Although the Rhinos can't lose their playoff berth tonight, a loss tonight gives Oklahoma City Energy FC the chance to pass Rochester in the standings on Sunday.
Harrisburg City Islanders - 5th place
(9-9-6) - 33 points
Rochester Rhinos - 7th place
(8-10-7) - 31 poitns
Rochester can leapfrog Harrisburg and end the night fifth place with a win. To achieve that, however, Rochester will need to come out with a positive display in the first half. The Rhinos have been aggravating slow and listless in the first half of their four games in the month of August.
Rochester Rhinos starting lineup:
John McCarthy; Pat McMahon, Babacar Diallo, Kyle Hoffer, Onua Obasi; Tony Walls, Alec Sundly, Johnny Mendoza, Tyler Rosenlund; JC Banks, Alex Dixon
Subs: Luis Soffner, Patrick Slogic, Jossimar Sanchez, Lance Rozeboom, Minh Vu, Levu Houapeu, Colin Rolfe
Harrisburg City Islanders starting lineup:
Nick Noble, Raphael Cox, Coady Andrews, Richie Marquez, Matt Bahner; Yann Ekra, Jose Barril, Jamiel Hardware, Robbie Derschang; Clesio Bauque, Antoine Hoppenot
Subs: David Flynn, Colin Zizzi, Danny DiPrima, Leo Fernandes, Cristhian Hernandez, Jason Pelletier, Garret Pettis
Rochester head coach Bob Lilley has elected to start the game without a target forward. JC Banks can stretch the central defenders but he plays best surging forward from midfield. Similarly, Alex Dixon is known for cutting in central from wide positions to run at defenders.
With Tony Walls as the anchor-man in central midfield, expect Alec Sundly to be more active going forward and taking up positions out wide. Luis Soffner will start the game on the bench and Jossimar Sanchez is making a somewhat rare appearance in the matchday squad.