ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Sofiane Tergou opened his scoring account with two first-half goals to lead the Rochester Rhinos to a 3-0 victory against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on Saturday at Rhinos Stadium. The match was delayed by more than 40 minutes because of lightning. Tergou’s eighth-minute header off of a Ryan James assist capped off a pretty busy opening stretch for both teams. Tergou followed that with a 40th-minute score toward the upper right corner of the frame. Sean Reilly notched his first goal of the season in the 57th minute. The Rhinos’ three goals matched a regular-season high this year. With the win, Rochester sweeps the series with a 3-0-0 mark against Pittsburgh. The Rhinos opened the season with a 1-0 victory at Pittsburgh on April 2 and then earned a 2-1 win on June 25 at Rhinos Stadium. Rochester moves to 10-5-9 (39 points) overall and 8-2-3 at home. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, drops to 4-15-4 (16 points) and 1-7-3 on the road.

Scoring:
8’ – ROC – Sofiane Tergou (Ryan James)
40’ – ROC – Sofiane Tergou
57’ – ROC – Sean Reilly

Three Things That Mattered:

• 1. Sofiane Tergou’s first shot on goal this season ended up being his first tally of the campaign, and he wasn’t done after that as he netted a first-half brace. Rochester got on the score sheet in the eighth minute after Mike Garzi intercepted the ball in the midfield. The Rhinos worked the ball out to the right to Ryan James where he had all day to map out his cross. He spotted Tergou making a run toward the far left post and connected just outside the six as Tergou headed it past Riverhounds goalkeeper Zack Steffen and inside the right post for the early 1-0 lead. Then in the 40th minute, Garzi crossed the ball in from the right. It took a slight deflection off of the Riverhounds’ defense and made its way to Tergou on the far left side. He settled, then ripped a right-footed shot into the upper right corner of the goal for a two-goal cushion. Reilly added his first of the year in the 57th minute when he was given a gift as Steffen’s distribution went directly to the Rhinos midfielder whose left-footed shot from outside the box found the back of the net to lead 3-0.

• 2. The opening eight minutes ended up being the most frenetic stretch of the game for both sides. Rhinos goalkeeper Tomas Gomez was tested twice in the opening two minutes. Just 43 seconds in, Kevin Kerr had played a cheeky chip in for Alejandro Aguilar, who tried to loft the ball over Gomez. Gomez got enough of the ball to deflect it wide right for a corner kick. Then on the subsequent corner, Pittsburgh’s Willie Hunt rose for the header and Gomez came up with the stop. Before Tergou’s first goal, the Rhinos’ Christian Volesky had nearly tallied the game’s first score, firing a right-footed shot that Steffen rose up and batted away over the crossbar.

• 3. Rochester has absolutely dominated this series. Aside from sweeping the season series, the Rhinos also improved to 23-6-4 all-time against the Riverhounds. From Pittsburgh’s standpoint, while not mathematically out of the postseason picture just yet, the club has certainly moved into the mode of playing the role of spoiler under first-year Head Coach Dave Brandt for this final stretch. Pittsburgh’s offense was shut out for the eighth time this year and sixth time under Brandt’s tenure thus far. Even if the Hounds win out during their final seven regular-season matches, the best they can do is match the 11-win campaign from a year ago in 28 regular-season games that led to a postseason appearance.

USLSoccer.com Man of the Match:
Sofiane Tergou, Rochester Rhinos – Tergou’s first two tallies of the season paced Rochester past Pittsburgh.

Upcoming Games:
Rochester Rhinos at FC Cincinnati – Aug. 24, 7 p.m. ET, Nippert Stadium
Pittsburgh Riverhounds vs. Wilmington Hammerheads FC – Aug. 24, 7 p.m. ET, Highmark Stadium