Pittsburgh Riverhounds Sign Six Before Heading To Houston For Preseason Camp

Jose Angulo (center) controls the ball in a Riverhounds match last year. (Photo: Riverhounds)

In an interview on TribLive Radio with Mike Grau on Friday, Pittsburgh Riverhounds coach Justin Evans confirmed that six players have been re-signed for the 2014 season.

The six are forward Mike Seth, midfielders Rob Vincent and Seth C’deBaca, defenders Sterling Flunder and Mike Green, and finally, goalkeeper Greg Blum. The Hounds begin the 2014 regular season on the road on Saturday, March 29, as they take on the defending USL Pro champion Orlando City Lions.

The team is headed to the Houston Sports Park, the official training grounds of the Hounds’ Major League Soccer affiliate Dynamo, from Feb. 15-23 to begin preseason camp.

Flunder, who attended Marshall University, appeared in 23 matches for Pittsburgh, while Green, who played his college soccer with the New Mexico Lobos, participated in 21 matches. Both were key components of a Pittsburgh defense that allowed just 33 goals in 26 games, which was the fourth-best total in USL Pro.

Vincent, who played his college soccer for the University of Charleston, appeared in 23 matches for the Hounds in 2013. He scored three goals last season, including one in the team’s 3-2 win over VSI Tampa Bay FC that secured a playoff berth.

Seth, a Penn State Behrend product, also had three goals in 22 appearances last season, while C’deBaca, who attended Georgetown University, participated in 18 matches and had two assists despite missing some time due to injury.

Blum was Pittsburgh’s No. 2 goalkeeper in 2013. The Slippery Rock University grad put together a 2-3-0 record last season with shutouts for both wins.

Riverhounds Reinforcements: In past seasons, the Hounds began preseason training the second week of March. This trip to Texas will consist of several team training sessions as well as exhibition matches with the Houston Dynamo first team, the Dynamo U-18 Academy Team and the Houston Baptist University Huskies.

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds U23 squad will make its debut in May as a member of the Great Lakes Division as part of the Central Conference in the PDL. The Hounds open on the road at Toyota Park on Friday, May 23 against the Chicago Fire U23 at 1 p.m. Their home opener at Highmark Stadium will be on Wednesday, June 4 against the Michigan Bucks.

PDL clubs will play a 14-game schedule in 2014 with seven home and seven away. The league will feature 64 teams in four geographic conferences and 10 divisions, with the Mountain Division added to the Western Conference following the additions of Albuquerque and Las Vegas. The Eastern and Western conferences feature three divisions while the Southern and Central contain two divisions each.

Larry Snyder is a staff writer for City of Champions. Follow him on Twitter.