Rochester Rhinos News Release -- www.rhinossoccer.com
Thursday, July 7, 2011
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Rhinos host F.C. New York on Friday at 8 p.m. at Sahlen’s Stadium looking to get back on track after a tough loss to league-leader Orlando City on Sunday. The Rhinos also look to avenge a 2-1 loss suffered on May 30 to F.C. New York.
Sunday marked the first time the Rhinos (8-5-3, 27 pts.) lost at home in league play this season, but they did so to an Orlando (11-2-5, 38 pts.) team that leads the league by 11 points. The National Division-leading Rhinos will get another chance to cut down Orlando’s lead on July 16 when the Rhinos travel to the Citrus Bowl for a rematch.
But before that the Rhinos must take care of business at home. F.C. New York (4-6-5, 17 pts.) is coming off of a 3-1 home loss to the Charlotte Eagles on Monday and currently sits in fourth place in the USL PRO National Division.
Despite Sunday’s loss to Orlando, Rhinos Head Coach Bob Lilley feels good about his team’s last performance entering Friday’s match-up against F.C. New York.
“We are close,” Lilley said after Sunday’s game. “We are playing pretty well now. We’ve had a really good run. It is tough dropping points at home but I thought the guys played well.”
Rochester is 6-2-2 in all competitions at home and 5-1-2 in USL PRO play at Sahlen’s Stadium. Prior to the loss on Sunday, Rochester was on a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) in league play.
“We’ve been on a great unbeaten run in the league and now our job is to start another one,” Lilley said.
Friday’s events at Sahlen’s Stadium include a celebration of Rex the Rhino’s birthday. Rex, the mascot of the Rochester Rhinos, will celebrate his 16th birthday with other mascots from the area. The mascots will play a mini soccer game at halftime. There will also be the annual sleepover at Sahlen’s Stadium, which will include a movie and activities throughout the evening.
The Rhinos also continue “Give Back Month” on Friday, this time to benefit Foodlink. One dollar of every ticket and 10 percent of all group sales (10 or more tickets) will be donated to Foodlink, which rescues and redistributes over 11 million pounds of food annually to a network of 450 member agencies in a 10-county area in Central and Western New York.
As part of Give Back Month, every home Rhinos and Rattlers home game in July will benefit a different charitable organization. Friday’s benefiting charity is Foodlink. This past weekend the Rhinos donated portions of ticket sales to Camp Good Days & Special Times as well as Veterans Outreach Programs. The July 22 home game (at 8 p.m. against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds) will benefit Hillside Children’s Hospital.
This Friday’s match kicks off at 8 p.m. on Friday and gates open 7 p.m. There will be $1 drafts of beer and $1 hot dogs throughout pregame