Game night
Matchup: Rhinos (8-4-3) vs. Orlando City (10-2-5) in USL PRO League soccer match between division leaders.
When/where: 7 tonight, Sahlen's Stadium.
Tickets: $10, $13, $18, $20. Available at stadium box office, ticketmaster.com or by calling (585) 454-5425.
Radio: WROC (950-AM).
Previous: Rhinos tied Orlando 0-0 on May 20 in Rochester.
Deals:
First 1,000 fans get thundersticks. $5 discount on tickets for all
military personnel and first-responders. Family four-pack for $40 (4
tickets, hot dogs sodas and 1 program).
When Michael Tanke drove to Florida in January for a showcase for prospective professional soccer players, he had no expectations. He went to ensure that one day he'd never say, "What if?"
"I was honestly going down there to have a coach tell me, 'You're not good enough,' so I could give (soccer) up," the 21-year-old says. "So when I'm 30, I won't look back and say, 'Man, I should have tried out.'"
But the Info Sport combine didn't go as planned for the 5-foot-8, 155-pound Tanke, whose build suggests he'd more likely to be serving dinner at a restaurant than serving up crosses for goals.
At least a few coaches, including Rhinos boss Bob Lilley and assistant Bill Sedgewick, liked what they saw from the hard-working, unheralded midfielder out of the University of Rhode Island.
"Coaches were coming up and asking if I had an agent. I was like: 'Agent? What are you talking about?'" Tanke recalls.
The Rhinos and Orlando City, their opponent tonight at Sahlen's Stadium in a matchup of USL division leaders, and Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer showed the most interest. The MLS club told him he'd have to leave college during his final semester to give himself a full shot of making the team, Tanke says.
"With my Mom, that wasn't happening," he says.
If he left school and got cut, then he'd have no degree and no team.
Tanke (pronounced TANK-e) did plenty during a two-week tryout with the Rhinos and has been one of the surprises of the season for Rochester. The rookie has started six of the nine matches he's played and has one assist for the USL National Division leaders.
"He's good in the tackle, pretty good in the air," Lilley says. "But more than anything, he's a competitor. He brings energy, reads the game pretty well. He's one of those guys that will do all the dirty work and make guys around him better."
Tanke, whose degree is in nutrition and dietetics, has always flown a little under the radar. He was all-state, played for a championship team and set records for career goals (58), assists (47) and points at Niles High School in Michigan.
He grew up close to Notre Dame, so going to college there was always a thought. But Irish coach Bobby Clark was honest: If Tanke went there, he'd do it without a scholarship and probably be a role player. Georgetown, Cincinnati and Kentucky were among other major-college programs with similar offers.
But coach John O'Connor and Rhode Island were offering a scholarship. O'Connor knew Tanke from the coach's days at the University of Chicago.
Tanke played in 65 matches for the Rams, but Valerie and John Tanke's son was realistic about being a pro. Still, he had to find out. So he picked up a college teammate in New Jersey, and they drove to Florida in January.
"He's really surprised, just in terms of his maturity," Rhinos forward Anthony Hamilton says. "He seems like a veteran the way he trains every day and works hard. He never turns off, even after he plays 90 minutes."
It helps to be 21. Tanke turned an ankle in a May 27 match with Wilmington, but returned quicker than Lilley first thought.
"He's been a great addition," defender Rich Costanzo says. "I think we play with a similar energy."
He's on a one-year contract with a club option for next year. There are still times when Tanke thinks: "I'm not supposed to be here," he says. And when Lilley lectures his players about doing things "later in your career" differently than now, "I feel like: What are you talking about?"
Say this for the kid: Ego will never be a problem.