Rochester Rhinos News Release - www.rhinossoccer.com

Friday, September 18, 2009

ROCHESTER, NY -- The Rochester Rhinos welcomed the Charleston Battery to Marina Auto Stadium on Friday night. A defensive struggle ensued as neither team gave way in closing out the season with a 0-0 draw. For the Rhinos it was their sixth scoreless draw of the season and fifth at home.

Charleston’s Tyler Hemming nearly put Rochester down by a goal in the 18th minute, but his free kick from 20 yards rang off the crossbar to the right of Scott Vallow.

Tiger Fitzpatrick found himself the recipient off a ball in the 35th minute. Fitzpatrick turned nicely to avoid two Battery defenders to improve his position before blasting a 30 yard shot that Chris Wiggins had to tip over the bar.

The 30th minute saw John Ball lead a counter attack, pushing forward and sliding a pass to Mike Ambersley, whose shot was labeled just high over the crossbar.

As time in the first half expired Charleston’s Randi Patterson, fending off a Rhinos defender, had Vallow leaning to his right while directing his shot to the left, however, the Rhinos netminder was able to drag his left foot to rob Patterson and keep the match scoreless.

Rochester just missed on two opportunities to score the game’s first goal in the second half. Errol McFarlane’s shot drifted slightly high while Kenney Bertz just could not connect on a ball sent back through the box and appeared to have Wiggins beat.

The hometown faithful thought for a moment that Rochester had won the game, but Amaury Nunes’ header rang off the crossbar and just missed crossing the line.

TEAM AWARDS

It was awards night on Friday night. Rhinos forward Johnny Menyongar was the recipient of his second straight Most Valuable Player award joining Craig Demmin (4) and Doug Miller (2) as the only players to earn the honor twice. Menyongar had tallied a league high eleven goals before suffering a season ending knee injury last week against Miami FC. Other award winners this season include:

Coaches Performance Award: John Ball
Leadership and Dedication Award: Brent Sancho
Rookie of the Year: Nano Short
Community Service Award: Tiger Fitzpatrick

Rochester will host the first of a two-legged aggregate goals series at Marina Auto Stadium on Thursday, September 24th. Kickoff is slated for 7:05 p.m. Tickets for the match are on sale at the Marina Auto Stadium box office or through ticketmaster and ticketmaster.com.