Preview: Re-energized Riverhounds look to keep momentum going vs upstart Loudoun United FC

Photo courtesy Loudoun United FC

The Riverhounds will be wrapping up a four-match homestand by hosting Loudoun United FC, on Saturday, looking to keep things going in a positive direction following back-to-back lopsided wins.

Pittsburgh’s latest victory on Saturday, came with another strong early start, as they scored three goals in the first 21 minutes of the match to defeat Hartford Athletic FC, 3-1, at Highmark Stadium.

“We had a rough June. Spent a lot of time on the road, but being back home for four-match homestand, it’s been re-energizing us and it’s shown in our performances,” Robbie Mertz, Riverhounds midfielder, who’s worn the captain’s armband in the last three matches, said in an exclusive interview with Pittsburgh Soccer Now.

The good news for the Hounds and the reinvigorated fan base is that they’re trending upward and playing much better overall, with their 10-match winless streak in the rearview mirror.

But they still have a lot of work to do.

“We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves,” Mertz said, sharing that the players and coaches are fully aware that things can change in a heartbeat.

“If you look back to April, we had a really rough start to the season, then had a couple of quality draws, then we rattled off three straight wins and everybody calmed down, probably thought, Pittsburgh’s back.  We were back to being ourselves, in the top teams of the East, then we went on a 10-game winless streak. I don’t want to say that these last two performances are going to project out to the rest of the season. We have to approach it as one game at a time, and one foot forward each time.  There’s a lot of really tough games, really tough teams.”

This match vs Loudoun is very important for both sides.  Loudoun have proven to be a tough club to beat this season, with marked improvement from previous seasons and currently sit five points ahead of Pittsburgh.  The Hounds have two matches remaining against the club that is closest to them geographically.

“There’s going to be a lot at stake here this weekend,” Mertz said.

“We’re going to have to approach this game with the same sense of urgency we’ve been playing with the past couple of weeks.

In addition, the team’s captain, Danny Griffin, who missed the last three matches due to a leg injury, is no longer showing on the injury report, having trained all week, and should be available for selection.   The only Hound on the injury report is Pat Hogan (listed as questionable due to undisclosed illness).

Loudoun United FC: A Closer Look

Loudoun enter this match in Pittsburgh coming off a setback and on short rest after dropping a 2-1 match to Charleston that kicked off Wednesday morning in Virginia. Despite the loss, Loudoun enters the match seventh in the Eastern Conference and looking like playoff contenders — and were previously on an eight match unbeaten streak.

Loudoun are led by Head Coach Ryan Martin, a former assistant under Pitt men’s soccer Head Coach Jay Vidovich  when they were at Wake Forest.  You could say over the years under Martin’s direction, the club has found a professional home for numerous former Pitt players, currently boast Robby Dambrot and Yanis Leeman on the current roster.

Zack Ryan again leads Loudoun with eight goals so far, including one in the loss to Charleston on a late free kick that denied the shutout, putting the former Stanford standout on pace to surpass his breakout total of 10 last season. Veteran Florian Valot is a player who has long been a nemesis for the Hounds since his days with New Red Bulls II, remaining a creative presence for Loudoun, which also has a trio of former Hounds pros in the squad — Dambrot, Christiano François and Tommy Williamson.

“They play a good style and made strides in the past few years,” Mertz said. “They’ve added more consistency, with many of the same players. Loudoun’s always been a tough match-up for us, even when they were sitting in the basement. It’s never an easy game against Loudoun, and I am sure that (Head Coach) Bob (Lilley) would tell you the same thing. If you throw in that little bit more experience and consistency they’ve added, and it’s going to be an even tougher game. We’re aware of that.”

One of the primary changes with this squad has gone from being mostly young and inexperienced but raw talent, to sprinkles of experienced hands in all the key places on the pitch, especially with scorers and playmakers who’ve had success at this level.

As a result, Loudoun plays an aggressive style where they’ll press with three forwards, but they can build out and possess the ball well, mostly bringing waves of bodies forward in what’s mostly been a 3-4-3 formation.  The club ranks seventh overall in the Championship in goals scored (28), they’re sixth in conversion rate (16%) and they’re 11th in total shots.  In terms of keeping the ball, they play through a pretty strong central midfield pairing of experienced hands.  This pairing includes Drew Skundrich, who once patrolled the center of the pitch against the Hounds when he was with Bethlehelm Steel FC but also made 39 appearances with DC United along with lots of USL mileage (over 100 appearances between stints with Colorado Springs and Sacramento), and Tommy McCabe, another USL vet who has tasted his share of MLS battles too.  With these two primarily roaming the central midfield, Loudoun has completed the fourth most passes (8,807) in the league and boast fifth best passing accuracy (81%).

