Rochester to face Louisville City twice in 10 days.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The top four teams in the USL Eastern Conference are all in action against each other with the 2017 USL season winding down.
The 4th-placed Rochester Rhinos (11-5-10, 43 pts) continue their three-match road trip in Louisville on Wednesday night, as 1st-placed Louisville City FC (15-5-6, 51 pts) host a huge match at Slugger Field. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 pm, you can watch LIVE on the USL’s YouTube channel. Each team has 6 matches left in their 2017 campaign.
This is the first of two matches for Rochester against the USL Eastern Conference’s best team in the next 10 days. You can watch the rematch right here at Capelli Sport Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 30. The Rhinos finish their road trip at the Richmond Kickers this Saturday.
The 2nd-placed Charlotte Independence (13-5-9, 48 pts) also face off against 3rd-placed Charleston Battery (12-7-8) at 7 pm, with each team having just 5 matches left to play.
Rochester is coming off of a second consecutive 1-1 draw, this time to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds – extending the Rhinos unbeaten streak against Pittsburgh to 8 and their USL unbeaten streak to 4.
Despite leading the match in nearly every area of play for most of the match, Rochester would find themselves down 1-0 after a defensive error was cashed in by Kevin Kerr. Joe Farrell came to the rescue with his second goal of the season to give the Rhinos a valuable point on the road. Both of his goals this year have been equalizing headers in the 90th minute or later. Christiano Francois provided the delicious assist, his 4th of the season in just his 7th match – tying him with Kenardo Forbes for the team lead.
The Rhinos are currently unbeaten in their last 4 matches and 11 of their last 13. This is their third unbeaten streak of at least 4 matches this year, with an 8-match unbeaten streak from April 22nd to June 23rd and a 6-match unbeaten streak from July 5th to August 5th.
Louisville City FC needed a 76th-minute equalizer from Oscar Jimenez to earn a point at home vs. Bethlehem Steel on Friday night.
LCFC has been on a tear in 2017, and already is the first team in the East to clinch a playoff spot this season. They’ve scored a whopping 50 goals (nearly 2 goals per game) and have put up a very impressive 8-2-3 record at home. In their previous two seasons in existence, LCFC has finished in second place in the Eastern Conference and losing in the Eastern Conference Finals on both occasions – including in 2015 to the Rhinos when they eventually won the championship.
The two clubs have split the all-time series 1-1-2 in the regular season.
BY THE NUMBERS
427
Louisville City FC has put up 427 shots this season; over 16 per match, far and away the most in the USL this season. Their 50 goals are 4th in the USL.
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There’s a reason why LCFC are 1st in the East, and that’s because they can do it on the defensive end as well. Their 11 clean sheets are 1st in the Eastern Conference and 2nd in the USL. Their 26 goals allowed is second-best in the East, only bettered by the Rhinos (24).
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Each team has only lost 5 of their 26 matches this season, however, Louisville City has been able to take all 3 points on four more occasions than their counterparts.
The Rhinos will be within 5 points of first place with a victory on Wednesday
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A loss will see the Rhinos 11 points back, virtually eliminating them from any chance of the regular season title.
KEY TO VICTORY: HIT THE NET
Odds are that this isn’t going to be one of those games where 1 goal will get 3 points. The Rhinos have scored 2 or more goals just once in their last 7 contests and just 6 times all season. They’ll have to have yet another outstanding performance in net from either Dan Lynd or Tomas Gomez, and/or get some firepower up front.