As MLS rosters have been finalized leading up to this week’s openers, and USL teams start rounding out its rosters in the next few weeks, we put our crack research team here with Pittsburgh Soccer Now to scan the roster wires to come up with the most up-to-date list of former Riverhounds SC that are still playing professionally heading into the 2019 season.
Hounds Head Coach Bob Lilley had some tough decisions to make after the conclusion of the 2018 season, not exercising the options for contracts for a number of quality players. Sure enough, a number of guys have signed on elsewhere including Hugh Roberts, Romeo Parkes, Joe Holland, Ray Lee, Dennis Chin, Andy Lubhan. The Hounds did sign Christiano Francois‘ option, but then dealt him to the Ottawa Fury.
With some additional players out there trying to land spots on rosters in USL and elsewhere, this list may have to be updated in the coming weeks, and months ahead.
Of course, there are numerous players that were loaned to the Hounds from other teams, primarily MLS teams. It’s always fun to see how they progress.
It was interesting to still see a few guys still under the age of 23. While the Hounds organization is not necessarily a developmental team in the sense that they have large numbers of Academy players jumping in to play in the USL, they’ve had a few teenagers get their start with the club in recent years. With Lilley coming on board now building a roster with experienced professionals (Mohammad Dabo, 22, was the team’s youngest player last year), that will likely not be the case moving forward. Still, recent Hounds teams had a few very young players like Tyler Pasher (who was 20 when with the Hounds in 2015), Shannon Gomez (currently 22), and Duwayne Ewart (still just 20) who are just getting into their professional careers.
We also found a few surprises.
How about Pittsburgh native, Mike Seth, at 31 years young, still playing!? Seth, who attended Baldwin High School and played at Penn State-Behrend, signed again with the Colorado Springs Switchbacks this off-season after stints in Phoenix and San Antonio. In his first two seasons with the Switchbacks (2015-16) he scored 12 goals. Seth left the Hounds after a pretty long tenure (2010-14) when he made 64 appearances and scored five goals.
A couple members of the Hounds recent ‘Jamaican connection’ have found jobs overseas: Chevy Walsh has resurfaced playing in Vietnam (V-League1), and Parkes signed on with Sligo Rovers, Premier Division Ireland.
After going through the complete list, you could probably put together a pretty darn good USL-level squad.
Here would be my current starting XI of former Hounds that are still playing:
F – Jose Angulo, Corey Hertzog
MF – Christino Francois, Brian Ownby, Lebo Moloto, Cristian Martinez
D – Lalas Abubakar, Hugh Roberts, Taylor Washington, Shannon Gomez
GK – Zach Steffen
Of course, the reality is that it would probably have been economically imprudent for the current Riverhounds SC to have kept most of these players from this group, even the ones that are playing in the USL. Lilley knows how to build a winning squad with the current resources that this organization can allow, and for Hounds fans, that is all they can ask for at the moment.
FORMER RIVERHOUNDS WITH OTHER CLUBS (Feb. 27, 2019)
Player – Years with Hounds – Current Club (League)
Lalas Abubakar – 2016 on loan from Columbus (Columbus Crew, MLS)
Jose Angulo – 2013-14 (Hartford Athletic, USL)
Conor Branson – 2016 (Bradford Park Avenue – England, National League)
Calle Brown – 2015 (Loudon United, USL)
Dennis Chin – 2018 (Richmond Kickers, USL League One)
Duwayne Ewart – 2016 (Unionville Milliken, League1 Canada)
Christiano Francois – 2018 (Ottawa Fury FC, USL)
Alex Harlley – 2016 (Las Vegas Lights, USL)
Corey Hertzog – 2016-17 (Reno, USL)
Joe Holland – 2018 (Birmingham Legion FC, USL)
Jamal Jack – 2017 (Colorado Springs Switchbacks, USL)
Jason Johnson – 2014 (Phoenix Rising FC, USL)
Ray Lee – 2018 (Hartford Athletic, USL)
Shannon Lopez – 2017 (Saramento Republic, USL)
Andy Lubahn – 2018 (Loudon United, USL)
Lebo Moloto – 2015-16 (Nashville SC, USL)
Jordan Murrell – 2015 (Valour FC, Canadian PL)
Brian Ownby – 2014 (Louisville City FC, USL)
Matt Perrella – 2017 (Harrisburg Heat – Indoor)
Tyler Pasher – 2015 (Indy Eleven, USL)
Romeo Parkes – 2016-18 (Sligo Rovers, Premier Division Ireland)
*Mike Seth – 2010-14 (Colorado Springs Switchbacks, USL)
Todd Pratzner – 2018 (Memphis 901, USL)
Bakie Goodman – 2018 (Detroit FC, NPSL)
Hugh Roberts – 2018 (Charlotte Independence, USL)
Cristian Martinez – 2016 on loan from Columbus (Chicago Fire, MLS)
Zach Steffan – 2016 on loan from Columbus (Columbus Crew, MLS; Manchester City, English Premier League, beginning in Summer 2019)
Taylor Washington – 2017 (Nashville SC)
Chevy Walsh – 2016-17 (Hoàng Anh Gia Lai – Vietnam V.League 1)
*Pittsburgh native