It may not have been the prettiest performance but the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC earned and grinded out a hard-fought 1-0 victory capped by a game-winning goal in the very last seconds of regulatation to defeat Major League Soccer’s New York City FC on Wednesday night at Highmark Stadium.
PSN’s Colton Coreschi was on hand to provide the blow-by-blow details of the match along with the instant recap, plus we shared post-match reaction to the Hounds’ historic third victory on home turf (in four tries) against a MLS club in the Open Cup.
Believe it or not, the Riverhounds’ win was the only one by a lower division side in the US Open Cup’s Round of 32, leaving the Hounds as the sole torchbearer for the lower division clubs as the tournament moves on to the Round of 16, as Pittsburgh will now take on Philadelphia Union in Chester on either May 20 or May 21.
Head Coach Bob Lilley had a clear-cut objective to give some of his players the night off or keep them limited (see more on that below) as the club does need to prioritize league matches, as they are without a win in USL Championship play since late March. At the same time, Lilley reached into his Open Cup bag of tricks, which we’ve seen him do numerous times before, namely in 2023, when the Hounds defeated New England on the road and Columbus at home, where he mixed and matched a lineup that would put forth a maximum effort and play disciplined soccer.
Ultimately, that’s what this match came down to — the Hounds were the more disciplined club, they got some lucky bounces and played with plenty of determination.
With the win, the Hounds are now 3W-1L all-time vs MLS squads at home in the Open Cup.
For the Hounds, there will be little time to savor the moment though, as they have a super quick turnaround, having to get on the bus on Friday and head to the Derby City, and take on a very formidable Louisville City FC side that will be eager to bounce back after their Open Cup defeat on Wednesday.
The organization and the fans now have single, dramatic and defining moment that they can cherish and that may stand out in the Bob Lilley era which has been filled with so much success.
Beto Ydrach’s goal will be one that will be remembered for a long time.
It came at the very end of a match where the Hounds were pushed to the limit, but came out on top.
They can only hope that this will be the spark that the team needs to get back on track in league play and potentially keep making noise in the Open Cup.
Riverhounds Personnel, Tactics and Lineup
Bertin Jacquesson earned his first start of the campaign, while Lilley, looking at the importance of squad rotation and getting a maximum effort out of his team in this midweek match, opted to also start additional players who haven’t started many matches this season: Max Broughton, Jorge Garcia and Guillaume Vactor.
Otherwise, Danny Griffin was wearing the captain’s armband while roving as center attacking midfielder under Jacquesson’s top forward spot — while Pittsburgh settled more into what looked like a 5-1-3-1 formation as Jackson Walti patrolled the deep central midfield with three center backs in front of him. Vactor and Broughton in particular took on more defensive roles throughout the match, while playing as a fullback on left side, Luke Biasi seemed to be a bit more adventerous in getting forward.
Lilley would then really tinker with his substitutions in the second half — paying dividends.
In an effort to keep his forwards’ legs fresh, he brought on young, big lad, Brigham Larsen for Jacquesson at the start of the second half to take over in the target forward spot. Then waited to the 77th minute to bring on Beto Ydrach and Bradley Sample, then in the 89th minute, added Perrin Barnes and Jason Bourgey for the last push.
To be noted, veteran winger Junior Etou, who had come off a hamstring injury and forward Augustine Williams, who has played a ton of minutes did not play. Etou didn’t even make it on the lineup card, but it appeared that Lilley had Williams in his pocket as a potential extra time sub (as Open Cup allows for a sixth sub in added time).
Match Takeaways
Hounds Were Willing To Absorb Pressure
Aside from that brief sequence in 10th minute for that included Jacquesson shot on frame — it was all New York City FC dominating the ball for most of the first half — until a few more positive Pittsburgh sequences at the end.
By halftime it was a 68/32 edge.
Overall though, defensively, the Hounds were solid in the first 45 minutes, limiting NYCFC’s chances to contested shots
There have been many iterations of the Riverhounds under Bob Lilley where they’ve been willing to sit deeper and clog things up in a way that frustrates opponents.
In this match, they were extremly disciplined as a unit and they maintained a solid shape.
“I thought we had a pretty good first half, we knew that they’d have stretches with the ball. I think early we let them around the edges and they put some dangerous balls in the box, we allowed them to create a few 2v1 situations… once we got that cleaned up, we kind of grew into the game… I felt like we were tough to break down and we were playing a solid game and looked like we had a goal in us.”
That goal wouldn’t come in the early portions of the match as Pittsburgh only had sparing moments getting forward, to the point where PSN photographer Ed Thompson sent me a text, “Do they know there’s an other end?”
Still they did enough to keep NYCFC on their toes.
Lilley was satisfied to that point.
“We were competing.”
Eric Dick Stands Tall
The second half started out as a cagier affair for the hosts, as NYCFC ramped up the pressure and looked to deliver some knockout punches.
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.
Eric Dick coming up with BIG TIME saves early in 2nd half #USOC2025 https://t.co/TYe5oCUX9o
— Pittsburgh Soccer Now (@pghsoccernow) May 8, 2025
Still, even the USL Championship’s reigning Gold Glove winner counted on a break or two to keep the clean sheet.
The 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.
Dick even acknowleged after the match that it helped to have a few breaks, pointing out that Fernandez’s miss in particular was like cheating death.
“I went low and, once he lifted it, I heard the netting,” Dick said.
“Then I heard the crowd cheering and I knew he must have missed it. I was fortunate — that’s soccer.”
