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Pittsburgh Riverhounds

FINAL: Riverhounds SC 1, Indy Eleven 0

Photo courtesy Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

Riverhounds SC 1, Indy Eleven 0

Game Stats: USL Championship Match Center

Match Summary

Albert Dikwa scored the game’s only goal in the 79th minute, and Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC claimed its second consecutive win, 1-0, over Indy Eleven tonight at Highmark Stadium.

The goal was the sixth of the season for Dikwa, a career-best for the striker from Cameroon, and it improves the Hounds (9-6-3) to 6-1-1 at home this season. Jahmali Waite recorded his second straight shutout for the Hounds, controlling the back line well in slick conditions despite needed to make just one save on the night.

“It wasn’t a sterling performance, but we battled well, kept our concentration to not give up a goal,” Riverhounds Head Coach Bob Lilley said after the match.

“It’s a good goal by Albert. Hopefully we can continue to build on this momentum from this win.”

It is the ninth time in 10 meetings between the Hounds and Indy (6-8-3) that the game has been settled by one goal or fewer, and it propels the Hounds into a tie with Detroit for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

First half

Heavy rain subsided just before kickoff, but the conditions on the turf didn’t lend themselves to precise passing; the Hounds completed just 72 percent of their passes, and Indy linked up on just 67 percent.

Indy had the ball in the net in the 11th minute, the visitors were called offside on the finishing touch after a flicked header at the front post.

But after that early Indy chance, more of the ball was on the Hounds’ attacking end. The Hounds closed the half with four shots in the final 10 minutes, though none were on target, and they had 59.3 percent of possession in the first 45 minutes.

Second half

The second half was “more of the same” by coach Bob Lilley’s assessment in the postgame press conference, and he introduced Dikwa, Kenardo Forbes and Nate Dossantos off the bench in the 59th minute to try and spark the attack.

Though the impact wasn’t immediate, Dikwa’s willingness to press the last defenders paid off with the winning goal.

A clearance by Indy only made it as far as Shane Wiedt about 30 yards from goal, and he controlled the ball and played it to Dani Rovira. Rovira popped a pass over the defense — it would be his second assist in as many games — and Dikwa got a scoring boot to the ball just before charging goalkeeper Tim Trilk could corral it.

The Hounds saw out the final minutes well, though Indy did threaten late on a well-hit volley by Justin Ingram that skipped just wide in stoppage time.

Match Day Updates

Look for updates on the big match between Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC and Indy Eleven, including starting lineups, key match moments, highlights, post match reaction and more, here on this thread.

PSN Coverage (#PITvIND)

Look for updates, interviews on Pittsburgh Sports Live and match recap to come from Pittsburgh Sports Now‘s Brandon Walker.

Here’s some of our most recent coverage of the Hounds…

Takeaways & Player Grades: Cicerone-Dixon combo pull Hounds out of funk

Forbes, Cicerone and former Hound Robbie Mertz earn USL Championship Team of the Week honors

Preview

The Riverhounds SC will look to make it two straight wins as they face Indy Eleven.

Hounds have their first midweek league game of the season, and it will be the first of back-to-back home games when they take on Indy Eleven tonight at Highmark Stadium.

After breaking back into the win column last Friday with a 3-0 triumph over New York Red Bulls II, the Hounds enter the second half of the season needing every point they can get in a tight race for a top-four finish — and the accompanying home playoff game. Points are precious to Indy, as well, as the Eleven come to town just three points behind Miami for the final playoff spot in the East.

The Hounds are coming off their best end-to-end performance since April, as the New York win was the team’s first clean sheet while scoring multiple goals since the Hounds did so three times at the start of Spring. Russell Cicerone has been on target with three goals in the past two games, which moved him into the team lead with seven. Alex Dixon (six assists) and Kenardo Forbes (five) have been finding space as playmakers, and they are on pace to be the first Hounds duo to hit double-digit assists in the same season.

Despite all those positives, it will be no easy task to topple Indy. The Hounds lead the all-time series, 4-3-2, but eight of those nine matches were settled by a goal or fewer, including the Hounds’ win last season in Indianapolis.

The visitors will be missing one of their main offensive weapons in Manuel Arteaga, who is suspended after being sent off in the Eleven’s last match. But Indy still has leading scorer Stéphano Pinho (seven goals) and playmaker Nicky Law (four assists), and they bolstered their last line of defense early this week by trading to acquire Tulsa goalkeeper Sean Lewis, though it is not clear whether Lewis will be in the 18 for Indy.

Game Notes

The Hounds renew their annual rivalry with Indy, which was kept going through the pandemic as an out-of-division game in both the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

The teams’ lone meeting a year ago was a 1-0 win for the Hounds in Indiana, as the Hounds got a goal by on-loan forward Tommy Williamson and saw the game out playing the final half-hour with only 10 men after Jelani Peters was sent off.

  • Indy is the final Eastern Conference team the Hounds have yet to play this season.
  • Forward Russell Cicerone is showing the form that made him the team’s top scorer in 2021. After scoring twice in the team’s 3-0 win Friday at New York, Cicerone has three goals in his last two games. Over his last eight games, he has five goals and two assists, and he leads the team with seven goals on the season.
  • Alex Dixon, who last month became the 15th player to appear in 200 USL Championship matches and the 14th with 30 assists in the league, is on the cusp of more scoring milestones. With 48 goals and 30 assists, he soon could be the 16th 50-goal player and join longtime Charlotte forward Jorge Herrera as the second 50/30 player in USLC history.
  • Midfielder Danny Griffin is the only player who started every match last season for the Hounds, and he has played all but 17 minutes since the beginning of the 2021 regular season. He has yet to miss a league game since turning pro with the Hounds in 2020, appearing in 66 straight USL Championship contests.
  • Arturo Ordóñez scored his first professional goal on June 25 against Tampa Bay. The Spanish defender, who played his college soccer locally for Pitt and was a starter on the Panthers’ 2020 College Cup team, has started all but two games for the Hounds this year and is third on the team in minutes played.
  • Hounds captain Kenardo Forbes remains the all-time USL Championship assist leader, and he ran his career total to 50 in last Friday’s win over New York with the long, diagonal pass that set up Dixon for the opening goal.
  • In 144 all-competition matches under Bob Lilley, the Hounds have allowed just 136 goals, an average of 0.94 goals per game.
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