2017 Rochester Rhinos season

The 2017 Rochester Rhinos season was the club's 22nd overall and seventh with the United Soccer League, now known as the USL Championship. The Rhinos returned to playing in Division II of men's professional soccer, as the USL and all its teams were promoted from Division III after the 2016 season. They looked to return to the USL playoffs after losing to the New York Red Bulls II in the conference semifinals the previous year.

Rochester Rhinos
2017 season
OwnersDavid and Wendy Dworkin
Head coachBob Lilley
StadiumCapelli Sport Stadium
USL4th, Eastern Conference
USL PlayoffsConference semifinals
U.S. Open CupFourth Round
Highest home attendance3,459 (4/22 vs. NYRB2)
Lowest home attendance963 (10/10 vs. BST)
Average home league attendance2,031
Biggest winROC 4–0 CLT (4/29)
Biggest defeatCHS 5–0 ROC (4/15)
← 2016
2022 →

This was the Rhinos' final season in the second tier of American professional soccer. The team initially announced that it would go on hiatus for the 2018 season.[1][2] It later announced that it would not resume professional operations until 2020, at which time it will join USL League One, a third-level league operated by USL's parent company, United Soccer League (not to be confused with the Rhinos' former league), that will play its first season in 2019.[3]

Roster

as of June 25, 2017 [4]

No.PositionPlayerNation
1GKKyle Morton  United States
2DFRaymond Lee  United States
3DFRyan Felix  United States
4DFBradley Kamdem  France
5MFJordan Dover  Canada
6FWChristiano François  Haiti
7MFRyan James  Canada
8MFBrandon Beresford  Guyana
9MFStefan Defregger  United States
10MFSofiane Tergou  France
11MFKenardo Forbes  Jamaica
12FWJochen Graf  United States
13MFMike Garzi  United States
15DFJoe Farrell  United States
17DFWal Fall  Germany
18FWAntonio Correia  Cape Verde
20DFTodd Pratzner  United States
21FWDarius Madison  United States
22MFJalen Brown  United States
23GKTomas Gomez  United States
24FWRayane Boukemia  France
25DFSergio Campbell  Jamaica
29MFSamuel Edoung-Biyo  Cameroon
33GKDaniel Lynd  United States

Competitions

Preseason

Regular season

Standings

Eastern Conference
PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Louisville City FC (C)3218865831+2762Conference Playoffs
2Charleston Battery3215985333+2054
3Tampa Bay Rowdies32141175035+1553
4Rochester Rhinos32141173628+853
5Charlotte Independence32139105240+1248
6FC Cincinnati321210104648−246
7New York Red Bulls II32135145760−344
8Bethlehem Steel FC32128124645+144
9Orlando City B321012103736+142
10Ottawa Fury32814104241+138
11Harrisburg City Islanders32107152847−1937
12Saint Louis FC3299143548−1336
13Pittsburgh Riverhounds32812123342−936
14Richmond Kickers3288162436−1232
15Toronto FC II3267192754−2725
Source: 2017 USL standings
Rules for classification: 1) total wins; 2) total goal differential; 3) total goals scored; 4) points earned against top four Conference finishers; 5) disciplinary points; 6) coin toss or drawing of lots
(C) Champions

Match results

  Win  Draw  Loss

All times in Eastern Time.

