USL Rochester Rhinos

Rochester Hosts Pittsburgh on Saturday Night

Published on June 6, 2014 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Rochester Rhinos News Release


The Rochester Rhinos host the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in Sahlen's Stadium on Saturday, June 7th 2014 at 7:05PM in a USL PRO regular season match. The Rhinos enter the match in sixth place in the table with 17 points from their first 11 matches, while the Riverhounds are on the bottom of the table with four points from ten matches.

Rochester continues to have one of the best defensive records in the league, and is currently tied with Wilmington for the lowest number of goals conceded with seven. Rookie goalkeeper John McCarthy has begun to emerge as a breakout star with a 3 - 0 - 3 record, 0.167 goals against average, and five clean sheets in his first six starts, while New England Revs loanee Luis Soffner posted his first clean sheet of the season in a 1:0 victory over Dayton Dutch Lions to a cap a four point weekend last weekend. Rochester Rhinos head coach Bob Lilley's first choice back four of Onua Thomas Obasi, Kyle Hoffer, Tony Walls, and Pat McMahon has been fortified by the return from injury of Babacar Diallo and the continued contributions of Ayao Sossou. The Rhinos have only conceded four goals in their last ten matches.

"We're in a position right now where we have been able to put together a series of 1:0 results that are giving us points right now." Lilley said. "We need to continue to put the work into our training sessions so that we can continue to make the improvements that we need to make to start scoring goals more regularly."

Pittsburgh comes to Rochester with a 0 - 6 - 4 record on the season. The Riverhounds are 0 - 3 - 2 away from Highmark Stadium, and they have been outscored five to twelve on the road so far this season. While Saturday night's visitors have struggled to get results in the early going, Pittsburgh still has a star studded roster. 2013 USL PRO Most Valuable Player Jose Angulo scored 15 goals last year on his way to First Team All-USL PRO honors, and he starts up top for the Riverhounds with newcomer Collins John who already has three goals and one assist. 2013 First Team All-USL PRO selection Matthew Dallman led the league in assists last season with 12, while Second Team All-USL PRO selection Andrew Marshall continues to anchors the back four.

Rochester defeated Pittsburgh 1:0 in their only meeting of the season on May 17th. Alex Dixon scored the only goal in the match, and Rochester limited the Riverhounds to only five shots on goal. McCarthy made one save on one shot faced to keep the clean sheet for the visiting Rhinos.

"Pittsburgh is a talented team for the position that they find themselves in the standings right now." said Lilley. "Their strikers can create chances out of nothing and do not need a lot of chances to score goals. We'll need another good team defensive effort at home on Saturday night to get a result."

Tickets for any 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.

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United Soccer League Championship Stories from June 6, 2014


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