Preview and Scouting Report: Riverhounds, San Antonio FC both playing for keeps in new season

Photo courtesy of Sam Spencer

When the Riverhounds SC face San Antonio FC on Saturday night (8:30 p.m. kickoff) in the second match of the season for both clubs, they’ll be hooking up to do battle as clubs who share many similarities in their approach to how they played in recent years, how they’ve achieved success, and now, how they’ve each made changes in this new season to adapt to a new style of play.

In this Match Preview and Scouting Report, we’ll take a closer look at these striking resemblances between the two clubs, heading into the second match of the season.

The Hounds opened the season with a 1-1 draw at North Carolina FC, while San Antonio began play by defeating Monterey Bay FC, 1-0.  The Riverhounds SC are on the road for the second straight week, while San Antonio stay home for the second week.

Hounds Head Coach Bob Lilley will be limited with his lineup sheet selections, as the Hounds have four players listed on the injury report, including Bertin Jacquesson, Charles Ahl, Bradley Sample and Perrin Barnes.  All have been ruled out for the match.  Of those four, only Ahl saw the field last week, as a second half sub.

A Closer Look: San Antonio FC and Riverhounds follow similar paths

From the start of their tenure as a USL Championship club in 2017, San Antonio has been a team that always took a no-frills, direct attacking approach along with strong defenses.  The club reached its paramount in 2022, when — while finishing dead last in possession (41.9%) — still cruised to one of the most dominant seasons in league history in winning the USL Championship regular season and USL Cup Playoffs with an impenetrable defense along with a strong direct and counter-attacking style that netted 62 goals.

Circling back to the similarities between Saturday evening’s combatants, the Riverhounds during the past few seasons mirrored San Antonio in many statistical categories that ranged from being at or near the bottom in most possession and passing statistics. Yet Pittsburgh remained (as they always have under Bob Lilley) at the top of the league among defenses.  In 2023, the Hounds — much like San Antonio — were also among the best in execution in the final third, including balls won at midfield, thanks to a relentless high press leading to being near top of league annually in possession won in the final third. As a result, the Hounds took the Players Shield as USL Championship’s total points winner that season.

In the past two seasons, San Antonio continued to be near bottom of the league in possession, but they couldn’t maintain the same level of scoring output, bottoming out by finishing 9th out of 12 teams in Western Conference in 2024, with Head Coach Alen Marcina, who orchestrated the club’s approach since 2019, resigning at the end of the season.

Now, this season, both of these clubs who have found success punishing opponents with high press, scoring on counter attacking opportunities and strong defense in the past few seasons, have made significant adjustments to become possession-oriented teams.

Coming off a down year by their standards, having missed the playoffs in 2024, San Antonio has hired a new coach, former USMNT player Carlos Llamosa.

SAFC began the season on a positive note, getting a goal from Diogo Pacheco that was enough to top Monterey. On the front foot throughout, SAFC could have added a couple more goals as well and held Monterey Bay without a shot on target before a club-record home opener crowd.

Playmaker Jorge Hernandez, the man with the most assists in the USL Championship over the past two seasons, remains the pivotal figure in the San Antonio attack, and both Juan Agudelo — one-time MLS/USMNT pool player who we’ve seen as a Hounds nemesis with Birmingham, and Jake LaCava (previously with Tampa Bay Rowdies and Charleston Battery) have track records of being able to find the net in the Championship.

If you’re going to make a major shift in tactics to become more possession-oriented, it’s important to have personnel to see this through, and with Hernandez leading the way, SAFC should be able to make a smooth transition. After all, Hernandez recorded 19 assists in his first two seasons at the club.

The LA Galaxy Academy product stood out as things went astray elsewhere for San Antonio a season ago, logging a league-high 9.89 Expected Assists, more than 2.0xA ahead of his closest rival in the regular season. Hernández’s ability to create in open play and at set pieces sets the standard for this club.

In their first match vs Monterey, SAFC held possession edge (not as dominant as the Hounds were last week, but a 53/47 tilt in their favor), while lining up mostly in a 4-4-1-1, with Hernandez at the central attacking midfielder playing underneath the target man, Agudelo.

Hounds Watch: Personnel, Tactics/Match-Ups to Watch and Intangibles

As reported at the top of this article, the Hounds will be without four players, all who’ve been hobbled through the latter part of the preseason.   The Hounds are not taking any chances by ruling them all out, letting them use the extra time to heal up.

Last week, Pittsburgh used all of its substitutions — and all indications are that they’ll probably do the same once again in this match.

This should be a very fascinating match-up to watch — as both clubs have spent a lot of time in recent years looking to slow down strong possession clubs by keeping numbers behind the ball, then build out from there quickly, looking for counters and quick strike moments.   Now, we’ll be looking to see how the Hounds defend San Antonio’s approach to play through Hernandez in the middle, while wingers Pacheco and LaCava look to take advantage of spaces on the width.  Luke Biasi and Junior Etou will likely be doing plenty of battle with those two very capable and speedy wingers, while the Hounds will have to remain disciplined in the middle of the back line, especially with just two center backs.

Pittsburgh, coming out in a 4-2-3-1, flat out dominated possession in a big way last week on a big field at North Carolina.  Can they do the same again?  Bob Lilley said that he wanted his team to have more purpose when they’re tilting the field in their favor in possession.  They can do that by looking to get target forward Augi Williams more touches and more chances to create shot opportunities.  Thus far, Williams is one-for-one in his chances, thanks to his clever finish last week after taking advantage of a goalkeeper error.

Ahl made an impact last week coming off the bench while also allowing Danny Griffin to move forward into the attacking midfield, where he nearly put a one-time chance from close range into the goal.  Jackson Walti will have and the center backs will have their hands full with Hernandez and Argudelo, so it will be interesting to see how the Hounds opt to utilize Griffin — either to stay deeper to provide support or the opportunity to push ahead more often.

Goalkeeper Eric Dick put together some really strong road performances last season against Western Conference foes which helped solidify his standing as the league’s Gold Glove winner and keep playoff hopes alive last season.  The Hounds are hoping that they can limit San Antonio’s chances, but if the home side break through — Dick is capable of coming up big when needed.

John K’s Projected Riverhounds Starting XI 

Match Info

Riverhounds (0-0-1) vs. San Antonio FC (1-0-0)
Date: Saturday, March 15
Time: 8:30 p.m.
Location: Toyota Field, San Antonio, Texas
Odds: Hounds +150 / Draw +200 / San Antonio +180 (FanDuel)
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
Streaming: ESPN+
Live statistics: USL Championship Match Center
Live updates: @RiverhoundsSC on X/Twitter
Match hashtags: #SAvPIT and #Grittsburgh