(Rochester, NY)... The Rochester Rhinos began tonight's match against the Atlanta Silverbacks with their eyes on fourth place in the USL First Division standings.  Rochester's win tonight against the current owners of that position, the Silverbacks, accomplished just that. 

Rochester struck first in the 21st minute.  After dominating much of the play early on, Ross Smith redirected a Luke Kreamalmeyer one-timer from a corner kick taken by Steve Guppy. It was Smith's first goal as a Rhino in his ninth match for the team.  Kreamalmeyer recorded his team leading eighth assist on the play, two behind league-leader Jonnhy Steele of Puerto Rico.  The Rhinos struck again just five minutes later as Tiger Fitzpatrick notched a beautiful header into the top right corner of the goal past Silverback keeper, Felipe Quintero, to give Rochester a 2-0 lead.  The catalyst for the play was, once again, Rhino player/coach, Steve Guppy, who corraled a pass from Danny Earls down the left sideline and sent the ball into the box form about 35 yards out to find Fitzpatrick, who finished off the play.  The match would go to the half with the score Rochester two, Atlanta nil.

The second half saw an increased effort from the Silverbacks.  Rochester was up to the challenge however, as the solid defensive effort continued to stymie Atlanta .  Atlanta's best chance came in the 72nd minute when Rhino keeper, Scott Vallow made a diving stop on a point blank header diving to his left to punch the attempt over the crossbar. The second half also saw the debut of the newest Rhino, Ryan Heins, who replaced Luke Kreamalmeyer in the 85th minute. No more goals for either side would be forthcoming as Vallow recorded his ninth shut out of the season. 

With the two to nil victory, the Rhinos replace the Silverbacks in fourth place in the USL First Division standings with a record of 9-8-8.  Next up for the Rhinos is a rematch with the Silverbacks in Atlanta on Saturday, August 30th.   The Rhinos return home on September 6th to host the Portland Timbers with kickoff set for 7:35 pm.