THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 29, 1995 TAG: 9504290485
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Even before the United States International Soccer League season began, there was one phrase that was on everyone's lips.
Three-peat.
The Greensboro Dynamo have a perfect average when it comes to winning league championships. The team has been in the USISL for two years, and they've won two league titles.
With a talented core of returning players - and two forwards from the English Premiership about to arrive - the Dynamo are the odds-on favorites to claim a third consecutive championship.
Throwing Greensboro off course is an incentive for the Hampton Roads Mariners, who have started the season 2-0 and will face their first real test when they take on the Dynamo tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Center for Effective Learning.
``This is our first chance to see how good a team we are,'' said Mariners keeper Garth Lagerwey, whose shutouts of Delaware and North Jersey have made him the top-rated goalie in the league.
``Everyone knows that Greensboro's a great team, and if we beat them it'll show we're legitimate.''
Lagerwey stands to see a lot of action, given that the Dynamo (4-0) boasts three of the top 10 scorers in the league. Luckily he's seen them before.
Lagerwey played against the USISL's leading scorer, forward Jimmy Glenn, ``maybe 15 or 16 times'' while the two were in college - Lagerwey at Duke, and Glenn at ACC rival Clemson. Lagerwey faced the Dynamo's other high-octane scorers - midfielder Jason Haupt and forward Michael Gailey - twice while at Duke and twice with the Raleigh Flyers.
``I'm aware of how good they are,'' said Lagerwey, who defeated Greensboro once in four tries.
The Dynamo is about to get much, much better. On Sunday they are scheduled to receive forwards Robert Rosario and Steve Guinan from Nottingham Forest, an English Premier League club that is Greensboro's sister team.
Rosario, who earns $1.2 million a year, is rehabbing a knee injury.
``It's like getting a Michael Jordan,'' said Dynamo coach Michael Parker of Rosario's arrival.
Even without Rosario, Hampton Roads coach Sonny Travis will have his hands full trying to neutralize Greensboro's offensive power.
``I don't think we can match them goal-for-goal. We have to play great defense to beat this team,'' he said.
``The key to us winning is not giving up an early goal. In the second half, if it's a close game I'm going to feel pretty good.''
Haupt, who led the nation in scoring in 1989 and was the Dynamo's leading scorer last year, has dropped back to an attacking midfield position and says he is ``taking somewhat of a supporting role.''
There's no dropoff in talent, however. Gailey led the nation in scoring in 1991 while at UNC-Greensboro, and Glenn, who is second in the USISL with five goals, was the nation's leading scorer in 1993.
As impressive as those credentials are, Parker insists that the forwards aren't even the key to his team's success.
``Our strength is in midfield, actually,'' he said. ``Kenny Gasser is eating teams alive right now.''
Greensboro might seem intimidating, but the Mariners can't wait to line up against them.
``I could tell in practice that they're building up for this game,'' Travis said. ``We're ready for the ultimate test - facing the best team in the league.'' by CNB