Rochester Rhinos News Release -- www.rhinossoccer.com
Friday, July 1, 2011
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The Rochester Rhinos earned a 2-1 victory against the Richmond Kickers to Sahlen’s Stadium on Friday night. After trading early second-half goals a 72nd minute goal by Kendall Jagdeosingh propelled Rochester to their eighth win of the season.
The Rhinos had an opportunity to get on the board first when they were awarded a penalty kick in the 18th minute. The penalty came as a result of a handball called against a Richmond defender inside the box. Rochester’s Isaac Kissi took the kick, driving a low hard shot that was snuffed out by Kickers’ goalkeeper Ronnie Pascale keeping the game scoreless.
Rochester did take the lead in the second minute of the second half off a goal by Kissi, his first of the season that was flicked on by Anthony Hamilton. The 47th minute tally didn’t last long as the 57th minute saw Richmond net the equalizer. A Richmond restart resulted in a long ball played to the endline to the right of the Rochester net. Henry Kalungi headed the ball back in front of the net which deflected off a Rhino defender and into the net for an own goal.
The game remained deadlocked until the 71st minute when the Rhinos re-took the lead as Tyler Rosenlund fed Andrew Hoxie at the top of the box. Hoxie, rather the turn and shoot slipped the the ball through to Jagdeosingh who finished his shot with authority low to Pascale’s right.
Rochester nearly added to the lead in the 76th as Jagdeosingh raced down the left flank and played a ball back just out of the reach of Tony Donatelli, who watched Pascale charge out to get the ball.
Richmond applied increased pressure as the game wound down, however Rhinos ‘keeper Neal Kitson was up for the challenge stopping all shots faced en route to his eighth shutout of the season. Kitson has now run his streak of consecutive scoreless minutes to 379 minutes.
“I thought we played well for 90 minutes” said Rhinos Head Coach Bob Lilley. "It was a pretty good performance. Richmond is a good team that can be dangerous at any moment. We kept tabs on them pretty well and I think we controlled the pace of the game for the most part. We had an appetite to win. I am proud of them. They played well at both ends of the field.”
Rochester will next host Orlando City on Sunday at Sahlen’s Stadium. Kickoff for the match is scheduled for 7 p.m.