The Rochester Rhinos’ offense rarely grabs the attention because of their typically stout defense. Yet on Saturday and for perhaps the lion’s share of the early-season games, the offensive contributions likely will take the spotlight.

Thanks to the contributions of new faces such as Darius Madison and Jochen Graf for the late winner, the Rhinos pulled off a 3-2 victory against Bethlehem Steel FC in both teams’ season openers at Goodman Stadium in Bethlehem, Pa.

Graf came off the bench and in the 88th minute supplied the go-ahead goal after Steel FC rallied back from a two-goal deficit.

“We’ve worked through a lot of situations, and so I knew what to do, and the whole team knew what to do given the score line and the time,” Graf said. “I knew what my job was. I needed to go in and work for the team and try and be dangerous and get a goal. I had a chance right before that that I probably should have scored, but you’ve got to have a short memory. Another chance came my way and I was able to bury it.”

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The three-goal effort is not the most common in Rhinos matches. Only three times last season did Rochester put together a three-goal match. Also last season, it took the Rhinos a combined first four matches just to score three times.

One year removed from enjoying the scoring tandem of Steevan Dos Santos (now with Ottawa Fury FC) and Christian Volesky (now at Saint Louis FC), the Rhinos’ biggest offseason transition was on the attacking side.

Graf stepped up in the moment Saturday, as did Darius Madison with the game’s opening tally in the ninth minute. Returning midfielder Wal Fall converted a penalty kick for Rochester’s other score.

“We have a lot of good attacking players,” Graf said. “You can’t play everybody at the same time. You’ve just got to make the most of your chances, and as long as you do that, you’re going to be all right and the team’s going to benefit.”

Madison particularly stole the show in the opening minutes against Bethlehem with his ability to fight off the Steel FC defense for the team’s opening goal.

“Darius is a really, really talented player,” Graf said. “He’s got this X-factor. He’s young, and he’s an exciting guy. … At the end, we both want to just score goals and we want to help the team out. That’s the main thing. He’s talented and I rate him very highly. I think a lot of the guys are excited about him, but at the same time you’ve got to be confident in yourself too.”