Friday, August 9, 2013
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Rhinos defeated the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 1-0 through a goal by Tam McManus on the final kick of the game at Sahlen's Stadium on Friday night. The Rhinos' victory snapped the Riverhounds' four-game winning streak, and gave the Rhinos a spectacular finale to their final home game of the USL PRO season.
The scoring opportunity arose when substitute Kendell McFayden drove down the middle of the pitch and was tackled from behind by Riverhounds captain Andrew Marshall around 25 yards from goal. Head referee David Mon booked Marshall for the foul, and then moved the Pittsburgh wall back the required 10 yards setting the stage for McManus.
McManus took two steps before striking the ball with his right foot over the wall and into the lower-right corner of the Riverhounds' goal. Pittsburgh goalkeeper Hunter Gilstrap was left stranded and could only watch the ball go into the net. Mon blew his whistle for full time during McManus' celebration.
“I practice free kicks every day and have literally taken hundreds of them in my career.” McManus said. “I've had some good efforts during my time here in Rochester, but they've never seemed to go in. After a long season it's nice to give the fans something to go home happy about.”
The loss leaves the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the eighth and final playoff spot in the USL PRO table with three matches left to play. Pittsburgh leads ninth place VSI Tampa Bay FC by three points, and travels back home to Highmark Stadium to host VSI on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. The match can be seen live on UNATION at www.uslnation.com.
The three points move the Rochester Rhinos into 11th place in the USL PRO table with 25 points. The Rhinos were officially eliminated from the playoff race for the first time in the club's 18 year history after last Friday night's 3-1 home loss to the Dayton Dutch Lions. The Rhinos conclude their season in Phoenix against the Phoenix FC Wolves on Friday, August 17th at 10:30 p.m. ET and Saturday, August 18th in Los Angeles against the Blues at 11 p.m. ET. Both of those matches can also be seen live on UNATION at www.uslnation.com.
Before kickoff the Rochester Rhinos announced their annual club award winners. Fourth year left back Danny Earls won the Rhinos Most Valuable Player Award presented by The Flanders Group. First year striker Blake Brettschneider was the club's leading scorer and he won Offensive Player of the Year. Captain Troy Roberts won the Defensive Player of the Year for the fourth consecutive season. Midfielder Lance Rozeboom won the Rookie of the Year award. Josh Faga won the Iacovangelo Community Service Award.