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FINAL: Riverhounds SC 1, NYCFC 0 (Hounds advance to US Open Cup Round of 16)

File photo courtesy Ed Thompson
Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (2025) — Round of 32

FINAL: Riverhounds SC 1, New York City FC 0

Match Stats: USL Championship Match Center

PSN’s Open Cup Coverage Team: 

Colton Coreschi (reporting) / Rachael Kriger (social media) / John Krysinsky (analysis) / Ed Thompson (reporting)

Instant Match Summary

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC hadn’t scored many goals of late — but they sure picked a heck of a time to finally put a ball into the net.

The Hounds capped a dramatic Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup victory with a Beto Ydrach goal in stoppage time that broke a scoreless affair that appeared to be headed to extra time, defeating Major League Soccer side, New York City FC, 1-0, to advance to the National tournament’s Round of 16.

Ydrach found Open Cup magic by making a run to the far post side, where he was unmarked, getting on the end of a Robbie Mertz service.

The game winner came as the match creeped into the very late stages of stoppage time with the Hounds playing with a man advantage thanks to late sub Bradley Sample got through on goal after Strahinja Tanasijević  stripped and yanked down the midfielder in the 79th minute.

While New York City largely dominated the first half in terms of possession, each team managed to get off several shots, with the Riverhounds taking the two more dangerous attempts of the first 45 minutes of play.

Pittsburgh spent most of the match defending and absorbing pressure, but found enough moments to keep NYCFC on its heels.

The Hounds found their first good chance on target in the 10th minute, as a loose ball in the box off a Robbie Mertz free kick wound up falling to Bertin Jacquesson. The Hounds forward managed to pull off a tough, spinning half-volley, sending it towards the net but also straight at NYCFC goalkeeper Tomas Romero.

The best opportunity of the half came the Hounds’ way as well, again through Jacquesson.

This time, a three-on-two counterattack was spearheaded by the pacey forward, who opted to keep the ball himself with runners on either side — firing a blocked shot but ending up with his own rebound. His subsequent right-footed effort was on-target and forced a diving save out of Romero in goal.

Ultimately, neither side was able to find the breakthrough in the first half and entered the locker rooms still level at zero.

The second half started out as a cagier affair for the hosts, as NYCFC ramped up the pressure. Led by Julian Fernandez and Hannes Wolf, City forced the Hounds defense deeper and deeper with more crucial saves, punches and step-ups from goalkeeper Eric Dick.

Dick came up big to keep the match scoreless, by making four saves total — including a pair of diving stops early in the second half.

But everything turned on its head in the 79th minute.

A long clearance upfield from the Riverhounds bounced in the NYCFC defense, and as centerback Strahinja Tanasijevic waited for his chance to control it, Bradley Sample aggressively pressed and forced the turnover. Tanasijevic had no choice but to drag the Hounds midfielder down as the last man, earning the red card and reducing City to ten.

Playing with a man advantage, Pittsburgh stepped up the pressure in the final 10-plus minutes of the match, but still had to evade a few dangerous NYCFC chances. Tthe visitors failed to put away a pair of late scoring opportunities as Agustin Ojeda fired a shot off the crossbar in the 82nd minute and an open Julian Fernandez missed on the right side of the penalty area in the 87th.

That set the stage for the dramatic finish which followed some strong bouts of pressure into the final third by the Hounds.

Eventually, the Hounds earned their fifth corner in the final moments of added time.

Mertz took it centrally from the far corner, where Ydrach was lurking. The rookie defender scored not only the first goal of the night, but the first goal of his professional career and the Hounds first set piece goal of the season, to send the crowd into a rapturous thunder.

“I think we needed a result like this,” Ydrach said. “It was gritty until the last minute, but we dug it out, and hopefully we can take that into league play and get a result on the road this weekend too in Louisville.”

The Hounds, who have now won three of four matches on home turf against Major League Soccer teams in the tournament, including twice now in the past two years, now advance and travel across the Commonwealth to take on Philadelphia Union, who defeated Indy Eleven in the penalty kick shootout.  That match is expected to be played either May 20 or 21.

New York held a huge advantage in possession (with 576-214 total passes advantage), but as many Bob Lilley coached teams have done, Pittsburgh defended hard and limited passing lines while make New York work for every touch in and around the box.

Despite the lopsided possession, the Hounds found chances — with 10 total shots and five on frame while working harder in the final third to generate an edge in corner chances.

Ultimately, Pittsburgh took advantage of its last corner chances as the seconds whittled away in stoppage time.

 

Match Day Updates / Commentary

Follow along here with the latest news and buzz leading up to the match, plus the latest in-game updates, commentary and analysis.

