The Colorado Rapids won their first preseason game this afternoon as they defeated Marathon of Honduras 3-0.
The Rapids attacked the Honduran net early and often with the first chance coming to John DiRaimondo. The St. Louis University product took a shot from outside the penalty area that the goalie for Marathon had to push out for a corner kick.
In the 15th minute, Nick LaBrocca played a give-and-go with Colin Clark but saw his shot cleared of the line by a Honduran defender.
Two minutes later the Rapids got their first goal. LaBrocca played a ball to Clark down the line and when the Fort Collins native crossed the ball a Marathon defender was there to put the ball in the net.
At the half, Jovan Kirovski came on as a striker for DiRaimondo. Jacob Peterson was pushed outside to the right and Terry Cooke moved into an attacking central midfield role.
After a slow first half, Justin Hughes was forced to tip a cross from Marathon over his crossbar as the ball was floating to the top of the Colorado net. Hughes also made two other saves during the second half on shots right at him.
Omar Cummings had his first opportunity in the 25th minute. Kirovski put the Jamaican behind the defense but his shot from a wide angle just skipped wide of the far post.
The Rapids made their second substitution in the 29th minute. Brandon Prideaux came on for Cooke and pushed Kosuke Kimura into the midfield.
Clark stayed busy on the left side as his 30th minute shot was pushed out for a corner kick by the Marathon 'keeper.
In the 36th minute another Clark cross found its way into the net. This time a defender nicked the cross and changed its path to the upper corner on the far post.
Colorado closed its scoring account when Cummings tapped a Peterson cross into an open goal. Kirovski played a through ball to Peterson who took the ball to the near post, drew the defender and goalkeeper to him and slipped a pass to Cummings.
Scoring Summary:
COL - Own Goal 17
COL - Own Goal 36
COL - Cummings (Peterson, Kirovski) 38
Lineups:
Colorado Rapids: Justin Hughes, Kosuke Kimura, Facundo Erpen, Stephen Keel, Jose Luis Burciaga Jr., Terry Cooke (Brandon Prideaux 29), Nick LaBrocca, John DiRaimondo (Jovan Kirovski 20), Colin Clark, Omar Cummings, Jacob Peterson
