The Montreal Impact registered its first point of the season on Saturday in the 18th home opener in club history, tying FC Tampa Bay 0-0 Saturday at Saputo Stadium. The Impact has now an overall team record of 10-2-6 (26 GF - 8 GA) in home openers in Montreal. The Impact shut out ots opponent 13 times in the previous 18 home openers. The game was heavily disputed as both teams didn't get a lot of scoring opportunities. "I felt the team was very nervous at the beginning of the game," said Impact head coach Marc Dos Santos. "We were so focused on the win that we forgot how to get there. Even though Tampa Bay is a team relying heavily on counter-attacks, we were able to hold them scoreless in that situation. But we didn't have any rhythm throughout the game. Now, we need to work on how to attack and get to know each other more in order to find everybody on the field. A lot of new players were in the starting lineup today and we will have to give ourselves some time to build a strong team." "Conditions were difficult, but we tried to do some play through the air despite the wind," said Impact defender Philippe Billy. "Scoring is what is missing in our game at the moment. We created more scoring opportunities than Tampa Bay and we played with the right mentality and that is what we need to remember from this game." Goalkeeper Bill Gaudette, who was playing his first game at Saputo Stadium, registered his first shut out with the Impact, facing eight shots. In the first half, FC Tampa Bay came close to open the scoring at the 5th minute when midfielder Tsuyoshi Yoshitake went past goalkeeper Gaudette before hitting the post to his left. At the 26th minute, following a corner from Tampa Bay, team captain Nevio Pizzolitto dove close to the Impact goal line and avoided the ball to get in the net. "This was a difficult game but we did what had to do to get the clean sheet," said Pizzolitto, who was playing his 300th career game in the US second division. "It's unfortunate that we were not able to put one in. We must continue to work on our movement when we don't have the ball and take the time to understand each other to be able to find ourselves on the field. We have a lot of excellent and experimented players and I am really confident about what's coming up for us." Montreal had two scoreing chances before halftime. In the 32nd minute, forward Idriss Ech Chergui, who was also playing his first game at Saputo Stadium, took a left footed shot that was stopped by Tampa Bay goalkeeper Daryl Sattler. Less than five minutes later, defender Philippe Billy gave the ball to midfielder Luke Kreamalmeyer in the 18-yard box, who then took a point blank shot that was again stopped by Sattler with his right hand. At the end of the game, at the 86th minute, a free kick from Zurab Tsiskaridze went to the left of FC Tampa Bay's net. Midfielders David Testo and Leonardo Di Lorenzo started their first game of the season. Forward Reda Agourrama (thigh), midfielder Hassoun Camara (thigh), as well as defenders Richard Pelletier (suspended) and Hicham Aaboubou (suspended) were not available for the match. A total of 12,060 tickets were sold for the game. The Impact will play its next game this Wednesday at 8 pm against the Vancouver Whitecaps FC as part of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship (Rogers Sportsnet East & Pacific, CKAC Sports, THE TEAM 990, radio-canada.ca/sports). NEXT GAMES • Wednesday, April 27 - Vancouver @ IMPACT - Saputo Stadium - 8 pm (Rogers Sportsnet East & Pacific, CKAC Sports, THE TEAM 990)* • Sunday, May 1st - IMPACT @ Edmonton - Foote Field - 9:35 pm • Wednesday, May 4 - IMPACT @ Vancouver - Empire Stadium - 11 pm (Rogers Sportsnet ONE, CKAC Sports, THE TEAM 990)* * Nutrilite Canadian Championship