Match Updates:

FT – GAME OVER! RIVERHOUNDS PULL THE CUPSET OVER NYCFC AT HIGHMARK! IT’S A 1-0 WIN IN STOPPAGE TIME OFF THE HEAD OF BETO YDRACH, A HERO MOMENT FOR THE ROOKIE! THE HOUNDS ARE DANCING ON!

90′ – GOAL RIVERHOUNDS! GOAL RIVERHOUNDS! Mertz takes the corner and Beto Ydrach heads it home!!!! Are you kidding me?!?! The Hounds lead 1-0 with mere moments to go!!!

90′ – Mertz rips a ball across the box and Biasi comes from deep to rip a shot towards net – just deflected wide for the Hounds corner.

90′ – A late corner here for the hounds, Mertz takes back post but punched away by Romero. Followed by a sub for NYCFC as Drew Baiera comes on for Nico Cavallo.

90′ – And the final pair of Hounds subs in regulation now: Osumanu and Broughton off, Borugey and Barnes on.

87′ – Oh my god, NYCFC have a massive counter-attack and Julian Fernandez ends up with an open net and he just straight-up misses the net! Just a crazy miss.

83′ – NYCFC rings the crossbar! Agustin Ojeda with the 20-yard shot off the rebound effort! It’s all popping off here!

81′ – A pair of subs for NYCFC now: Seymour Reid and Maxwell Murray on, Hannes Wolf and Andres Perea

78′ – WOW! A RED CARD FOR NYCFC. Sample is through on goal after Tanasijevic strips him and Tanasijevic just yanks him down as the last man! The visitors down to ten men!

77′ – Wow, an unexpected pair of subs here for the Hounds: Brigham Larsen off after just half an hour and replaced by Beto Ydrach, Bradley Sample on for Jorge Garcia. The Hounds have no forwards on the field with a lot of time to go.

71′ – NYCFC get a chance on the right side of goal as Hannes Wolf fires a close-range effort low, beyond Eric Dick, but also beyond the far post.

63′ – A great bit of play there ends up with Danny Griffin getting a shot off. The charging Romero manages to parry it away and it’s a corner for the Hounds. Mertz puts it in, it rebounds out to Garcia, who blasts that to PNC Park across the river.

59′ – Oof, Jorge Garcia gets played into space on a good run but fires that shot an area code wide of goal. Big missed chance.

52′ – And there’s the first big chance for NYCFC on the night, as Julian Fernandez gets a good shot off from the penalty spot and on-target. A great save from Eric Dick keeps the visitors off the scoreboard. NYCFC growing in confidence here.

52′ – A cross towards Andres Perea in the box overshoots him, but runs close enough to goal that Eric Dick needed to get over to his right to keep it contained.

46′ – Second half is underway here with subs for both teams. The Hounds bring Brigham Larsen on for Bertin Jacquesson. NYCFC substitutes Julian Fernandez into the game for Birk Risa – bringing some more offense into the game.

Halftime – Riverhounds 0-0 NYCFC. Despite the MLS visitors controlling the majority of possession, the Hounds have outshot NYCFC and have had the more dangerous on-target attempts. All still to play for here in what has been a competitive game so far.

45′ – Bertin Jacquesson with an impressive run and gets a good shot on-target, forcing a diving save out of Romero and earning a corner. The latter winds up as a goal kick, but signs of life from the Hounds!

42′ – A bit of a lazy foul from Broughton on the left wing and City will have a chance to play this into the box. It’s headed away fairly easily from near the penalty spot by the Hounds defense.

36′ – Corner for the Hounds as Griffin’s cross is blocked. Mertz takes from the near-side and sends it middle of the box, where it’s cleared away after a bounce.

31′ – Lots of possession for NYCFC here so far, but very confident defending from the Hounds keeping them at bay. An impressive turnaround in performance from the weekend’s disappointing showing vs. NCFC.

24′ – A big chance to break out on the counter for the Hounds goes wanting. Jacquesson nicely lays it back to Walti, who tries to play his turning run, but it just goes a few feet long.

14′ – NYCFC corner coming up after an entry from the right side of net is blocked by the Hounds defense. It’s taken long, and Eric Dick spills it, but scrambles to recover before it becomes an issue.

12′ – A dangerous ball into the box is brought down and nearly finds Monsef Bakrar, but Eric Dick is quick enough to beat him to the loose ball.

9′ – A good run and Biasi wins a free kick on the left wing at the end of it. Pseudo-corner coming up. Mertz puts it into the box and it pings around to Jacquesson, who rips a spinning shot on-target but straight at Tomas Romero in net. First shot-on-target belongs to the Hounds!

5′ – A few dangerous runs forward from NYCFC early, but no meaningful chances yet. Hounds looking for chances to counter, but the long-range passes just a bit off so far. Certainly not letting the visitors boss them early though.

