Pittsburgh Riverhounds MatchDay: Hounds Take On Real Salt Lake Reserves
By Larry Snyder
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds will take the pitch at Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah tonight as they take on the Real Salt Lake Reserves of Major League Soccer. The contest is set to get underway at 7 p.m. ET.
Pittsburgh (4-10-5, 17 points) is six points behind eighth-place Oklahoma City Energy FC for the final USL Pro playoff spot with nine matches remaining this season. The Riverhounds are 2-4-3 away from Highmark Stadium.
The Hounds have won three of their last four games and are coming off a convincing 2-0 shutout of the Charlotte Eagles at home last Thursday evening. They claimed the victory on second half goals by midfielder Kevin Kerr and forward Jose Angulo. It was Angulo’s fifth goal of the season while it was the second for Kerr.
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Dan Yost of the Steel Army Blog would like to see interim head coach Nikola Katic’s crew continue to control possession, keep getting bodies into the six yard box, and have the defense and goalkeepers reduce the unforced mistakes to keep the momentum surging forward.
It will be the first reserve action for Real Salt Lake since their 0-0 draw against the USL Pro’s Richmond Kickers back on July 6th. The RSL Reserves are 1-0-3 on the season.
Forwards Olmes Fernando Garcia, Nikki Jackson, and Devon Sandoval have each scored one goal for Real Salt Lake.
The Hounds wrap up their two-game westward swing on Sunday when they return to USL Pro action as they take on the fourth-place Sacramento Republic FC (10-6-3, 33 points) at Bonney Field in California at 10 p.m. The match will be available on YouTube Live.
Riverhounds Reinforcements: Pittsburgh was represented on the USL Pro Team of the Week by midfielder Joseph Ngwenya for his two assists that helped the Hounds to their 2-0 win over Charlotte.
There was an accolade also for defender Anthony Arena, who is on loan from the Houston Dynamo of MLS, as he earned honorable mention for Week 18.
The Hounds this week received forward Mackenzie Pridham on loan from Minnesota United FC of the North American Soccer League. The Canadian striker will remain with Pittsburgh through the end of the 2014 USL Pro season. He will help fill the gap that was created by last week’s release of forward Collins John.
The Riverhounds U-23 squad finished their inaugural season in the USL PDL last weekend with a record of 2-11-1 and seven points in the Great Lakes Division. Midfielder Bruce Cullen had three goals in 13 contests while forward Geordhy Pantophlet contributed three goals in 10 matches.