April 1 1 Bethlehem Steel FC 2–3 Rochester Rhinos Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
4:00 PM EDT (UTC−4)Davies 45+3' (pen.)
Conneh 72' (pen.)
ReportMadison 9'
Fall 34'
Graf 88'
Stadium: Goodman Stadium
Attendance: 3,102
Referee: Jorge Ramírez
April 15 3 Charleston Battery 5–0 Rochester Rhinos Charleston, South Carolina
7:00 PM EDT (UTC−4)Williams 15', 25', 26'
Guerra 31'
Chang 81'
Thomas  82'
Anunga  88'
Mueller  89'
ReportFall  56'
James  59'
Stadium: MUSC Health Stadium
Attendance: 2,421
Referee: Howard Ashe
April 29 5 Rochester Rhinos 4–0 Charlotte Independence Rochester, New York
5:05 PM EDT (UTC−4)Fall 27',  48'
Garzi  44', 46'
Madison 52'
Felix  56'
Forbes 85' (pen)
ReportDavidson  25'
Johnson  37'
Herrera  90+2'
Stadium: Capelli Sport Stadium
Attendance: 1,941
Referee: Greg Dopka
21 May 6 Rochester Rhinos 1–1 Richmond Kickers Rochester, New York
4:05 PM EDT (UTC−4)Beresford  16'
Forbes 32'
Farrell  73'
Felix  85'
ReportGonzalez 45'
Asante  81'
Stadium: Capelli Sport Stadium
Attendance: 2,003
Referee: Henrik Karlsson
24 May 7 Rochester Rhinos 1–0 Tampa Bay Rowdies Rochester, New York
7:05 PM EDT (UTC−4)Fall 24'
Garzi  39'
ReportHristov  33'
Lowe  55'
Nanchoff  81'
Stadium: Capelli Sport Stadium
Attendance: 1,140
Referee: Matthew Franz
June 3 8 Rochester Rhinos 1–0 FC Cincinnati Rochester, New York
6:00 PM EDT (UTC−4)Kamdem 65'CIN Report
ROC Report
Box Score
Walker  63'
Halfhill  90'
Stadium: Capelli Sport Stadium
Attendance: 2,158
Referee: Jorge Ramirez
Assistant referees: Gabriel Angelone
Assistant referees: Ankur Singh
Fourth official: Anthony Perdue
June 7 9 Orlando City B 1–1 Rochester Rhinos Orlando, Florida
6:30 PM EDT (UTC−4)Hines  3'
Barry 23'
Laryea  64'
ReportCorreia 25'
Fall  63'
Stadium: Orlando City Stadium
Attendance: 967
Referee: Jonathan Weiner
June 10 10 Tampa Bay Rowdies 1–1 Rochester Rhinos St. Petersburg, Florida
7:30 EDT (UTC−4)Cole 19'
Collins  28'
Savage  58'
Nanchoff  89'
ReportGraf 5'
Fall  68'
Kamdem  78'
Stadium: Al Lang Stadium
Attendance: 6,026
Referee: Kevin Broadley
June 17 11 Rochester Rhinos 1–0 Ottawa Fury Rochester, New York
6:05 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)Felix 19',  28'
Farrell  78'
Tergou  90+4'
ReportStadium: Capelli Sport Stadium
Attendance: 2,548
Referee: Lorant Varga
June 23 12 Rochester Rhinos 0–1 Orlando City B Rochester, New York
6:00 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)Defregger  29'
Dover  88'
ReportTimbó 18',  45+1'Stadium: Capelli Sport Stadium
Attendance: 1,243
Referee: Charles Murphy
July 1 13 Charlotte Independence 2–1 Rochester Rhinos Charlotte, North Carolina
6:00 P.M. EDT (UTC−4)Estrada 12', 25'
Ross  32'
ReportFarrell  14'
Fall 67' (pen)
Stadium: Matthews Sportsplex
Attendance: 1,623
Referee: Gustavo Solorio
July 5 14 Saint Louis FC 0–0 Rochester Rhinos Fenton, Missouri
8:00 PM EDT (UTC−4)Sheldon  66'ReportLee  60'Stadium: World Wide Technology Soccer Park
Attendance: 4,634
Referee: Dule Djurasevic
Note: Re-scheduled from May 6 due to flooding of World Wide Technology Soccer Park[5][6]
July 15 16 Ottawa Fury 1–1 Rochester Rhinos Ottawa, Ontario
2:00 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)Barden  33'
Bruna  72'
Hume 89'
ReportGraf 15'
Garzi  39'
Stadium: TD Place Stadium
Attendance: 5,525
Referee: Chris Grabas
July 26 18 Rochester Rhinos 2–0 Toronto FC II Rochester, New York
7:05 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)Defregger 58',  59'
Dunn 76' (o.g.)
