Preview and Scouting Report: Banged up Riverhounds face Loudoun United squad in first place despite organizational uncertainty

It’s still April, which means there’s still a lot of the now revised and trimmed down 30-game season schedule remaining for the Riverhounds, however, there will almost certainly be a sense of urgency when they step foot on the pitch in Northern Virginia on Saturday afternoon (for an unusual 4:30 p.m. kickoff), as they set to take on Loudoun United FC for the first time this season.

Though it’s been an eventful and positive week for the club in the US Open Cup (3rd Round win at Columbus Crew 2 coupled with earning Round of 32 draw to host MLS’ NYCFC) — the Hounds are looking to bounce back from last Saturday’s disappointing league result at Charleston, where they fell, 2-1, in a match where they were thoroughly outplayed.

The Hounds continue one of the most difficult stretches of their 2025 schedule as they’ll spend the entire month of April (two leagues contests, the Open Cup match at ) on the road.

This was covered in more detail in this week’s PSN Riverhounds Notebook.

Riverhounds Notebook: Injuries, road challenges mount as Cup competitions, League schedules intertwine

The Riverhounds absolutely own the series against Loudoun United FC since the two clubs started playing against each other in 2019.

How dominant have the Hounds been in this series?

Pittsburgh is 7-1-0 in seven trips to Segra– and 13w-1l-2d all time head-to-head,

Last year, it seemed as if there may have been a shift, as Loudoun spent most of the season ahead of the Hounds in the standings and above the playoff line.  In their first match at Highmark Stadium, the Hounds took a 1-0 lead, but couldn’t shake Loudoun’s persistence — giving up a second half goal and settling for a 1-1 draw.

But down the stretch, Pittsburgh closed strong, including a crucial win at Segra Field in the penultimate match of the season with Bertin Jacquesson and Edward Kizza each scoring in a 2-0 result in a match where both team’s postseason chances were on the line.

Loudoun United FC: A Closer Look

Loudoun’s Head Coach Ryan Martin’s had the entire off season to ponder another season where the Riverhounds got the best of his squad.

If there’s one thing that Loudoun United FC organization has created in its run since coming into the league, first as a DC United second team and now as an independent entity in Northern Virginia suburbs that is fighting for its financial and long term survival (more on that below) — has been continuity in its Technical Staff — especially in the Head Coach position with Martin — who at 42 years of age — is now the second most tenured coach in the Championship behind Hounds’ Bob Lilley.

There have been plenty of ties to Pittsburgh with Loudoun club under Martin’s direction over the past half dozen years — as he was 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.

The organization was featured this week in a NY Times (The Athletic) article that did a nice job of providing perspective of its tenuous status as they’ve gone from being DC United owned team, to tech executive Greg Baroni, CEO of Attain Sports taking the reigns in 2023, while DCU kept a minor stake.

Now — there’s more uncertainty as another investor has come into play, according to multiple sources familiar with the transaction, is Virginia Revolution, which is among the area’s elite youth clubs — appears to be coming in to the picture to create a merger, with all three parties maintaining an equal percentage of the club.

On Wednesday, VA Revolution confirmed that news in an interview with The Athletic. D.C. United declined to comment.

This has all led to a lot of uncertainty for the team — both for coaches and players alike.

There was even a point when players at Loudoun considered boycotting the club’s second match of the season, said multiple sources within the team, but eventually relented.  The club’s equipment manager departed earlier this season, and there’s been no effort made to replace him, leaving players responsible for basic tasks like laundering their own kits or caring for their own equipment.

Segra Field has had its own issues — which sometimes Pittsburgh fans and Steel Army social media account has mocked as players forced into locker rooms constructed from shipping containers.

Bottom line though — Martin has done a yeoman’s job in keeping the team focused on the field.

Under his direction through the years, they play 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 — but has shifted back to more of a 4-4-2 this season.

The difference this year for Loudoun?   It might be the emergence of its young, scoring talent.

A week after facing Charleston striker Cal Jennings, the Hounds will be tasked with slowing down the Championship’s other current scoring co-leader Abdellatif Aboukoura, who has five goals in six matches to open 2025.

Aboukoura has the benefit of service from a known-Hound-killer, veteran midfielder Florian Valot, who also leads the league with his four assists thus far.

