Rochester Rhinos News Release -- www.rhinossoccer.com
Thursday, June 6, 2013
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Rhinos host the Montreal Impact Reserves at Sahlen's Stadium on Friday night at 7:35 p.m. The Rhinos enter the match trailing the Charlotte Eagles by eight points for the eighth and final spot in the 2013 USL PRO Playoffs with 15 matches left to play. The Rhinos will host 11 of those 15 matches at Sahlen's Stadium.
The Rhinos home-and-home series with the Impact Reserves this season is a result of Major League Soccer's groundbreaking affiliation with USL PRO that was announced by the two leagues in January. Every USL PRO team is scheduled to play two matches against MLS Reserve sides during the 2013 regular season. The results from the two matches will be reflected in the standings this season. The Impact's Reserve side contains a collection of recent MLS SuperDraft selections, new signings trying to break into the first team, and Impact Academy players trying to make the jump into professional soccer.
The Rhinos enter the match with Montreal in 12th place in the USL PRO table. Last weekend Rochester played back-to-back matches, and was able to rescue a valuable 2-2 draw with the Los Angeles Blues on Friday night when striker Tam McManus scored the game-tying goal in the 88th minute. However, Rochester's bus broke down on the overnight drive to Pittsburgh, and the team did not arrive at their hotel until 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning. The road-weary Rhinos could not build on their momentum from the night before, and they lost 3-0 in Pittsburgh. Despite the Rhinos' slow start, they remain eight points behind Charlotte for the eighth and final playoff spot in the USL PRO table with 15 matches left to play.
The Rhinos will have a full week off between matches for the first time in three weeks, and the break should help Rochester recover from a variety of injuries that left them short-staffed all of last week. The injury crisis started on May 25th in Charleston when captain Troy Roberts and right back Bilal Duckett both had to leave the match in the first 24 minutes due to injury. The New England Revolution recalled their loans on left back Tyler Polak and winger Gabe Latigue leaving the Rhinos with 13 players on their roster under contract for their 5-1 loss to New England in the Third Round of the U.S. Open Cup on May 28th. The signing of forward George Tor as well as the return of Polak and Latigue gave the Rhinos 16 healthy players on their roster for last Friday's game with Los Angeles. However, an injury to Ross LaBauex left the Rhinos with 15 healthy players on the second leg of their back-to-back weekend last Saturday night.
The Montreal Impact Reserves enter the match coming off of a 5-1 victory against the FC Dallas Reserves on Tuesday afternoon. Impact midfielder Blake Smith scored two goals, while Paolo Del Piccolo, Andrew Wenger, and Academy striker Victor Ndiaye added one goal each. The Impact won their only other match of the Reserve League season 3-0 over Red Bulls Reserves back on March 24th. Wenger and Smith were once again on the score sheet with one goal each, and Academy midfielder Kevin Luarca scored the third goal of the match. Montreal keeper Evan Bush was in goal to keep the clean sheet. Smith was the Impact's first round selection in the 2013 SuperDraft, having previously played for the PDL's Austin Aztex while Wenger (Duke, Carolina Dynamo) was the No.1 overall selection in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft.
Individual tickets are currently available, and they can be purchased by calling (585)454-KICK (5425), by visiting the MVP Health Care Box Office at Sahlen's Stadium, or by visiting ticketmaster.com. Individual tickets, group tickets and flex packages for the 2013 USL PRO season are also on sale now.