It’s a new season, with new players, new owners and a new broadcast deal with ESPN, but the two teams involved in Friday night’s USL Game of the Week matchup are of the old guard.

Between the Rochester Rhinos and the Charleston Battery, two of the last five postseason championship trophies are held, as well as one of the last five regular season trophies. The Rhinos are attempting to build on the club’s first championship since 2001 a year ago, while the Battery are trying to return to prominence in 2016.

“We have a great opportunity this year in Rochester to take another step forward with this club, which has great tradition and history,” Rhinos head coach Bob Lilley said to USLSoccer.com. “The new ownership has brought new energy and resources into the mix. It’s our responsibility to take that and make an impact on the field.

“It’s a huge challenge, but we look at it as a new challenge. We lost some very good players from last year’s team. The new players on our roster didn’t win a championship last year.”

Historically, the two clubs have played across multiple leagues since the late 1990s. The matchups quickly spawned a rivalry.

“We have a long, proud history,” Battery president Andrew Bell said. “We’ve been playing since 1993, and have been playing the Rhinos since about ’97. Really until 2003 or 2004, you could argue Rochester was the biggest rival we had. Looking back at it, I think it was about how the ownerships approached it. Both of us wanted to win everything, every trophy. I think it crystalized through playoff games against one another. It seemed like for a while we were always going up against Rochester in tournaments, cups and the playoffs.”

Neither team has a player who dates back to the pre-2010 era for either club, but the history among the sides is well known to even the newest of players on the squads.

“The history to us, as newer players to the team is something we haven’t affected yet, but you hear it enough and you start to understand the rivalry,” said Rhinos midfielder Mike Garzi. “Having rivalries like that is important for the league. We’re excited to play the Battery Friday night.”

Longtime Battery player Zach Prince also relayed his feelings toward the prestige of the clubs.

“There are a few teams in this league that you have respect for, no matter who they put out on the field,” Prince said. “Rochester is one of those teams. I’m happy Charleston is one of those teams.”

As the league has grown in the past three years, though, Prince has welcomed the increased competition and new potential rivals the Battery and Rhinos now face on a weekly basis.

“From 2010 to now, it’s pretty remarkable how far the league has come,” he said. “It was a really small league. Now it’s grown to such a big league that we have two conferences.”

New to the history and rivalry is the ability to showcase the clubs and league on ESPN3. Multiple players and front office staff members from both teams praised the opportunity the deal is providing the USL.

“Every game is an opportunity to build and get better,” Tony Walls of the Rhinos said. “It’s great to get the exposure from ESPN3. It gives us a chance to inspire youth around the country. The sport is growing at every level.”

Bell, who has been a part of the Battery since 1999, has seen both teams and the league grow dramatically. He believes ESPN3 can push the USL to even greater success.

“We think the new partnership is brilliant,” Bell said. “It’s exciting. Increased media coverage is always good. We’re interested in building our brand and this is an opportunity.

“If you look at what the USL is doing now, we’re blowing what we did in the past out of the water.”