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 Rochester Rhinos

Rochester Hosts USL Eastern Conference Final Saturday Night

October 9, 2015 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Rochester Rhinos News Release


ROCHESTER, NY - The top seeded Rochester Rhinos and second seeded Louisville City FC kick off at 7:05PM in Sahlen's Stadium on Saturday, October 10th 2015 in the USL Eastern Conference Final. The winner will advance to the USL Championship Game next weekend. The Rhinos won the 2015 USL Regular Season Championship, and will continue their quest to accomplish what only Orlando City was able to accomplish in 2011 - win the USL Regular Season Championship and USL Championship double. Their opponent on Saturday night will provide their greatest test of this season to date in one of the biggest matches in the history of Sahlen's Stadium.

Louisville City FC is playing in their inaugural season, and has developed a narrative that parallels the Rhinos first season in 1996. City play in Louisville, Kentucky's downtown baseball stadium - Slugger Stadium - where they have drawn record crowds with a captivating offense that has established them as one of the league's most marketable teams. Louisville City FC super star striker Matt Fondy made history this season as his 22 goals scored made him the greatest single season goal scorer in league history. While Fondy will be the focal point on Saturday night, City is far from a one man show. Louisville City FC led the USL Eastern Conference and tied for top honors in the 24 team USL with 57 goals scored. Magnus Rasmussen finished the regular season with 20 points (eight goals - four assists), and Bryan Burke was the top play maker in USL with ten assists.

The Rochester Rhinos enter the 2015 USL Eastern Conference Final as the antithesis of their precocious counterparts. In their first six years the Rhinos played the role of upstarts challenging the developing paradigm of Major League Soccer superiority. Rochester played in five league finals, won three championships, made two trips to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final, and became the only team in the professional era outside of MLS to win the U.S. Open Cup in 1999. Fifteen years later the Rochester Rhinos have joined Charleston Battery and Richmond Kickers as the established stalwarts of the USL. The Rhinos are celebrating their twentieth anniversary with the best team they have fielded in their home at 460 Oak Street, and a side that echoes back to the championship teams that played in Rochester's downtown baseball stadium Frontier Field.

Lilley's 2015 Rochester Rhinos scored 42 goals in the regular season - the first time in a decade that the Rhinos scored forty or more goals in a season. Forwards Steevan Humberto Fortes dos Santos, Christian Volesky, Colin Rolfe, and Asani Samuels combined for 24 goals - the fourth highest total in club history, and best mark since 2003 when Doug Miller led the team in scoring with 17 goals. The only other teams to eclipse this year's forwards were the 1996 Rhinos, 1997 Rhinos, and 1998 Rhinos - some of the signature teams in the club's twenty year history. Dos Santos picked up where he left off in the regular season with a brace in the Rhinos 2:0 victory over New York Red Bulls II in the USL Eastern Conference Semifinal.

While Rochester Rhinos head coach Bob Lilley shudders at the thought of being labeled as a defensive coach, the reality is that his teams have always been universally recognized for being difficult to break down. His 2015 edition may be the best he has ever produced in a legendary coaching career that began in 1997. The 2015 Rochester Rhinos set the USL single season record for fewest goals conceded with 15. No other team in 2015 allowed fewer than twenty goals. No other team in 2015 allowed fewer than thirty goals. Charleston Battery finished second in the 24 team USL with 31 goals conceded, which breaks down to over half a goal more per game over the course of a 28 game season. Remove their three match swoon in early August when they allowed six goals in three matches, and lost their only match of the season in Charlotte, as well as the three goals they allowed in the final three matches of the season after they clinched the USL Regular Season Championship on September 5th 2015, and the 2015 Rochester Rhinos allowed nine goals in 22 matches - a 0.409 goals against average.

The personification of the 2015 Rochester Rhinos defensive effort has been goalkeeper Brandon Miller. After serving as a back-up for his first three years on the Rhinos roster, Miller's perseverance paid off as he set the USL single season record for shutouts in a season with 13. His 0.540 goals-against average led the USL, while his 0.807 save percentage was the best mark in the league. Miller has anchored a team defensive effort that starts with the forwards and permeates throughout the team's starting eleven regardless of Lilley's team selection - the ultimate blue collar team in one of the last blue collar cities in USL. That collective effort will culminate in the USL Eastern Conference Final on Saturday night.

"It's going to be a big game - it's going to be a big event." Lilley said. "The two best teams in the conference in the regular season both survived the semifinal round, and will be playing in the final. It doesn't happen every year, but when it does it usually leads to something special. All of the hard work that this group has put into this season since March has led us to this point. Louisville is a great team, we are a great team, and it's going to be a great game on Saturday night."

Rochester Rhinos playoff tickets and group sales tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased by calling (585)454-KICK (5425), online via Ticketmaster, or by visiting the MVP Health Care Box Office at Sahlen's Stadium during business hours.

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