Loudoun has 11 goals overall this season, ranking them first in the East and tied for the top spot league-wide, and their only two losses have come on the road against Louisville — one in the league and last Tuesday in the Open Cup.   Louisville got their work done early, scoring twice inside the first half hour with goals from Adrien Perez and Sam Gleadle. Loudoun couldn’t find a goal until the very end with a 90th-minute goal from the Egyptian, Aboukoura.

Besides that, they’ve kept a lot of players back from last year’s squad.

They’ve also added Moses Nyeman who returns to the DMV after stints with Real Salt Lake and Minnesota United and another well-traveled young player in former Reb Bull prospect, Ben Mines who is now suiting up for his seventh USL Championship club at age 24.

Its run of form in league play is good — very good.    The Hounds will still have to account for the team’s leading scorer a year ago in Ryan, while Valot thrives in the role as play maker.

Loudoun’s also been pretty strong out of the back — with Hugh Fauroux in goal for all six league matches and Leerman paired up with former DC United product, Jacob Erlandson as the center backs.

How Loudoun lined up in its 2-1 win vs Tampa Bay last week.  

Hounds Personnel, Tactics and Match-Ups To Watch

The Hounds have work to do to improve on their midfield and defensive play from last week’s loss at Charleston.   Even with a 1-0 lead at the half, they were outplayed, outshot and outpossessed.    It was a humbling performance which exposed a team that often doesn’t find itself chasing the match.

Having a mid-week match provided an opportunity for the Hounds to rebuild confidence and they’ll look to step onto Segra Field this week looking to dictate terms of what’s a fairly important league match for them.

Over the course of this week through early May, the Hounds will play a league match (at Loudoun United FC), then their first Jägermeister Cup match (April 26 at Detroit City FC), then return home for a league tilt vs North Carolina FC on May 3, before hosting Major League Soccer’s New York City FC on May 7 in the Open Cup’s Round of 32.

The Hounds roster depth is being put to the test during this stretch, but Lilley has been able to spread out minutes and starts among the group.

Including the Open Cup match, Sean Suber, Jackson Walti, Danny Griffin have played every single minute this year, while Augustine Williams, Robbie Mertz, Beto Ydrach and Luke Biasi have also each started every match.

The injury report has four players out including Bertin Jacquesson, who’s yet to see action this season along with Charles Ahl, Junior Etou and Brigham Larsen.   With Larsen out — Williams carries the load as the lone, true target striker on the roster.

All those players should be in the lineup again — but Lilley will have to shuffle the deck a bit.  Etou was injured when coming off the bench in the Open Cup win on Tuesday — so Lilley can turn to Jason Bourgey or one of the other midfielders in Etou’s place.   Regardless, the Hounds will likely go with more rotation and Lilley will dip into his bench for subs.

Just for our sickos fans interests — here’s how the Hounds lined up the previous two matches.

vs Charleston

Eric Dick
Junior Etou
Sean Suber
Illal Osumanu (Pablo Linzoain 81’)
Luke Biasi
Jackson Walti
Beto Ydrach (Jorge Garcia 81’)
Robbie Mertz (Jason Bouregy 82’)
Danny Griffin
Bradley Sample (Aidan O’Toole 66’)
Augi Williams (Max Broughton 66’)

vs Columbus

Jacob Randolph
Max Broughton (Illal Osumanu 86’)
Sean Suber
Beto Ydrach
Perrin Barnes
Jackson Walti
Danny Griffin
Jason Bouregy (Junior Etou 66’, Pablo
Linzoain 90+4’)
Jorge Garcia (Robbie Mertz 66’)
Aidan O’Toole (Luke Biasi 66’)
Augi Williams

John K’s Projected Riverhounds lineup vs Loudoun United FC 

 

Match Info

Riverhounds (2-2-1) vs. Loudoun United FC (5-1-0)
Date: Saturday, April 19
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Location: Segra Field, Leesburg, Va.
Odds: Hounds +300 / Draw +250 / Loudoun -125 at FanDuel
TV: KDKA+
Streaming: ESPN+
Live statistics: USL Championship Match Center
Live updates: @RiverhoundsSC on X/Twitter
Match hashtags: #LDNvPIT and #Grittsburgh