A forecast for thunderstorms may have kept some fans away on this Friday evening, but for much of the match, the word on the weather at Frontier Field would be "wind". For much of the match, a very brisk wind was funneling down the two tunnels at the south end of the stadium, and a the strong breeze at field level from the south end to north end would add a little extra punch to any ball kicked towards the north goal.

The Rhinos knew the Mariners would come out hungry after Virginia Beach suffered a tough loss in Syracuse on Wednesday. But the home side couldn't do much about the Mariners getting an early goal, when just three minutes into the match, after a Billy Andracki save on a Jakob Fenger shot, Roland Aguilera jumped on the loose ball near the penalty spot and fired it into the lower left corner to put the Mariners up 1-0.

In the 11th minute, the Rhinos had a good chance to equalize when Viktor Paco made a run into the box and his shot from 10 yards out was deflected wide by a Mariners defender. Virginia Beach had a good chance to widen their lead in the 14th minute when Roy Lassiter collected a ball that rebounded back out to him and may have had a chance to catch Andracki out of position, but his shot was cleared by Scott Schweitzer.

Paco had another good chance to level the score for Rochester in the 23rd minute when his shot from 15 yards out was just wide left. Lassiter had another good look for the Mariners in the 29th minute when his header from near the penalty spot was just over the bar.

In the 36th minute, the Rhinos equalized when Doug Miller made a run down the right side and into the box, then made a few quick cuts with the ball to get a good look at net, then blasted a shot into the upper right corner from about 8 yards out that Mariners goalkeeper Joe Larson was able to get his fingertips on, but it wasn't enough to keep the ball from going into the roof of the net, and the goal would level the score at 1-1.

The last good chance of the first half for either team would be in the 44th minute when a deflection off a Mariners defender left a loose ball inside the Mariners box that Larson and Miller would both go for, with Miller getting his foot on the ball first, but his shot would go wide left, and the half would level with the teams even at 1-1.

For the fist twenty minutes of the second half, the Rhinos would have many opportunities to take the lead, with several corner kicks and crosses into the box that were unable to be put in net, shot wide, or right at the Mariners keeper.

In the 71st minute, Mariners striker Gary Brooks would make the mistake of shoving a Rhinos player right in front of the official, after Brooks felt he had been fouled on a run down the right side, but the retaliation brought out the red card, and the Mariners would have to play a man down for the rest of the match.

In the 74th minute, the Rhinos nearly took the lead when Stoian Mladenov made a run into the right side of the box and his shot from 10 yards out forced a reaction save from Larson to knock the ball wide. In the 78th minute, the Rhinos had another good chance when a cross towards the far post was volleyed by Bill Sedgewick right into a charging Larson, who was able to stop the shot, but the two players would collide in the box, with Sedgewick getting the worst of the collision, but returning to the field shortly afterwards.

Video clip of Craig Demmin's game-tying goal
Video clip of Doug Miller's overtime game winner
But a shot from out of nowhere by the Mariners would change the flow of the match. In the 80th minute, Aguilera was forward into the Rhinos defense, stopped 40 yards out from goal with two defenders between himself and goal, but then he unexpectedly hit a shot towards the far post that seemed to pick up speed and knuckle with the strong wind behind it, and the shot ended up dropping just inside the left post past a shocked Andracki,who dove right to try to stop the unexpected shot, and quite against the flow of play, the shorthanded Mariners had taken a late 2-1 lead.

The last ten minutes of regulation and stoppage time would be almost nothing but the Rhinos pushing the ball forward, and the Mariners clearing the ball back into the Rhinos end as the Mariners were definitely packed-in to protect the lead. In the 81st minute, a turn inside the box by Miller would be blocked wide, then in the 82nd minute, Sedgewick had a good look at goal from 15 yards out but his shot was wide right. In the 85th minute, the Rhinos nearly gave the Mariners a goal that would have locked the win when a bad pass back by the Rhinos caused Andracki to have to charge out of his net, with his clearance attempt rebounding off a charging Dante Washington, and nearly going into the Rhinos net.

The next few minutes were almost nothing but Rhinos shots from inside or just outside the Mariners box being blocked, going wide, or over the net, and the Rhinos unable to convert three corner kicks in quick succession as the game entered stoppage time, which was four minutes, most of it from the Brooks red card and Sedgewick's injury.

But in the fourth minute of stoppage time, the Rhinos would get the equalizer they were looking for when after a Mladenov free kick, a rebound off a defender was to the foot of Fred Commodore, whose attempt to turn and shoot was blocked to Craig Demmin, who turned on the ball near the post and shot it up into the roof of the net and into the goal, and just 40 seconds from the end of regulation, the Rhinos had pulled level at 2-2 (See video clip link above).

It only took two minutes of overtime for the Rhinos win the match, when after a Temoc Suarez free kick from 35 yards out was saved by a diving Larson, the Mariners keeper was unable to keep control of the ball and it rebounded right to the foot of Miller, who left-footed the ball into the empty net, giving the Rhinos a dramatic 3-2 victory as the Rochester fans erupted, and the fireworks went off as the Rhinos celebrated a dramatic win (See video clip link above).