The Rochester Rhinos are not really rivals of the Charlotte Independence.

Most Indy fans seem to hate Louisville, and we all seem to have a Carolina-brotherly love type rivalry with Charleston.

That being said, Charlotte has an interesting history with the Rhinos since coming into existence in 2015. It’s a history that makes Saturday all the more important. It’s a history that fills me with hate whenever I think of that infuriating stadium, and the boring, dig your heels in, super defensive soccer team that plays there.

When the Rhinos come to Charlotte, the games are usually much more fun to watch: That’s because results are much kinder to Charlotte. In our first ever season, we were the only team to hand the eventual 2015 USL Champions a loss all year, and it was a 4–2 thriller at that!

One of my favorite memories as an Independence fan!

Charlotte’s homestand the following year saw a 1–0 loss to Rochester in which my friends and I had to deal with this REALLY annoying Rhinos couple who would not believe us when we told them the seats they were in were the ones I’ve had ever since the stadium opened. They finally moved, gave us death glares, and cheered obnoxiously at any little good thing that happened that day in favor of Rochester.

This season, we hosted a game with 37 thunderstorm delays, pushing kickoff to around a 2 hour delay. Then halftime was extended quite a bit, so the game ended up finishing after midnight. There were so few fans left at the end, you could hear everything the players said. The game itself was thrilling too, with Rochester almost making a comeback in a game that finished 2–1.

Going to Rochester, however, is nowhere near as fun. In the first two seasons when Charlotte traveled to New York, the games resulted in a boring 0–0 draw that was about as thrilling as watching grass grow.

And then in 2016, the Independence qualified for the playoffs for the very first time.

Due to some some poor refereeing (the ball was like 2 feet in the goal!!!!), we ended the season in fifth place and had to travel to face fourth place Rochester (sound familiar?). We knew we’d have to see a goal this time, we couldn’t have another scoreless draw, even if it went to penalties.

I really wish it had gone to penalties.

Of course, 15 minutes before kickoff, my lady got hangry and was craving McDonalds. So I went and experienced the SLOWEST fast food trip ever! With my crappy Sprint service, I couldn’t even stream the game while I waited.

Well I got back just in time to see Duba put Rochester up 2–0 in the 23rd minute. My friend Löchel immediately handed me a Vesper martini as we settled in for a rough day. We lost that playoff game, our first, 3–1 and had three players sent off by the end of it.

We followed that postseason defeat with a road visit this year, and we lost 4–0! The playoff loss hurt more, but a 4–0 loss early in the season was brutal to take. While Rochester typically never score that many, and yes it was back in April, the 4–0 defeat doesn’t exactly boost confidence that our road team can come away with a win this Saturday.

To add to all of that misery, the Rhinos are currently enjoying a three game winning streak while Charlotte is on a club-record five game losing streak.

I’m sure it’s happened before, but I can’t picture any team entering the playoffs on a losing streak this long.

Now, Benji Goosleberry Goshorn will be bringing you a better look at the game itself tomorrow, but writing this has been a bit of a bummer, so let’s try to look at the bright side for a moment.

When Indy lost 4–0 in April, they were just starting to get their groove back. Enzo had just come back from injury, and we followed up that game with two USL wins including a 5–1 stomping of the reigning USL Champion Baby Bulls.

And our more recent game against Rochester, while at home, was a 2–1 win.

Another thing to consider is Charlotte seems to be the most unlucky team in the East right now. Charlotte went from having the best conversion rate in the USL to missing wide open opportunities. Chances are still being created… they just have to finish them.

If they can figure that out for this revenge game to open the playoffs, no one in the East can stop them, home or away.

I’ll be sitting at home on Saturday drinking Vespers I have to make myself because instead of watching the game with me, Löchel will be watching the game with his girlfriend and her family (they are all from Rochester, so join me in taking a moment of silence for his relationship).

I’ll be cheering on my home team to prove all these trends I just wrote about mean nothing, and that the Charlotte Independence are a legitimate contender for the USL Championship. Come on you Jacks!!!!