the teams went through warm-ups. The Scots forward, who scored the Rapids' only goal in the first game of the season in Miami and had the assist on Marcelo Balboa's goal in the 83rd minute that tied last weeks game against the Metrostars, pulled a calf muscle in practice on Friday and was unable to play.

The Rapids picked up that pace and put much more pressure, both on offense and defense, in the second half. But they never took control of the game.

Perhaps the most telling statistic was shots. In the first half, the Galaxy outshot the Rapids 11-to- 4. Colorado evened the shots in the second half, and ended up with only one less than the Galaxy overall (16-15). The Galaxy also won the battle of the corner kick by a margin of 12 to 4.

Despite the fact that the Rapids were shooting the ball more, they couldn't capitalize on their opportunities. Perhaps the biggest of those came in the 89th minute when Junior Agogo centered the ball to Neathan Gibson (who came in for Moore in the 69the minute) right in front of the net. Gibson received the pass at his feet, but his shot rolled wide. And with it went the Rapids' chances for pulling out the game.

Perhaps with the addition of a healthy John Spencer, the Rapids can redeem themselves next Saturday at Mile High when they take on the same Galaxy - this time on their home turf.

UP NEXT: The Rapids take on the Galaxy again in a rubber match on Saturday, April 14 at 7 p.m. (MT) at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colo.

LINESCORE:
		1		2		F
Colorado 	0		0		0
L.A.	 1		0		1

SCORING:	
LA - 1
COL - 	0

MINUTE BY MINUTE:

John Spencer did not start due to a strained calf muscle. Paul Bravo started in his place.

3rd minute: Ezra Hendrickson crosses the ball to Cobi Jones from right wing for a header that is punched away by Adin Brown

6: Cienfuegos fires the ball over the post

11: Penalty kick on hand ball for Dawes just outside the penalty box. A diving save by Adin Brown prevents the goal.

15: Agogo dribbles around two defenders and has Rapids' first shot on goal.

16: Header by Sasha Victroine sails wide right off penalty kick.

17: Jones' arching cross sets up a Victorine header to Cienfuegos, who fields the ball off his chest but shoots over the crossbar.

35: A long pass from Colorado defender Lance Key is stolen by Agogo from Greg Mullan and slips just wide left of the goal.

39: Mullan misses a header off a Jones head pass at point blank range. The ball sails over the crossbar.

44: Hendrickson scores on an empty net as Brown came out to attack the ball after Imad Baba went down on defense. Assist Greg Vanney on a thirty-yard cross to the right side of box.

45: Paule gets yellow card on foul on Elliot Halftime

56: Brown comes out of goal, and Herdsman makes the save by kicking the ball out of bounds.

58: Victorine beats Herdsman, and Brown comes out of goals and makes a great save that Herdsman kicks out of bounds to prevent a rebound.

62: Balboa goes down after contact with Victorine but stays in the game.

63: Herdsman misses on his one-on-one opportunity against Reis.

66: Jones shoot from near the goal box and hits the right side of the net.

67: Penalty kick by Baba over the crossbar.

68: A Mullan-to-Elliot shot goes way over the crossbar.

69: Substitution Gibson for J. Moore

72: Mullan header off of a cross by Jones. Catch by Brown.

74: Bardales subs for Mullan

79: Brown saves a close shot by Bardales

80: L.A. Substitution: Danny Pena for Sasha Victorine

81: Agogo shot on goal. Easy save for Reis.

84: Baba from Moore from Gibson sails over the net.

89: Golden opportunity missed Agogo to Gibson right in front of the net and Gibson's shot goes wide left

Lineups (Players are listed right-to-left in starting formation by
position):
COL (4-3-2) -- GK - Adin Brown; D - Lance Key, Steve Herdsman, Chris
Martinez, Christopher Dawes; M - Marcelo Balboa, Russ Paule, Imad Baba; F -
Junior Agogo, Paul Bravo.
LA (3-5-1) -- GK - Matt Reis; D - Greg Vanney, Ezra Hendrickson, Alexi
Lalas, Paul Caligiuri; M- Peter Vagenas, Simon Elliot, Mauricio Cienfuegos,
Cobi Jones; F -- Sasha Victorine, Brian Mullan.


STATS				LA			COL
Total shots			16			15
Shots on goal			5			5
Saves				5			4
Fouls				20			16	
Offside				4			4
Corner kicks			12			4
Possession (%)			52 			48
Cautions:  	LA: none
	COL: Paule (45) Reckless Foul 

Ejections:  	LA: None
		COL: None

Referee:  Reggie Rutty
Assistants: Chris Strickland, David Bragg
4th Official: Ricardo Salazar

Attendance: 12,749

Rapids' Head Coach TIM HANKINSON:

In the first half, we gave them too much room to play and basically too much respect. When we won the ball and tried to go to Agogo, we weren't picking the right moments, and we were turning the ball over.

We were gracious to put the ball on the platter, so they could come back at us, and it was not a good first half.

In the second half, we created good chances, but our final executions on the net did not happen. I feel that we played a better second half, both offensively and defensively. We just did not recognize chances.

The lineup decision (about John Spencer) took place in the warm-up because of a calf problem, and it became a concern among the whole group. The attentiveness among the group was not there at the beginning of the match. Players are supposed to react and make changes, but their emotional strength affected their play. We didn't do a good enough job adjusting and everyone was quite disappointed.

We played three in the back last week, but we planned on playing four in the back this week because of Cobi Jones is not playing in the forward position where he usually floats around side-to-side in back of the forwards.

Galaxy Head Coach Sigi Schmid:

Basically, we played better in the first half and created a lot of chances to score. Unfortunately, we did not finish on a lot of them. If we weren't up at the half, we would have been very disappointed because we did such a good job possessing the ball.

In the second half, we slowed the play and movement of the ball. When you are 0-2, things sometimes get tight and you just want to get the win under your belt.

Colorado is a decent team. There is a lot of parody in the MLS this season. There are not many different teams where one team is a lot better than the other. Colorado is a dangerous team with Agogo.

We decided that the season begins today. Adam Frye shaved his goatee, and I bought some new pants and underwear.

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