February 8, 2010
Rhinos owner Rob Clark gave a sneak preview of what the Rhinos 2010 schedule will look like.
Here is the entire USSF 2nd Division schedule in PDF Format.
The Rhinos will have a four game road trip to open the season ahead of the May 1st home opener versus Carolina.
The one thing that jumps out to me is that the playoffs will start on October 4th. That is roughly three weeks sooner than the MLS playoffs and about a week and a half later than the 2009 USL-1 playoffs started.
I hope they have lots of coffee and hot chocolate on hand for the home opener and playoffs.
Top 20 list of most memorable Rhinos matches
Without further ado, here is the list of the top 20 most memorable Rhinos matches that fans will get to vote on to come up with the top 15.
May 10 1996 Fauver Stadium Rochester vs. NY Fever 1-1 (1st game in team history)
July 12 1996 Frontier Field Rochester vs. Montreal 3-2 (1st game at Frontier Field)
September 7 1996 Frontier Field Rochester vs. Tampa Bay 4-3 (USOC)
September 25 1996 Claude Robillard Rochester vs. Montreal 2-1 (Playoff Win in Montreal)
October 12 1996 Frontier Field Rochester vs. Colorado 3-0 (USOC Semifinal)
September 23 1998 Frontier Field Rochester vs. Montreal 4-1 (Largest playoff win vs Montreal)
October 17 1998 Frontier Field Rochester vs. Minnesota 3-1 (Rhinos first championship)
June 20 1999 Frontier Field Rochester vs. NY Freedoms 2-1 OT (USOC)
July 14 1999 Frontier Field Rochester vs. Chicago 1-0 (USOC)
August 11 1999 Frontier Field Rochester vs. Dallas 2-1 OT (USOC Quarterfinal)
September 1 1999 VB Sports Complex Rochester vs. Columbus 3-2 (USOC Semifinal)
September 14 1999 Crew Stadium Rochester vs. Colorado 2-0 (Rhinos win USOC)
September 20 2000 Frontier Field Rochester vs. Minnesota 3-1 (Rhinos win second league title)
October 13 2001 Frontier Field Rochester vs. Hershey 2-0 (Rhinos win third league title)
July 17 2002 Webster Schroeder Rochester vs. Kansas City 3-2 (USOC)
June 23 2003 Frontier Field Rochester vs. DC United 0-2 (Friendly in front of 14,426 people)
July 20 2004 Lusitano Stadium Rochester vs. New England 1-1 (USOC - Rhinos win on PK's)
July 14 2006 PAETEC Park Rochester vs. Miami 5-4 (Ricky Lewis header wins it in stoppage time)
July 27 2008 Saputo Stadium Rochester vs. Montreal 2-0 (Rhinos ends losing streak in Montreal)
September 3 2009 P&G Stadium Rochester vs. Portland 2-1 (Rhinos end Timbers streak)
The first 12 to 15 were pretty easy to come up with. It was the last 5 to 8 that took some time.
And like with any list like this there will be games that were missed. I just can't wait to see how some of the games that were hotly debated do when the fan voting is over with.
News & Notes:
- The new franchise in Minnesota has a name and a logo now.
- Tampa Bay has signed D Julian Valentin who spent the bulk of 2009 on loan from the LA Galaxy to the Cleveland City Stars.
- Carolina has re-signed forward Gregory Richardson who they picked up mid-way through the 2009 season after he was let go by the Colorado Rapids.
- Chris Pontius has re-signed with DC United after being a 2009 MLS Rookie of the Year candidate.
- Jesse Marsch has retired to take a job as Bob Bradley's assistant with the USMNT. That leaves Jaime Moreno as the lone '96er left on an MLS roster.
- The potential future home of Crystal Palace Baltimore looks nice.
- Is that even a question? How can the LA Sol folding be seen as anything but a sign of bad things to come for WPS?
- Ives Galarcep is moving to Fox Soccer.com.
- Jozy Altidore scored his first premiership goal over the weekend.
- Nobody wrote in Soccer Sam for this? What is the world coming to? Seriosuly though, John Harkes may not have been captain for life, but it appears that Sunil Gulati is president for life of US Soccer and I'm not sure how good of a thing that is.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
