NYRB II loses to Rochester in regular season finale

I had a whole recap written up. I had to throw it away twice.

Rochester won 3-2. This was a wild game.

I had two recaps. One was about how NYRB II lost 2-1. The other was about how NYRB II tied 2-2.

The second one was seconds away from being published, until Rochester scored a winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Marius Obekop had a goal and an assist. He scored in the 35th minute, then assisted on Stefano Bonomo's goal in the 95th minute. Rochester scored two goals in the first nine minutes. NYRB II would control play until the 96th minute. The sixth minute of injury time. Heading to the post-season with a road point against the best team in the league. Then Rochester scored off a corner to win. The Rhinos 16-1-10 on the season so far. My emotions are all over the place right now.

NYRB II now head into the playoffs for an opening-round match on either Sept. 26 or 27. Hopefully this game is not indicative of anything going forward.

THREE THOUGHTS

1. Successful Inaugural Season

NYRB II has made the playoffs. The team has worked hard to integrate both academy players, MLS players, and USL signees looking for MLS contracts. NYRB II has been a success on many levels. It has been a pleasure to watch this team progress. Guys have worked their way into the MLS team's plans for next year, or shown that MLS teams around the league need to be scouting them. At the same time, NYRB II has helped the careers for guys on the senior team who needed develop a new gear, allowing them to earn minutes they may not have had under Jesse Marsch. Finally, academy players such as Juan Sebastian Sanchez and Derrick Etienne have shown why they were as highly rated at the U18 level as they were.

2. This game isn't worth reading into

Sorry for the abbreviated recap, but sometimes life throws you curveballs. Rochester is a really good team. If we run i into the Rhinos in the USL playoffs, I would like to think maybe we could beat them. This was just an unlucky  start, in bad conditions and everything just kind of spiraled out of control. These games happen. It is just really bad that this happened right before the playoffs started. Or maybe not. John Wolyniec and company have a whole week to figure out what needs to go right next week, so it is not worth getting too down on NYRB II. Next week is a whole new season, and there is no reason not to expect the team to seize on that.

3. Thank you all for reading

These pieces get about 30-80 views a week. Everyone who has stuck through mine, and those of my colleagues Lester Townsend and Jake Evans: thank you. This isn't the most glamorous beat to work. Nor even the second or third-most glamorous. But we can't all cover the Kardashians. Again, everyone who has read us week-in and week-out: THANK YOU. Sometimes it is hard to muster up the energy to write about these games, but anyone who reads this makes it a lot easier. We will continue our coverage into the playoffs and beyond, so hopefully this thank-you does not scare you away. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekends and everything else about your lives.

And now some music for all of you, to serenade you into the night and to have some fun: