Pittsburgh Riverhounds MatchDay: Hounds In Harrisburg For Keystone Finale

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds look to keep Harrisburg’s brooms in the closet when they visit the Skyline Sports Complex tonight to take on the City Islanders.

The final contest of the three-match Keystone Derby this season is set to kick-off at 7 p.m. If you are unable to make it over to the state capital, it will be streamed live on the USL Pro’s YouTube channel.

The Isles mounted a comeback from a one-goal halftime deficit on Wednesday night to defeat the Hounds 3-1 at Highmark Stadium. Back on June 1, Harrisburg escaped from Station Square with 1-1 draw against Pittsburgh (1-7-4, 7 points) in the first match of the series.

In their two matches this month, Harrisburg (3-6-2, 11 points) has outscored the Riverhounds by a four-goal margin in the second half. Pittsburgh’s defense will need to keep forward James McLaughlin in check as his two goals this season have come in each match with the Hounds.

City Islanders forward Morgan Langley has four goals, three assists and 22 shots in 10 games this season while Clesio Bauque, who scored on Wednesday against the Hounds, has three goals and 25 shots in 11 games-played.

With the mid-week victory, the Islanders have moved up in the standings, and they are currently just two points shy of the Charleston Battery, who sit in the final playoff spot in eighth place.

Although Pittsburgh is in last-place in the league standings, the Hounds have turned things around on offense, recording five goals in early June after managing only one score in May.

One of the players contributing to the scoreboard this month is defender Brian Fekete. Prior to Wednesday night’s match, he had scored the goal in the 1-1 draw with Harrisburg and the team’s first goal in the 3-2 victory against the Rhinos in Rochester.

Meanwhile, Hounds’ midfielders Daniel Earls and Joseph Ngwenya are tied for the team lead in assists with two each.

Goalkeeper Michael Lisch, who is on loan from the Houston Dynamo of MLS, is tied for second-place in the USL Pro for the most draws with Joe Willis of the Richmond Kickers and John McCarthy of the Rochester Rhinos. Each goalkeeper has three apiece. Lisch is seventh in the league with 32 saves in eight games-played.

Coming up on Wednesday, the Riverhounds return to Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup action when they take the pitch against the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer in the fourth-round at Toyota Park at 7:30 p.m. CDT.

Pittsburgh returns to USL Pro action on Sunday, June 22 at Highmark Stadium when they host the third-place Richmond Kickers (7-1-5, 26 points) at 3 p.m.

Riverhounds Reinforcements: On Thursday, the Houston Dynamo punched their ticket to the fifth-round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at home by shutting out the Laredo Heat of the USL PDL 1-0.

It was midfielder Alexander Lopez who scored in the 38th minute for the Dynamo. Recalled Hounds, Brian Ownby and Jason Johnson both saw time in the match for Houston.

The Riverhounds U-23 squad lost on the road Friday night 5-2 to Forest City London. Pittsburgh (0-4-1) seeks their first USL PDL win on Sunday as they stay on the road to take on K-W United (3-1-1) at 3:00 p.m.