Pulse of Pittsburgh Soccer: Gearing up for Riverhounds SC season opener vs North Carolina FC

Photo courtesy Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

After a little more than a month of preseason training, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC and just about all of the USL Championship teams will be kicking off the 2025 season this coming weekend.

For the Hounds, they’ll kickoff Saturday, taking on North Carolina FC, at WakeMed Park in Cary, NC (7 p.m. kickoff).

Monday proved to be an opportune time to visit Riverhounds training, which included interviews with team captain Danny Griffin, the club’s most decorated and tenured player — Kenardo Forbes — and Head Coach Bob Lilley.

Lilley had plenty to say in an extended sit-down interview with Pittsburgh Soccer Now, as we’ll share even more in the coming days ahead.

The veteran Head Coach will embark on his 26th season of coaching professional soccer with the start of the 2025 campaign.

“It’s exciting because we, you know, it’s a new season,” Lilley said on Monday, as the team completed a short collective training session, before they were left to get in some individual work, treatment, then stick around for film session and get a little pep talk from one of Lilley’s former players.

“The team’s progressing, even though we’re making changes tactically and we’re bringing in new players, I think it’s an opportunity for all of us to grow, including the staff, and to challenge ourselves to be better.”

Lilley spoke extensively about changes that he felt he and the coaching staff needed to implement during the preseason.  The coaches and players put in the work in the preseason toward a new approach that the team will be taking on the pitch, looking to improve and move more aggressively to have more of the ball this year, with many of the new additions to the roster brought in to join a strong core to see things through.

“We definitely got on the same page pretty quick,” Griffin added.

“New guys did a great job and the guys who’ve been here helped them along very well.  We handled all the tests well. Style of play was good. We have to make chances count so we’re not dropping points. Every play in this league matters.”

FROM HOUNDS TRAINING..@riverhoundssc @danny_griffin10 looking forward to season opener this Saturday at @northcarolinafc — discusses with @johnkrysinsky how the team has progressed

Look for more from this interview and John’s visit to training to come in coming days pic.twitter.com/oc8XQ9DZdX

— Pittsburgh Soccer Now (@pghsoccernow) March 3, 2025

The Hounds will start the season with a few players who are hobbled, as Lilley even acknowledged that he “hasn’t had the whole group yet”.

The team will formally post an injury report before the first match, but Lilley shared key off season signee, Bertin Jacquesson, who suffered a hamstring injury early in the preseason loss to Loudoun United FC, is likely going to be held out along with Bradley Sample for the season opener. Lilley also noted that Aiden O’Toole is coming back from an injury too and newcomer Charles Ahl is questionable.

Still, the Hounds’ gaffer is excited about some of the younger players who are competing for spots, alluding that some will jump right into the mix and may even be in the starting lineup as soon as Saturday’s opener at WakeMed Park.

“We have enough experience and quality with guys who’ve been in the league.  It’s going to be how well we grow and how well we gel,” Lilley said and added that in last week’s final preseason scrimmage at Lexington (a scoreless draw), his team was without a number of key veterans, but the younger players stepped up.

“There’s a lot of talented teams with a lot of good players. This was big moment for some guys and they did fine. Every great, great player, was a young player at one point. They all have big upside and for me, I’m excited as it’s better than the group we had last year and they are guys who are already pushing. There will be some starters in that lineup who are there on merit and would be in the lineup even if everyone was healthy. And that’s not easy to do because most of the 12 (returning players) we brought back have all started games and yet we expect there to be more competition between jobs.”

The season for the Hounds will start with two road matches (they’ll head to San Antonio for a week two match-up on Saturday, March 15) before coming back for the home opener on March 22 against Hartford Athletic FC.

Though they have back-to-back home matches in March, the Hounds still still start with five of its first seven and seven of its first 10 matches away from home.

We are looking forward to getting off on a good foot this week too — as Pittsburgh Soccer Now‘s coverage includes but will not be limited to:

• Annual Predictions Podcast featuring PSN contributors and other Riverhounds’ media plus
• Reports and interviews from Riverhounds SC training
• Features — including a lot more from the sit down with Bob Lilley and Danny Griffin interview
• Match Breakdown and Preview
• Match Coverage / Recap and Reaction and Analysis

In addition to the Hounds, college teams Spring seasons are underway — but most have taken or will be taking a break — as it’s their respective Spring Breaks this coming week.

Some of the teams have posted their full Spring schedules including Pitt women’s and men’s teams and Robert Morris women’s.

Pittsburgh Soccer Schedule (3/8/2025 – 3/17/2025)

Saturday, March 8

7 p.m.    Riverhounds SC at North Carolina FC — Cary, NC

Friday, March 14

7:30 p.m.    West Virginia at Pitt — Ambrose Urbanic Field

Saturday, March 15

8:30 p.m.    Riverhounds SC at San Antonio FC — San Antonio, TX