57% possession was not enough to take all 3 points for Rochester against the Richmond Kickers.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Rhinos dominated most of the match, but a 45th minute free kick by the Kickers canceled out Rochester’s 32nd minute strike, as the teams would share points in a 1-1 draw on Sunday before an announced crowd of 2,003 at Capelli Sport Stadium.
Rochester had the first dangerous chance of the match in the 4th minute, as Stefan Defregger found himself on the right wing in a ton of space. Defregger would go at his defender and find Mike Garzi about 12 yards from goal who put his shot towards the bottom left corner, but keeper Matt Turner was able to get his hands on the effort.
The Rhinos thought they took the lead in the 18th minute, but the goal was ruled to be offside. Bradley Kamdem Fewo switched the ball and located Garzi in space. Garzi dropped the ball back to Kenardo Forbes who blasted it into Turner’s body. The ball rebounded to Defregger who calmly slotted it into the open net, but was judged to be about a yard off.
Forbes wouldn’t be denied as he would put the Rhinos ahead 1-0 in the 32nd minute. Darius Madison and Forbes played a 1-2 between them at the top of the box. Forbes broke in on the left side, coasted past his defender and around the keeper to roll it into the empty net.
Richmond would even the score up at the stroke of halftime. They won a free kick about 32 yards out, and Raul Gonzalez bent the ball away from Tomas Gomez into the bottom right corner to make it 1-1.
Garzi nearly put the Rhinos back in front a minute into the 2nd half, as a failed clearance bounced to him. However, he wasn’t able to keep his volley under the crossbar.
The next real chance came in the 63rd minute when a Richmond midfielder slipped to present Rochester with a real opportunity. Forbes passed the ball inside for Madison at the top of the box, who laid it off to the left wing for Kamdem Fewo. He tried to take advantage of the rain and skid one on net, but Turner brought it comfortably into his body.
Antonio Correia and Sofiane Tergou came on in the 68th minute and nearly decided the game 5 minutes into their 2017 USL debuts. Tergou from the left wing slid the ball into Correia who cut his defender and hit an excellent shot into the bottom left corner, which was matched by an even better save by Turner.
The first corner of the match didn’t come until the 82nd minute and the Rhinos nearly capitalized. Forbes drilled a far post corner that found Joe Farrell’s head who put it back across goal, but no Rhinos could finish into the empty net.
The Rhinos will play England and Chelsea legend Joe Cole and the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Wednesday, May 24 at 7:05 pm.