The proof is in the pudding, as Loudoun are yet to be shutout in a match since May 14th.

When pushed and pressed, they have held their own under pressure, with Hugo Fauroux handling the bulk of keeping duties,  as he continues to sit atop the conference in saves, with 56 through his 19 matches played — and is tied with Hounds keeper Eric Dick with six clean sheets.Fauroux’s back-up is former Hounds Academy product Dane Jacomen.

This is the first meeting of the year between the teams, leaving Birmingham as the only Eastern Conference team the Hounds have yet to play after Saturday.

The Hounds are a perfect 6-0-0 against Loudoun at Highmark Stadium, which is the most home matches against any opponent without a loss or draw in club history.

Due to their midweek match, it should be expected to see some squad rotation for Loudoun in this match-up though many of the players who started on Wednesday against Charleston, also were in the eleven last week in their 1-1 draw vs Indy Eleven.

One player who won’t be in the lineup card for Martin will be forward Riley Bidois, who earned selection on the New Zealand men’s national soccer team roster for the Olympics, but then in training, the 22 year-old suffered an unfortunate hamstring injury.

Here’s how Loudoun lined up vs Charleston on Wednesday morning…

Match-ups to Watch, Riverhounds Personnel and Projected Lineup Selections

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it is a pretty popular statement Bob Lilley usually subscribes to keep continuity of success in selecting his lineups. However, with Danny Griffin’s eminent return to the lineup, the veteran coach has solid midfield options to choose from, but it’s likely that one of the two younger players, Bradley Sample and/or Jackson Walti could move to the bench for this match if Griffin is indeed ready for a full 90.  Wily veteran Kenardo Forbes appears to be settling into the role coming off the bench in the second half, as that’s been the case for the 36 year-old for the past three matches and four of the last five.

Either way, this contest will between two sides that like to press and disrupt opponents, and which team that can keep steady hands on the wheel in building out possession will likely control this match.  Skundrich and McCabe against the Hounds central midfielders should be a good battle.

For what it’s worth, these two squads and many of the players know each other all too well. They did meet in the preseason — which Mertz mentioned as a very tough contest, but the Hounds pulled through in the meaningless match, 2-1.

The Hounds have to be careful not to get stretched, as Junior Etou and Langston Blackstock will be busy covering both sides of the width, as Valot can be a dangerous play maker on the left side of the attack, while the Hounds will have to deal with lots of pace from Loudoun’s right wingers, whether it’s Wesley Leggett, a former St. John’s standout or Francios, who has always given his former team headaches.

The Hounds have kept a pretty similar back line and goalkeeper set up in the previous three matches, going with the Luke Biasi, Sean Suber and Illal Osumanu trio of center backs, with veteran Eric Dick now back in goal.

The forward rotation has also seen an interesting turn, as the last three matches has seen Edward Kizza paired with the youngster, 21 year-old Emmanuel Johnson, who scored his first goal with the Hounds’ last week.  Fun fact: at 21 years, 70 days old, Johnson was the youngest goal scorer for the Hounds since current Loudoun forward Tommy Williamson scored for the Hounds against Indy Eleven on June 15, 2021, at 21 years, 45 days old.  With players like Babacar Diene, Enoch Mushagalusa and Kazaiah Sterling on this roster, suddenly, things have shifted from the beginning of the season with Johnson now getting the bulk of the target forward minutes.

John K’s Projected Riverhounds lineup vs Loudoun United FC

Match info

Riverhounds (5-9-6) vs. Loudoun United FC (7-7-5)
Date: Saturday, July 27
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Highmark Stadium
Tickets: Ticketmaster
Odds: Hounds -125 / Draw +250 / Loudoun +290 (FanDuel)
TV: KDKA+
Streaming: CBS Sports Golazo
Live statistics: USL Championship Match Center
Live updates: @RiverhoundsSC on Twitter
Match hashtags: #PITvLDN and #HOUNDTAHN