U.S. Open Cup Third Round Draw Update: Hounds to face FC Cincinnati

The Riverhounds SC last faced FC Cincinnati in the 2018 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (photo courtesy Ed Thompson)

On Friday, at Noon (EDT), the Riverhounds SC found out who they’ll face in the Third Round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

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UPDATE (12:15 p.m. EDT)

The Hounds will face FC Cincinnati in the Third Round!

HOUNDS DRAW FC CINCY! @RiverhoundsSC have drawn @fccincinnati in the 3rd Round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Match will be played April 19-21 in Cincinnati. #USOC2022 pic.twitter.com/diDU19bbIa

— Pittsburgh Soccer Now (@pghsoccernow) April 8, 2022

The Hounds and FCC have met previously in the US Open Cup, a 3-1 win for FC Cincinnati at Highmark Stadium in May 2018, when both were competing in the USL Championship.

FC Cincinnati seize command after half, knock Hounds out of Open Cup

The two clubs competed against each other in the USL from 2016-18, and in 11 meetings, the Hounds never defeated FCC.

Including the Open Cup match, Pittsburgh and FCC last faced each other three times in 2018, prior to the Blue and Orange’s departure for Major League Soccer.

In the same group with new USL Championship side, Detroit City FC, the Hounds were drawn last, deferring to play its match on the road. The game will take place during the Third Round window (April 19-21). We expect that announcement to come soon of what day and time the match will be played.

One of the stipulations for the Open Cup’s third round, as 17 teams from MLS enter the tournament, that teams from the top division in the US Soccer pyramid cannot face each other.  That guaranteed that both Pittsburgh and Detroit would face either Columbus or Cincinnati in their pod.

Central (4)@ColumbusCrew (MLS)@DetroitCityFC (USLC)@fccincinnati (MLS)@RiverhoundsSC (USLC)

— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) April 8, 2022

Pittsburgh continues to progress through the early portion of its 2022 schedule without a blemish, as they took command against the Maryland Bobcats FC, a new third division NISA club, to seize a 2-0 victory to advance in the U.S. Open Cup’s second round on Tuesday evening.

In 2019, in its last match vs a MLS opponent, Pittsburgh traveled to MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus, falling short, 1-0, to the Columbus Crew.

‘Gutsy’ Hounds run out of steam in Open Cup loss at Columbus