Pittsburgh Riverhounds MatchDay: On The Road To Rochester
By Larry Snyder
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds will pursue their first victory as they head up I-79 today on their way to Sahlen’s Stadium in New York for a rematch with the Rochester Rhinos.
The contest is set to kick off at 7:05 p.m. and Hounds’ fans will be able to catch all the action as it will be streamed live on the USL Pro’s YouTube channel. Pittsburgh (0-6-4, 4 points) is trying to escape the league basement after a home draw last Sunday.
When these two teams met on back on May 17, Rochester (4-2-5, 17 points) left the Steel City with a 1-0 win at Highmark Stadium. The sixth-place Rhinos shut out the Dayton Dutch Lions 1-0 on the road last weekend.
Pittsburgh’s offense has the unenviable task of solving one of the USL Pro’s best defensive teams in the Rhinos as Rochester is currently tied with the Wilmington Hammerheads for the lowest number of goals allowed with seven each.
Rhinos head coach Bob Lilley has the delightful dilemma of starting either rookie goalkeeper John McCarthy with a 3-0-3 record and 0.167 goals-against-average or Luis Soffner, who is on loan from the New England Revolution of MLS and posted his first clean sheet of the season in the 1-0 victory over Dayton.
Rochester’s back four of Onua Thomas Obasi, Kyle Hoffer, Tony Walls, and Pat McMahon has been strengthened with the return from injury of Babacar Diallo and the continuing contributions of Ayao Sossou. The Rhinos have yielded just four goals on the scoreboard in their last 10 matches.
The main threats on offense for the Rhinos have been forward/midfielder Jimmy Banks with three goals and two assists along with forward Alex Dixon, who has contributed two goals and one assist.
On the other side of the field, Hounds goalkeeper Michael Lisch, who is on loan from the Houston Dynamo of MLS, continues to play well as the 23-year old has allowed one goal or fewer in six consecutive starts.
Interim head coach Niko Katic used all five of his substitutions to keep legs fresh in the midfield and on the attack last week in the 1-1 draw with Harrisburg, and it will take a full 11-man effort to get on the scoreboard this week in Rochester.
Traveling to Rochester for the Riverhounds are: Hunter Gilstrap, Michael Lisch, Rob Vincent, Brian Fekete, Sterling Flunder, Mike Green, Kevin Kerr, Alfonso Motagalvan, Mike Seth, Joseph Ngwenya, Seth C’deBaca, Andrew Marshall, Danny Earls, Jhonny Arteaga, Jose Angulo, Collins John, and Matt Dallman.
The Hounds are back at Highmark Stadium on Wednesday when they again host the Harrisburg City Islanders (2-5-2, 8 points) at 7:00 p.m.
Riverhounds Reinforcements: Pittsburgh was represented on the USL Pro Team of the Week by defender Brian Fekete for his strong performance and goal Sunday.
There were kudos for defender Mike Green and forward Collins John, as both earned honorable mentions for Week 11.
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds U-23 squad (0-2-1) will be seeking their first USL PDL victory of the season when they host the Chicgao Fire U-23 at Highmark Stadium on Wednesday, June 11 at 2:00 p.m.
The Fire U-23 defeated the Hounds U-23 in a hard fought match 2-1 in their opening contest of the season in Chicago back on May 23. Head Coach Oz Bakirdan’s crew has scored two goals and allowed seven in three games.