Rochester Rhinos

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Full name	Rochester Rhinos
Nickname(s)	Rhinos
Founded	1996
Stadium	Sahlen's Stadium Rochester, New York (Capacity: 13,768)
President	Pat Ercoli
Head Coach	Jesse Myers
League	USL Pro
2011	Regular Season: 4th, National Division: 1st, Playoffs: Semi-finals
Website	Club home page
Home colors Away colors Third colors
Current season

The Rochester Rhinos are an American professional soccer team based in Rochester, New York, United States. Founded in 1996, the team plays in the USL Professional Division, the third tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, having self-relegated from the USSF D2 Pro League at the end of the 2010 season.

The team plays its home games at Sahlen's Stadium, formerly known as PAETEC Park, where they have played since 2006. The team's colors are black, white and green. The team is coached by first time head coach Jesse Myers.

The club has been known at times as the Rochester Raging Rhinos.

History[link]

The team was founded in 1996 and played in the now-defunct original A-League until it merged with the USISL for the 1997 season, creating the new A-League. The A-League was renamed the USL First Division in 2005. In 2006 the Rhinos moved into the newly-completed PAETEC Park, a 13,768-seat soccer-specific stadium. Construction at the stadium is ongoing and will, once completed, boost the capacity to approximately 20,000 seats.

The Rhinos have prided themselves on upholding a high level of play over their twelve plus year history. The team has never missed the playoffs, reaching the championship game six times (1996, 1998–2001, 2006). The Rhinos have been league champions three times (1998, 2000, 2001). They also won the 1999 U.S. Open Cup, becoming the only non-Major League Soccer team to win the cup since MLS began play in 1996.

The Rhinos were considered a candidate to be an expansion team at the MLS level when PAETEC Park was in the planning stages.^[1]

The team was declared insolvent in 2008 after defaulting on their stadium agreement, and PAETEC Park was seized by the city of Rochester.^[2] After a brief search for a new owner and investor who could improve the team's financial outlook, in March, 2008, the Rhinos official website announced that the Rhinos had found both in Utica businessman Rob Clark. The new owner then announced that the team will now be known as the "Rochester Rhinos," and that the financial situation of the team no longer put them in any danger of not being able to afford the upcoming season.^[3]

After two seasons under owner Rob Clark, on November 30, 2009, the club announced they would be joining the new NASL for its 2010 season.^[4] The United States Soccer Federation refused the NASL's application for sanctioning, and will instead operate its own temporary second-division league for 2010. The Rhinos will be part of that temporary USSF Second Division league.^[5] The Rhinos switched leagues again before the 2011 season to the third-division USL Pro league, who consider themselves equally competitive with the second-division NASL.

The 2009, 2010, and 2011 seasons saw many players come & go from the Rhinos roster, which is a change from their earlier history during the 1990s and early 2000s when players such as Lenin Steenkamp (9 years) and Doug Miller (8 years) stayed for many years. Nathaniel Short, Ryan Heins, and Isaac Kissi were with the team in 2009 and 2010, but of the three only Isaac Kissi was back in 2011.

The 2011 season ended with the Rhinos first in their division followed by a playoff season that lasted 2 games. The Rhinos saw off the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 4-0 in first round of the playoffs and then lost 2-1 at home to the Harrisburg City Islanders to finish the season.

On September 15, 2011, the official Rhinos website announced that head coach Bob Lilley would not be returning for the 2012 season. ^[6] On October 12 Jess Myers, most recently an assistant coach of the Richmond Kickers, was named as the new head coach of the Rhinos. ^[7]

Colors and badge[link]

This section requires expansion.

Stadium[link]

• Fauver Stadium at the University of Rochester; Rochester, New York (1996)
• Frontier Field; Rochester, New York (1996-2005)
• PAETEC Park/Rochester Rhinos Stadium/Marina Auto Stadium/Sahlen's Stadium; Rochester, New York (2006-present)

Club culture[link]

Supporters[link]

This section requires expansion.

The Rhinos main supporters groups have been the Safari and the Stampede.

During the 2011 season, the Oak Street Brigade was founded by members of the Rochester chapter of the American Outlaws (U.S. National Team supporters club) ^[8] and they have been the most visible supporters club in Section 101. The supporters group in 2012 is called the Doug Miller Kid's Section and is located in section 120. The section is named after Rhinos legend and 2012 Rochester Lancer captain Doug Miller.

Media[link]

The Rhinos have been covered in the Rochester based Democrat and Chronicle newspaper since their founding by reporter Jeff Diveronica.

Broadcasting[link]

All home matches and some away matches are broadcasted on http://www.usllive.com

This section requires expansion.

Players and staff[link]

Current roster[link]

as of November 28, 2011^[9]

No.	Position	Player	Nation
2	Defender	Bellamy, TylerTyler Bellamy	United States
3	Midfielder	Cost, DrewDrew Cost	United States
4	Defender	Zaher, MikeMike Zaher	United States
5	Defender	Traynor, JackJack Traynor	United States
6	Defender	Kyriazis, GeorgiosGeorgios Kyriazis	Greece
7	Midfielder	Zamudio, GustavoGustavo Zamudio	Chile
8	Midfielder	Rosenlund, TylerTyler Rosenlund	Canada
10	Forward	McManus, TamTam McManus	Scotland
11	Forward	Chinn, ConorConor Chinn	United States
12	Defender	Roberts, TroyTroy Roberts	United States
13	Defender	Kirk, QuavasQuavas Kirk	United States
15	Forward	Brito, GracianoGraciano Brito	Cape Verde
16	Midfielder	Earls, DannyDanny Earls	Ireland
17	Defender	Hemmi, MasakiMasaki Hemmi	Japan
18	Forward	Kissi, IsaacIsaac Kissi	Ghana
20	Defender	Fernandez, LucasLucas Fernandez	Argentina
21	Defender	Manscuk, KyleKyle Manscuk	United States
23	Goalkeeper	Miller, BrandonBrandon Miller	United States
24	Goalkeeper	Nicht, KristianKristian Nicht	Germany
25	Forward	Hoxie, AndrewAndrew Hoxie	United States
27	Midfielder	Tanke, MichaelMichael Tanke	United States
29	Midfielder	Banks, J. C.J. C. Banks	United States
31	Goalkeeper	Marino, JoeJoe Marino	United States

Staff[link]

• Jesse Myers - Head Coach
• Bill Sedgewick - Assistant Coach
• Dave DiPasquale - Head Athletic Trainer

Notable former players[link]

• See also All-time Rochester Rhinos roster

Rochester Rhinos Hall of Fame[link]

• 2011: Lenin Steenkamp
• 2012: Craig Demmin, Doug Miller, Pat Onstad

Retired numbers[link]

• 19 - Doug Miller

Head coaches[link]

• Pat Ercoli (1996-2003)
• Laurie Calloway (2004-2007)
• Darren Tilley (2008-2009)^[10]
• Bob Lilley (2010-2011)
• Jesse Myers (2012-present)

Achievements[link]

• USSF Division 2 Professional League ^[11]
  • Regular Season Champions (1): 2010
  • Champions, USL Conference (1): 2010

• USL A-League
  • Winners (3): 1998, 2000, 2001
  • Northeast Division Champions (3): 1998, 1999, 2002

• U.S. Open Cup
  • Winners (1): 1999

Record[link]

Year-by-year[link]

The Rhinos (black/white/yellow) vs. the Carolina Railhawks (orange) on July 6, 2007.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website