The Rhinos were hoping to not feel the heat as they started their three-game road trip against FC Tampa Bay Rowdies with temperatures in Tampa hitting 90 degrees late into the evening. This would be the first meeting of the season for the two sides.

The Rhinos are coming off of a loss to the Carolina RailHawks which meant that their eight game unbeaten streak in the regular season had come to an end. The Rowdies, on the other hand, entered the match, winless in their last seven league matches.

The biggest change for the Rhinos would come in the form of goalkeeper as Scott Vallow was chosen over Neal Kitson, who had started the last four games in goal. Under Kitson the Rhinos went 1-1-2, allowing only two goals in those games.

The Rowdies also looked to introduce a few changes into their lineup with Jonny Steele coming in as a new signing and Jeremy Christie returning from injury. Steele was acquired through a trade with Vancouver where he won the 2008 USL-1 MVP award. Christie suffered a concussion back on July 4^th and his been dealing with a groin injury in recent weeks. He would start the match on the bench.

Both teams would look to score early as the Rhinos tried to end a scoreless run of 275 regulation minutes. The first real chance came in the 7^th minute as new boy Jonny Steele fired a left-footed shot over the crossbar. He would look dangerous throughout the night. The Rhinos would have a few chances, mostly from long distance, throughout the remainder of the half but nothing came to fruition as the scoreless streak was extended to 320 minutes.

The Rhinos would come out in the second half looking much more aggressive. They kept the pressure on Tampa Bay’s goal even though the match was largely end to end. As the match went right to the death, the Rhinos were facing a fourth straight match in which they wouldn’t score a goal. In the 79^th minute, a ball played to Hoxie across the face of Tampa Bay’s goal was put into the back of the net but, unfortunately, the linesman’s flag was up.

Attack, attack, attack was the name of the game for the next ten minutes but neither team would get a breakthrough before the 90^th minute. In the 91^st minute as the Rhinos kept up the pressure, a bad Rowdies giveaway led to Rochester’s Hoxie going one-on-one. Isaac Kissi made a run to the left of Hoxie and a very soft touch led to Kissi receiving the pass and putting the ball into the empty net.

Full time: 1-0. It took Rochester 365 minutes plus stoppage time to finally score a goal.Yet, despite the scoring woes for the Rhinos, Rochester has lost just once in its last ten league matches.

The Rhinos now sit in second place on the USSF D-2 table on 30 points while the Rowdies are still second bottom in their conference and 8^th overall. They are tied on points with Puerto Rico.

The Rhinos will now travel to Puerto Rico to face the Islanders on Saturday, July 24. The Islanders are tied for the eight position in the playoff race with FC Tampa Bay.

The Rowdies host local rivals Miami FC on Sunday, July 25th. Tampa Bay will be entering the derby match with the Blues winless in eight matches. Miami FC is winless in its last six games, and this week made a coaching change, hiring Chicago Fire Assistant, Daryl Shore.

SUMMARY

Weather: Clear skies   Attendance: 3882


Goal Summary:

ROC - Isaac Kissi - 90'+1 (Assisted by Andrew Hoxie)

Misconduct Summary:

ROC - Aaron Pitchkolan - 17' (yellow)

TB - Stanley Nyazamba - 43' (yellow)

TB - Graham Tatters - 48' (yellow)

ROC - Tyler Bellamy - 90' (yellow)