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"I am very pleased with the performance of my team. They were determined to win and get the result," Wolves coach Dan Gaspar said. "We can compete with anyone in the manner we played today."
The Wolves broke a scoreless tie in the 31st minute on a fabulous individual play by Mark Manganello. Wolves keeper Eric Pogue, making his first appearance for Connecticut, launched a goal kick almost 70-yards to the chest of Manganello who was isolated with his defender on the left sideline. Manganello spun to the outside and broke to the goal beating Rampage goalie Dan Popik on a cross to put the Wolves up 1-0.
"I have been in a good groove this summer -- better than I have ever been in," said Manganello, who led D3 in scoring this season. "If I get the chances I am confident I can put them away."
On the ensuing sequence, Wolves midfielder Jake Dancy tackled the ball away at midfield and fought off two trailing defenders easily beating Popik for the second goal.
"He (Manganello) is one of the hottest strikers in the country. He has played three games for us and scored two goals. He has earned the respect and the confidence of the rest of the Wolves," Gaspar said.
With two goals in hand, the Wolves
From C1
let loose an all out attack for a third goal and the bonus point but were unable to capitalize on several excellent scoring opportunities.
In the 87th minute, the Rampage finally broke through scoring off a direct kick from the top of the box by Steven Butcher to draw the Rampage within one. The Rampage had one last opportunity to tie in extra time but Pogue was able to snare a cross jumping off his line to seal the Wolves first victory in a month.
The game was delayed by nearly 35 minutes as the Rampage got lost coming from the Ramada Inn in Plainville taking nearly 90 minutes to find their way to the stadium. The officials told the Rampage they had less than ten minutes of warm-up time prior to the game. In the first 10 minutes of the game the lack of preparation nearly cost the Rampage. Winston Griffiths received a through-ball from John DeBrito and had a shot from point-blank range but Popik used his chest to deflect the ball away.
The lack of preparation time irked Boro Sucevic who was hoping for more time to let his players stretch out, especially coming off a 2-1 win over Long Island Friday night.
After making it through the first 10 minutes, the Rampage got into a groove midway through the first half. The Rampage had the Wolves back on their heels and in the 29th minute nearly took the lead when Igor Soso's blast from the right side hit the crossbar.
"I would have appreciated from the officials more than a three minute warm-up," Sucevic said. "It is extremely difficult to play two soccer games in 26 hours. We started out slow for obvious reasons. From the 10th minute until we gave up a goal I thought we took control of the game."
Three minutes later Manganello scored giving the Wolves a major confidence boost.
"Scoring the goal early is definitely big. It is tough being a new player, you have to earn their respect. I think by scoring that goal they respect me a little bit more,"Manganello said.
In the second half the Wolves dominated possession but were unable to finish off several fastbreak opportunities. Fabio Zuniga had a golden opportunity midway through the second half losing his defender 10-yards out. Zuniga chipped the ball over Popik but didn't have the right angle lofting it into the side panel.
The Wolves still have a difficult road ahead of themselves but Gaspar is confident his team can keep the momentum for next Friday's game at Rochester.
"If we can continue with this type of tenacity anything is possible in the remaining games," Gaspar said.
