Rapids Finally Move Out Of Last Place

4 games, 10 points, and out of the cellar!  A game the Rapids would have draw, or even lost, a month ago was an easy win on Saturday night.  A somewhat ugly first half by both teams ended with Shinyashiki putting just the right amount of touch on a ball to find the empty half of the net.  The second half was solidly controlled by the Rapids but a great ball over the top combined with a misjudgment by the defense led to Cinci leveling the score in the 72nd minute.  The old Rapids would have folded at that point and been happy to hold out for a draw.  These Rapids went right back down the field and took the lead back in a minute, then added to that lead 9 minutes after.

Random Musings:

• Abubakar is fearless and will run over anybody to prevent a goal (though he was one of the ones beaten on the Cinci goal).  I don't know if he's that good or he just looks good next to what we've seen this season, but either way he's clearly the defensive MVP so far.
• You never like seeing somebody have to come off due to injury, especially in the first 20 minutes.  Hopefully Wynne is ok, and Vines stepped up after a few bad touches to start.
• Acosta and Price are starting to remind me of the old Pablo/Larentowicz combo.  Pablo and Ginger Ninja were more destructive while Price and Acosta have more creativity but both duos had the same job, Sit in front of the defense, stop anything coming through the middle, and get the ball to the attackers.
• Kamara needs a goal.  He hasn't had one in this 4 game undefeated streak.  We don'tr want him dwelling on that PK miss against FSL any longer.
• Nicholson gets the crap kicked out of him, over and over.
• In each of the four games in this streak a player has come off the bench and scored.  Casey has a great read on the game right now.

Man of the Match: Andre Shinyashiki.  Seems to be a universal choice as he was named MOTM at the game and he was included in the Team of the Week by the league.  He had a great opening goal and showed some impressive soccer IQ in his distribution.