Rochester Rhinos News Release -- www.rhinossoccer.com
Sunday, April 20, 2014
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The Rochester Rhinos will be taking on the Chicago Fire Reserves this Monday afternoon at 12 p.m. ET at Toyota Park in Chicago.
Rochester is finishing up a three-game road trip that kicked off their 2014 season. The Rhinos dropped their opening match of the season 3-1 to USL PRO Champion Orlando City on April 5th. JC Banks scored the Rhinos first goal of the season in the season-opening defeat. On April 11th, the Rhinos rebounded and earned their first point of the season in a 1-1 draw with Dayton. Samuel Petrone scored the opening goal off an assist from Colin Rolfe for Rochester before Joe Broekhuizen scored the equalizer in the 94th minute for the Dutch Lions.
“I have a couple of different thoughts about the start to our season.” Rhinos head coach Bob Lilley said. “I think there have been periods of time in both of our first two games where we have actually played very well. However, we only have one point from our first two matches, so we need to be focused on trying to go into Chicago and take three points on Monday.”
Rochester will be facing the Chicago Fire Reserves because of the USL PRO's groundbreaking affiliation with Major League Soccer. Last year every MLS Reserve side played two matches against a USL PRO club that counted in both the USL PRO standings as well as the MLS Reserve League standings. This year the LA Galaxy became the first MLS club to take the next step and commit their reserve team – LA Galaxy II – to compete in USL PRO for the entire season. The focus of the affiliation with MLS is to help develop younger players in the MLS at a competitive level. The affiliation will ultimately build long term ties for the leagues and improve the overall level of play which will expand the audience.
“MLS Reserve teams provide an interesting challenge because you never really know what to expect.” Lilley said. “Regardless, Chicago has always historically had a good Academy and a good professional team, so it should be a strong test for us on Monday.”
So far the Chicago Fire Reserves have only played one match of their 2014 MLS Reserve League schedule. In their season opener against the New York Red Bulls Reserves, Giuseppe Gentile scored two goals to put Chicago on top 2:1. In their other exhibition matches, the Fire Reserves also defeated Indy Eleven and Marquette University. The team scored a combined seven goals in the two matches.
The Rochester Rhinos 19th home opener will be on Sunday, April 27th 2014 at 4 p.m. at Sahlen's Stadium against the Charleston Battery.
Tickets for the home opener as well as any other match on the Rhinos home schedule will be available by by calling (585) 454-KICK (5425), by visiting the MVP Health Care Box Office at Sahlen's Stadium, or by visiting ticketmaster.com. Rochester Rhinos season tickets, flex packages and group ticket sales are also currently available.