1′ – Teams are on the field on a beautiful Wednesday night at Highmark Stadium. The Riverhounds in their home black and yellow hoops, NYCFC in the City blue shirts and white shorts. And we are underway for U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 action!

Starting XIs:

11:20 a.m. — Hounds Injury Updates:

11:15 a.m. — Newsworthy move by NYCFC ahead of tonight’s match…

Be sure to check out our content leading up to the match:

Struggling Riverhounds can find inspiration from short history of solid home performances vs MLS clubs in US Open Cup

Sounding Off on Soccer: Riverhounds need a spark plus scouting NYCFC with Mark ‘Soccer Rabbi’ Goodman

What’s at Stake

Neither club has advanced beyond the quarterfinal round in the Open Cup, and a win would put them one step closer to equaling that mark.

The winner of the match advances to face the winner between the Philadelphia Union (MLS) and Indy Eleven (USLC) in the Round of 16 on May 20-21. That match will be at the Union, should they advance, while the Hounds would host Indy, should that be the matchup.

One of those clubs who the Hounds have more history than is its opponent this coming Wednesday night at Highmark Stadium (7 p.m.), New York City FC, who came into existence just 10 years ago — in 2015.

Despite competing in the Open Cup most every season since 1999, the Hounds have only faced Major League Soccer clubs three previous times in Pittsburgh.  This is — by far — the shortest span between hosting MLS clubs in the Highmark Stadium era with NYCFC coming to Pittsburgh just two years after Columbus’ visit in 2023 (a riveting Hounds’ 1-0 win).

In each of those matches the Hounds proved to be a very, very tough out for each MLS club that came to the Steel City — posting two wins in three matches (with their only loss coming in a match that went to extra time).

This match-up vs a MLS club comes at a time when the Hounds are in terrible form.

It might be the worst run of play they’ve been on before facing a Major League Soccer club at home.

The Hounds have lost three straight matches and four of its last five in all competitions.

They returned home on Saturday unable to shake the same issues that have been haunting them in a 2-0 loss to North Carolina FC.  The continuing issues include continuing to struggle with creating or generating any quality chances in the final third and faltering in the second half of matches.

Hounds’ Head Coach Bob Lilley’s pulled off his share of historic wins against MLS teams in his illustrious coaching career — but a win against NYCFC with the way his current group is playing, would be mighty impressive.

Following the loss to North Carolina FC, marking a second straight year where his club has been inept on the attacking end in the first half of the season, Lilley put forth a bit of an ultimatum.

“They are either going to respond or not,” Lilley stated.

More on NYCFC

For New York, rest will also be a consideration having just played on Sunday, and perhaps the biggest question will be how many of the top of the rotation first-teamers will be in the lineup.

Another question is — who leads the forward line for NYCFC?

Julián Fernández got the start and an early game-winning tally in the team’s 1-0 win over FC Cincinnati, while Alonso Martínez leads NYCFC with six goals on the season.

Coach Pascal Jansen could use either player, or have one or both come off the bench, depending how he wants to approach the match.

We have more from Jansen’s press conference via Zoom yesterday with the media.

New York City FC HC Pascal Jansen on USOC clash vs Riverhounds: ‘We take this game just as seriously’

Riverhounds Personnel / What to Watch For

Back in the mix for selection Wednesday are defender Luke Biasi, who served a one-match suspension last Saturday against North Carolina, and midfielder Robbie Mertz, who is back in training after missing a brief spell with a concussion.

Add in Bertin Jacquesson, who has appeared in the past two matches off the bench, and Brigham Larsen, who also made his return to the field last weekend, and the Hounds are as close to healthy as they have been all season.

If you recall, a few years ago against New England and then Columbus, Bob Lilley showed no hesitation in giving some of the younger players on the roster an opportunity to start in those matches.  In doing that, Lilley gave those players a chance to blossom in those matches which ultimately helped the team in the long run that season — one where they would eventually win the USL Championship Players Shield for the most overall points.

Being that this is a midweek match between two important league matches — squad rotation will certainly come into play on Wednesday night — so don’t be surprised that the Hounds go with some changes to their regular starting lineup.

Bottom line though — the Hounds will need to be looking to get forward and create more chances, having not scored in nearly 200 minutes since Jorge Garcia‘s wonder strike at Loudoun — as they’re in the bottom of most league stats in attacking categories (shots, shots on frame, big chances, etc.).

We picked the Hounds’ ineptitude in the final third apart pretty good in Takeaways and Player Grades following Saturday’s 2-0 loss to North Carolina FC, a club — by the way — that battled Charlotte FC hard but eventually fell in extra time on Tuesday night in the Open Cup.

Takeaways and Player Grades: ‘Poor in all areas’ Riverhounds thrown off by pair of North Carolina FC second half goals

John K’s Projected Riverhounds Starting XI 

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