Correia  90+3'
ReportOnkony  26'Stadium: Capelli Sport Stadium
Attendance: 2,148
Referee: Jared Simons
July 29 19 FC Cincinnati 2–3 Rochester Rhinos Cincinnati, Ohio
7:00 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)McLaughlin 29'
Djiby  27',  42' 
Josu  44'
Berry  81'
Jaye  84'
König 86' (pen.)
Greig  87'
Walker  90+2'
ReportGraf 12'
Kamdem  54'
Fall 78' (pen.)  78', 82' (pen.)
Stadium: Nippert Stadium
Attendance: 23,548
Referee: Guido Gonzalez Jr.
August 8 21 Harrisburg City Islanders 0–1 Rochester Rhinos Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
7:30 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)Grosh  20'
Brent  59'
Mensah  83'
ReportMadison 25'
Garzi  44'
Stadium: FNB Field
Attendance: 2,078
Referee: Amber O'Connor
August 19 22 Rochester Rhinos 0–1 Charleston Battery Rochester, New York
18:05 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)Madison  45+1'ReportHackshaw  21'
Williams  25'
Portillo 83'
Cooper  90+2'
Stadium: Capelli Sport Stadium
Attendance: 2,319
Referee: Bardhyl Pashaj
August 26 23 Rochester Rhinos 1–2 Saint Louis FC Rochester, New York
6:05 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)Fall 7' (pen)
Graf 55'
ReportHowe 3',  74'
Rudolph  6'
Alihodžić  26'
Ledbetter  90+1'
Stadium: Capelli Sport Stadium
Attendance: 1,607
Referee: Lucasz Szpala
September 2 24 Toronto FC II 0–1 Rochester Rhinos Vaughan, Ontario
7:30 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)ReportBrown 10'
Fall  90+2'
Stadium: Ontario Soccer Centre
Attendance: 143
Referee: Alexis Vaughan
September 9 25 Rochester Rhinos 1–1 Ottawa Fury Rochester, New York
6:00 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)François 19'ReportMcEleney  37'
Bruna  63'   88'
Dos Santos 71' (pen.)
Stadium: Capelli Sport Stadium
Attendance: 2,345
Referee: Calin Radosav
September 20 27 Louisville City FC 2–1 Rochester Rhinos Louisville, Kentucky
7:30 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)Davis IV 23'
Spencer 90+5' (pen)
ReportGraf 43',  73'
Lee  45'
James  61'
Gomez  88'
Felix  90+4'
Stadium: Louisville Slugger Field
Attendance: 6,698
Referee: Jon Freemon
September 23 28 Richmond Kickers 1–0 Rochester Rhinos Richmond, Virginia
7:00 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)Minutillo 80'ReportKamdem  79'Stadium: City Stadium
Attendance: 5,969
Referee: Jorge Ramirez
September 30 29 Rochester Rhinos 0–0 Louisville City FC Rochester, New York
6:05 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)Forbes  71'
Felix  85'
ReportOwnby  67'
Morad  90+3'
Stadium: Capelli Sport Stadium
Attendance: 1,775
Referee: Eric Tattersall
October 7 30 Pittsburgh Riverhounds 0–2 Rochester Rhinos Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
7:00 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)Chevy  57'ReportGraf 1'
Fall 14',  70'
Stadium: Highmark Stadium
Attendance: 2,400
Referee: Elvis Osmanovic
October 10 31 Rochester Rhinos 1–0 Bethlehem Steel FC Rochester, New York
7:05 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)Graf 38'ReportConneh  86'Stadium: Capelli Sport Stadium
Attendance: 963
Referee: Thomas Snyder

Playoffs

October 21 Conference Quarterfinals Rochester Rhinos 2–1 (a.e.t.) Charlotte Independence Rochester, New York
6:05 PM EDT (UTC-04:00)Dover  11'
Graf 53'
François  61'
Farrell  83'
Defregger 113'
ReportA. Martínez  53',    120'
E. Martínez 69'
Davidson  85'
Stadium: Capelli Sport Stadium
Attendance: 1,647
Referee: Bardhyl Pashaj

References