Pittsburgh Riverhounds GameDay: Hounds Continue Playoff Chase In Arizona

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds are on the road tonight when they take the pitch against the Arizona United SC in a 10:30 p.m. ET match at the Peoria Sports Complex.

Tonight’s contest is the first in a home-and-home series between the two clubs this season. The second game is set for Saturday, Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. when the Hounds host Arizona to close out the regular season at Highmark Stadium.

You can catch all the action as it will be streamed live on the USL Pro’s YouTube channel.

Pittsburgh (7-11-5, 26 points) is just three points out of the eighth and final USL Pro playoff spot with five games remaining in the season and have won six of their last eight. They are tied with the Wilmington Hammerheads FC (6-6-8, 26 points) for 10th place in the standings.

Meanwhile, Arizona United is a mere two points behind the Hounds with four games left on their schedule. They are tied for the 12th spot with the Charlotte Eagles.

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The Hounds held off the Orange County Blues FC 1-0 last week on the South Side. Midfielder Mike Green’s third goal of the season in the 54th minute along with a strong team defensive performance helped the Riverhounds claim victory. Goalkeeper Mike Lisch, who is on loan from the Houston Dynamo of MLS, had four saves in his third shutout of the season.

The Riverhounds will be missing several players in the southwest this evening. Leading scorer Jose Angulo is still out with a high ankle sprain, while defender Andrew Marshall was lost for the remainder of the season with an ACL tear suffered the win over the OC Blues.

Midfielder Danny Earls will also be out of action as he is serving a one-game suspension for aggregate yellow cards while the team’s web site is reporting that midfielder Joseph Ngwenya will not make the trip.

The report also said that forward Jason Johnson and midfielder Alfonso Montagalvan are both expected to be with the squad in Arizona. The Steel Army should expect Andrew Ribeiro to be paired up with Anthony Arena, who is on loan from the Dynamo, at the center back position. Matt Dallman and Sterling Flunder will remain in the outside positions.

Arizona United (7-12-5, 24 points) stayed in the playoff hunt with a 2-1 victory on the road over the Oklahoma City Energy FC on Thursday. They are 4-6-2 at home this season.

The Riverhounds defense will need to keep forward Jonathan Top in check as he leads the team in goals with four and points with eight.

There are four Arizona players with seven points each. Forwards Kadeem Dacres and Jonathan Okafor have both put up three goals and seven points while midfielders Paolo DelPiccolo and Matt Kassel have each contributed three assists and seven points.

Starting goalkeeper Evan Newton has three shutouts of his own this season and 98 saves in 24 games played.

The Hounds return home along the Monongahela River next Sunday when they host the FC Dallas Reserves at 3 p.m. Dallas is 3-2-0 with seven goals scored and six allowed.