Discipline Matters
One thing that any opponent that plays a Bob Lilley coached team must be prepared for — is to play disciplined soccer and not do things to beat themselves while facing a Hounds team that’s going to be well-organized, limit chances and that will adjust tactically throughout the match.
The Hounds also may have committed more fouls in the match (15-9 edge), but if you watch the replay, you’ll see that the majority of Pittsburgh’s infractions and hard play come in form of professional fouls and those that slow down opponents in less dangerous areas.
When playing MLS sides that use a lot of younger players, Lilley always seems to know what buttons to push.
NYCFC Head Coach Pascal Jansen watched helplessly as his team couldn’t put away a team that was willing to sit back and absorb a lot of pressure. When the moments came for his young, talented players, they failed to come through — extending a scoreless match into the very late stages.
While the boys in blue were stopped by a couple of brilliant Eric Dick saves and a few other misses and mistakes, their loss of composure and discipline shone through in what became the turning point of the match, as Bradley Sample, with fresh legs, found his way pressing high after a long clearance that made its way upfield leaving the Hounds’ midfield all along facing NYCFC centerback Strahinja Tanasijevic, who waited for his chance to control the long boucing ball on the fresh, new Highmark Stadium turf.
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.
This drew ire from Jansen.
“Tana takes the risk,” Jansen explained after the match.
“It’s the bouncing behavior of a ball on turf. It’s unpredictable once you let it bounce, and you could see that the striker was anticipating this move as well, which is on us. It’s lack of concentration and lack of understanding what this pitch will do when you let this ball bounce. And he was the last defender, so if you make the foul, it’s a red card.”
With the Hounds playing with 10 men, suddenly came that period of adjustment, where both teams started to figure out what each could do. Pittsburgh started pushing numbers higher, but that also gave the New Yorkers a chance to counter into more space a few times.
“All of a sudden there was urgency in the team. When we went a man down, the energy was there like it should have been from the start,” Jansen pointed out.
“Even in possession, we created situations where we should have scored.”
Then came those critical moments where the visitors failed to put away a pair of late scoring opportunities — as Ojeda hit the bar and Fernandez missed what looked like a sure goal.
Suddenly, Jansen squad’s lack of concentration at the end of the match was costing them a chance to advance.
The Hounds were able to keep their composure, then they finally brought some real pressure and kept the ball on the attacking end as stoppage time started and to the very last sequence.
Lilley even acknowledged that his team had to make the most of the opportunity in the closing minutes.
“We were competing and we had some chances as well, but they missed chances,” Lilley stated.
“We could have given up four or five goals in the second half.”
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.”
On the other side, NYCFC were disorganized on that last set piece, completely missing Ydrach, a defender who was left unmarked on the far post side.
“If you slack one moment, like we did in the second half going into overtime, because this is a question of discipline,” Jansen remarked.
“You know what’s being asked in this situation from the corner kick? And we just didn’t do it. So that’s when you concede. And it fits perfectly in the whole game of the night.”
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 sure enough, 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.
Now, they’ll have to carry that over into league play on short rest.
Riverhounds SC Player Grades
Starting Eleven
Eric Dick GK — 8.5 — those two diving saves were amazing. Helps to have his leadership and commanding presence in a match like this.
Sean Suber DF – 7 – Was up to the task in this match. Can stand toe-to-toe with almost any attacker in 1v1 situations but also solid in playing it out of the back.
Max Broughton DF – 6 – didn’t have a lot of touches (14) but showed quality on ball and in defending / positioning in his first real extended minutes this season outside of the first Open Cup match.
Illal Osumanu DF – 5 – very active with five clearances, eight defensive actions — only won 1/4 duels and committed two fouls.
Jackson Walti MF – 7.5 – flying solo in the deep middle and was more than up to it too. Won 6/8 duels, held his own in 1v1 situations and was at the start of regenerating a few quality counter chances.
Danny Griffin (C) MF – 6.5 – continued aggressive mindset in final third which this team needs with four touches and passes into opposition box but missed out on one big chance in his only shot of the match.
Robbie Mertz – MF – 7 – earned a well-deserved assist on the game winner but did a lot of good things both ways too. Created three chances while earning three recoveries and nine defensive actions.
Bertin Jacquesson FW — 7 – even though attacking moments were sparce, he provided quality on the ball and made a few good runs that forced defenders to their heels. Also generated a few shots on frames in his longest outing of the year so far after coming back from hamstring injury. Will be a key piece to the attack moving forward.
Jorge Garcia – MF – 6.5 — put in a quality 77 minute shift with solid play on both sides of the ball. The Hounds have been lacking shot attempts — and he delivered four in a match where they were only making sporadic advances in getting forward.
Luke Biasi – MF – 7.5 – good work early in match to draw foul on left end of attacking third. Was solid both ways (12 passes into final third — and also has a whopping 11 recoveries, three clearances, two interceptions and 10 defensive actions).
Guillaume Vactor – D – 6.5 — with 10 defensive actions, winning 5/6 duels, five clearances and two interceptions — did very well under pressure all night.
Bench / Subs
Bradley Sample (77′) MF – 8 – what an impact off the bench — to draw the red card and was very efficent in final moments too
Brigham Larsen (45′ / 77′) – FW – 5 – did what was needed for stretch with fresh legs, pressing and defending, but also all seven touches came out of the box area where he came back to keep a few possessions alive.
Beto Ydrach (77′) D – 8 – what can you say — though he was unmarked — that was not an easy placement of that header. Put it right where it needed to be. Has been a valuable piece of this team since the first match of the season.
Perrin Barnes (89′) D – – N/R
Jason Bourgey (89′) – MF – N/R
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