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Post Match Buzz: Riverhounds ‘feeling it’ after boosting playoff chances with 2-0 win at Loudoun

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC took a big step forward in their quest to earn the club’s seventh straight playoff berth, beating Eastern Conference foes Loudoun United 2-0, at Segra Field in Leesburg, VA, on Saturday night

Following the match, thanks in large part to the team’s communications staff, namely, Matt Grubba, Director of Communications, who was at the match, we have reaction from Head Coach Bob Lilley and players after the big win.

Riverhounds Head Coach Bob Lilley – “That’s who we want to be”

Lilley, who’s pushed his players through the season, walked away from Segra Field having secured yet another season one of his teams would not have a losing record, as the Hounds boast a mark of 11W-10L-12D after 33 matches.

“I’m proud of the guys. They kept their wits about them. Find the goals at the right moments, and I think that’s who we want to be,” Lilley said.

“We could’ve played better in possession, and we could have executed better when we had the ball. But we want to be difficult to score against, we want to make it hard on other teams, and as well as I thought Loudoun played tonight, we were equally as committed and stubborn, and we did everything that was required to give us a chance.”

While Loudoun got off to a good start and owned the possession battle, Lilley felt his players were prepared and handled the initial pressure well.

“We knew the urgency with which they would play at home, so we talked about getting ourselves into the game. I thought we defended pretty well. We burned a lot of energy, and we knew we had to get a goal. We had to get ourselves in front. We held on the last five, 10 minutes to get to halftime, and we said we’ve got to get a second goal. We can’t sit on this”

Loudoun started to create a few chances early in the second half, but Lilley made sure that the Hounds were ready to counter back into the open space.

“I would have liked to have started the second half better. We definitely got a goal against the run of play. We needed to press more, but we knew with them playing Charleston next week, a tie didn’t really help them. They probably felt they had to win this game. … We knew they’d come, we knew they’d push, and we knew there would be space. As long as we could take space away from them, there would be space to work into, and it was a really well-worked second goal.”

Goalkeeper Eric Dick – “The Boys are feeeeeeeeling it!!!”

Posting his 13th clean sheet of the season, Eric Dick came up with a few big saves in the second half, as the veteran keeper all-but locked up the USL Championship Golden Glove with another shutout performance. While his four saves lead the stat sheet, he also commanded his penalty area with a number of contested catches, including a 77th-minute grab that he held while being upended and landing painfully on the ball.

After the match, Dick took to X/Twitter to share his excitement with the result.

Dick also acknowledged that the job isn’t done.

“We knew it would be win or go home,” Sean Suber, Hounds defender.

Suber talked a bit more about the Hounds approach to the contest, playing against a quality possession side in Loudoun.

“We know they love to play. They were going to try to draw us out, try to play through the lines,” Suber pointed out.

“We knew coming in we had to dictate our way into the game.  Bob gave us a good game plan. We knew what we needed to do — and we did it.”

“If we enforce our game on other teams, we have a chance on winning games” – Edward Kizza

Scoring his team leading 10th goal of the season, Edward Kizza reflected on his performance.

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John Krysinsky has covered soccer and other sports for many years for various publications and media outlets. He is also author of 'Miracle on the Mon' -- a book about the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, which chronicles the club, particularly the early years of Highmark Stadium with the narrative leading up to and centered around a remarkable match that helped provide a spark for the franchise. John has covered sports for Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, DK Pittsburgh Sports, Pittsburgh Sports Report, has served as color commentator on Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC broadcasts, and worked with OPTA Stats and broadcast teams for US Open Cup and International Champions Cup matches held in the US. Krysinsky also served as the Head Men’s Soccer Coach at his alma mater, Point Park University, where he led the Pioneers to the first-ever winning seasons and playoff berths (1996-98); head coach of North Catholic boys (2007-08), associate head coach of Shady Side Academy boys (2009-2014).

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