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The Rochester Rhinos went on the road to Pittsburgh to take on the Riverhounds on Wednesday night. Rochester had already shored up the top spot in the USL while Pittsburgh is battling to secure its playoff spot. Recent signing Nate Bourdeau set up a goal in his Rhinos debut off the bench.
Right back Pat McMahon served his suspension for yellow card accumulation which meant head coach Bob Lilley selected Sean Totsch in the starting lineup. In order to rest defender Grant van de Casteele, who was not fully fit, Lilley pushed captain Tony Walls into central defense to partner Vasili Apostolopoulos. Johnny Mendoza moved into the middle of the field to pull the strings for Rochester while former Providence College winger Marcos Ugarte started in wide midfield.
Rookie goalkeeper Adam Grinwis filled in for the team's number one Brandon Miller. The Michigan product pulled out a number of impressive saves in Wednesday night's game despite conceding in the 69th minute.
Pittsburgh midfielder Lebo Moloto scored an absolute wonder-goal from distance. Moloto played a clever one-two with Miro Cabrilo before curling a strike from 35-yards into the upper corner past a diving Grinwis.
Greek defender Apostolopoulos picked out forward Colin Rolfe in a long pass from the back to start Rochester's attack. Playing as a target man, Rolfe quickly played the ball into the path of debutant Nate Bourdeau. Bourdeau smartly played a ball behind Pittsburgh's defense and poacher Christian Volesky cutely chipped the goalkeeper from 18 yards out in the 83rd minute.
USL's third-leading scorer Rob Vincent had a fantastic chance to win the game with a dangerous free kick in the 85th minute. Instead of Vincent writing the storybook ending for Pittsburgh, Grinwis made a spectacular save to earn a result for the Rhinos on the road.
Revolution loanee Timi Mulgrew came off the bench to play 27 minutes for Rochester on the wing and made consistent runs up the channel.
Even though Rochester had already won home-field advantage before Wednesday night's match, coach Lilley did well to rotate the squad while maintaining the team's impressive form. The team will next play at home on Saturday against New York Red Bulls II and announced that the postponed game against Toronto FC II will be played on Thursday, September 24.