USL Pro: Pittsburgh Riverhounds Release 2015 Regular-Season Schedule
By Matt Gajtka
Jan 15, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; A soccer ball signed by all attending draft picks sits by the stage during the 2015 MLS SuperDraft at Philadelphia Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
The revamped Pittsburgh Riverhounds will play 14 home games at Highmark Stadium in their upcoming 2015 regular-season schedule, as announced Monday by the USL Pro league office.
Pittsburgh, which finished the 2014 season out of the playoffs after making it in 2013, will open its third season on the South Side on Saturday, March 28 at 7 p.m. against in-state rival Harrisburg.
Led by new head coach Mark Steffens, the Riverhounds will play four of their first five at Highmark Stadium, including games on April 4, 19 and 25. Pittsburgh will then have two home matches per month from May through September.
The Hounds will play 12 of their 14 home dates on Saturday, with April 19 (Sunday) and Sept. 16 (Wednesday) serving as the lone outliers. The latter of those will double as the final regular-season match on the South Side this year.
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The newly-expanded USL Pro features 24 teams split evenly into two conferences. The Riverhounds are part of an Eastern Conference that includes six other returners: Rochester (N.Y.), Richmond (Va.), Wilmington (N.C.), Charleston (S.C.), Harrisburg and Charlotte.
Five expansion teams will join Pittsburgh in the East, with Toronto, New York, Louisville, St. Louis and Montreal coming aboard for 2015. Toronto, New York and Montreal are all owned and operated by MLS parent clubs in those same cities.
Like the rest of the league, the Riverhounds will play exclusively within their conference, at least in the regular season. Pittsburgh has four matchups apiece against Louisville and Harrisburg, three each with Rochester, Toronto and Charlotte, and two versus the other six East clubs.
Also, the Riverhounds announced they will play a nine-game exhibition schedule, including a pair of matches in April against local colleges. Pittsburgh will entertain Robert Morris on April 7 and St. Francis (Pa.) seven days later.
The Hounds are set to kick off their preseason with the Pitt Panthers on Feb. 24 at Highmark Stadium, followed by six games in March against collegiate foes. Marshall, Western Illinois, Army, Duquesne, Akron and Charleston (W.Va.) are all on the exhibition slate.
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