VICTOR, N.Y. – Jalen Brown scored twice as the Rochester Rhinos rallied late to beat Toronto FC II 3-1 on Friday afternoon at the Pinnacle Athletic Campus in a preseason exhibition ahead of both teams’ opening game of the 2017 USL regular season next weekend. The victory saw the Rhinos close out the preseason undefeated.

"We played really well in the first half," said Brown. "In the second half [Rhinos] Coach [Bob Lilley] focused on us playing a high-pressure game, which fortunately worked out for us."

The Rhinos got on the front foot early, and Brandon Beresford just missed a golden opportunity to put the Rhinos ahead when Stefan Defregger hit a cross from the right that put the ball on Beresford's foot at the top of the six-yard area. A few minutes later, Rochester’s Wal Fall forced a big save from Toronto FC II goalkeeper Angelo Cavalluzzo on a shot from long range.

Toronto’s offense had limited chances in the first half, but in the 44th minute Rhinos goalkeeper Tomas Gomez was forced into action on a rare TFC II chance. 

Cavalluzzo kept his side on level terms into the second half, and five minutes after the break the visitors took the lead after they were awarded a free kick about 35 yards out on the left side of the pitch.  The cross was whipped in, and found its way into the goal as the defensive clearance was shanked backwards for an own goal. 

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The Rhinos continued to dominate possession and created numerous attacking chances, but it wasn’t until eight minutes to go that the hosts found the equalizer on another own goal. Rochester midfielder Jochen Graf sprinted down the wing and beat his defender to the end line before he drilled in a cross that struck a TFC II defender at the top of the six-yard area and find its way into the bottom corner. 

The Rhinos gained the lead four minutes later on Brown’s first of the game as he followed up the rebound from a shot by Christiano Francois and tapped the ball into the empty net. Brown added the Rhinos’ third in stoppage time as he took a pass from Ryan James at the top of the penalty area and fired low into the net.