Rochester Rhinos News Release -- www.rhinossoccer.com
Friday, February 28, 2014
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Rhinos have agreed to terms with Steven Pinau, Minh Vu, and John McCarthy for the 2014 season. Pinau and Vu are the latest attacking players Rhinos head coach Bob Lilley has added to the roster and McCarthy is the newest goalkeeper on the Rhinos roster after the club sold Alex Horwath’s rights to Ljungskile SK of Sweden earlier this month. All three contracts are pending league and Federation approval.
“With Alex Horwath moving on a transfer overseas to LSK of Sweden we were able to come to terms with John McCarthy which has shown well both in Seattle’s MLS camp this year and at the PDL level last year.” said Lilley. “As for Vu and Pinau, they both had an excellent tryout camp last month and their past history solidified their positions on our roster.”
Pinau was most recently playing overseas with Clermont FC in France before signing with the Rhinos, he played in 11 games for Clermont and scored two goals. Earlier in his career, he was with Genoa FC of Italy from 2008-2012 and was loaned to Hibernean FC of Scotland and Bayonne FC of France during that time. Bayonne FC was where he was most successful, scoring 12 goals over two years in 29 matches.
Vu comes to Rochester from a successful career at Penn State University. In 2011, Vu led the team with four goals and three assists for 11 points. He was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after his debut and went on to score the game-winning goal in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament being honored as the Big Ten Tournament MVP and named to the Big Ten Tournament All-Tournament Team. In 2012, he scored two goals and added three assists for seven points in only 13 matches as a senior. At Pima Community College (AZ), Vu was a two-time All-American selection who recorded 86 points in his two-year career.
Reading United AC (PDL) and La Salle University helped produce a successful goalkeeper in McCarthy. With Reading United, he only allowed 11 goals over 1,110 minutes over 12 games (0.890 goals against average). With La Salle, He led the A-10 and ranked sixth nationally in saves per game in 2013. McCarthy was ranked 63rd nationally in 2013 Top Drawer Soccer in its Postseason College Soccer Player Rankings. McCarthy made first-team Atlantic-10 All-Conference, was an ECAC All-Star selection. During his career, he was named Soccer 6 Defender of the Week seven times. He also managed a 1.26 goals against average against 314 shots his senior year. McCarthy will be reporting to camp after having a successful preseason camp with Seattle where they were willing to consider him for a position on the squad as an alternate.
“It’s great to have the season right around the corner and we are looking forward to returning to our winning ways” said President and COO Pat Ercoli “Bob’s been working very hard at finding the right pieces to the puzzle and I’m sure his fruits of labor will pay big dividends.”
The Rochester Rhinos open preseason on Monday, March 3rd at 9:30am with a training session at Sahlen’s Stadium weather permitting, in the event of bad weather sessions will be at TSE in Gates. Their first preseason game is on Friday, March 7th at 3PM against Syracuse University (NCAA) at Sahlen’s stadium.
Rochester Rhinos season tickets, flex packages and group ticket sales are currently available, and they can be purchased by calling (585)454-KICK (5425) and by visiting the MVP Health Care Box Office at Sahlen's Stadium, or by visiting ticketmaster.com.