The Penfield native is playing for the team he grew up watching.
In 2016, the Rochester Rhinos signed Dan Lynd a Penfield native as a goalkeeper for the Rhinos. He played high school soccer for Penfield, and went on to a stellar career with the University of Pittsburgh. During his time there he made 230 saves and had a record of 15 shutouts.
During his time with the Rhinos, in his rookie 2016 season, Lynd had the opportunity to play at the professional level with the team he grew up watching.
“Being from Rochester and having the chance to play for the Rhinos has been an amazing experience,” said Lynd. “I grew up coming to all the games since the Frontier Field days and have always wanted to be on the field. The team has such a great history of success and developing goalkeepers in particular.”
He is taking the opportunity during the off-season to finish his degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Which has been one of his top priorities during the off-season.
“The past couple of months I have been finishing my degree from Pitt. Every Monday since September I have traveled down and back from school to complete a night class. I was also enrolled in a class at Nazareth College,” said Lynd on finishing his degree. “I just finished last week and it is nice to have my degree and not have to worry about going back and forth to school during the season this coming year.”
For the holiday season, Lynd plans on staying local and spending time with family. Lynd said, “This holiday season I will be hanging out with my family in Penfield. We don’t do anything crazy, but it is nice to have everyone home and together.”
Other than finishing his degree and planning on having a quiet holiday, Lynd has been keeping in shape in the off-season to prepare for the fast approaching 2017 season. He is also coaching youth goalkeepers.
Lynd had some influential words to share with Rochester kids to help shape their hopes to play for a team like the Rhinos one day.
“My advice for Rochester kids hoping to play at the professional level is to always enjoy playing the game first and foremost,” said Lynd. “If you don’t enjoy the game, it will be difficult to be successful at any level. You also have to take some risks and get out of your comfort zone to be noticed by college and then professional coaches. Finally, don’t get too high or low on coaches’ opinions of you and your play. Some coaches won’t see your potential while others will, so always work hard especially through any tough times that come.”
Lynd is looking forward and working hard towards the 2017 season. He is hoping this season will bring another championship home in the end of it all. Lynd said on the championship, “we were knocking on the door last season and I think we all want to get back to that spot and do what we can to move on.”