Takeaways and Player Grades: Evolving Riverhounds emerge with first league road win at Rhode Island

File photo courtesy Matt Ralph / Philadelphia Soccer Now

The principles have remained the same.

Execution on the other hand, has been a struggle for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC through much of the 2025 season.

But somewhere there — Lilleyball has always been lurking.

It’s possible that on Saturday at Centreville Bank Stadium, when posting its first road win of the season, defeating the reigning USL Championship Eastern Conference champs, Rhode Island FC, 1-0, the Riverhounds’ finally put together a performance emblematic of what makes Bob Lilley coached teams so difficult to beat.

It took a while for the Hounds to work their way into the match, as they weathered some pressure and overcame a few early yellow cards, but for the first time this season for an extended stretch, Pittsburgh stepped on the gas in the final 15 minutes of the first half, then closed out the match with a strong second half effort.

It was an impressive result, pushing the Hounds (3W-5L-2D, 11 points) one point closer to Rhode Island FC as they stay above the playoff line.  Rhode Island was coming off two road wins against teams at the bottom of the standings and came back to Ocean State determined to get its first-ever win in their new stadium, but the Hounds squashed their hopes.

This result for Pittsburgh had to be especially rewarding for a team that saw a number of players were playing on fumes, being that it was their third match in eight days and Head Coach Bob Lilley went with most of his starters, using just two subs in the second half.

“When you’re tired, it takes a lot of mental toughness to press and chase, and I think we demonstrated that today,” Lilley said.

“It’s a good three points, an important three points.”

** Read here for more from Lilley’s post match comments **

Hounds Personnel, Lineup Selections

Following the squad’s US Open Cup encounter at Philly (on Wednesday — a 4-1 loss to MLS’s Supporter Shield leaders), Bob Lilley, happy to have a relatively healthy roster to pick from, went with a strong starting eleven.

Augustine Williams was at the top of the attack, flanked by the combination of Bertin Jacquesson on the right and Robbie Mertz on the left.

For the first time in a while, Danny Griffin dropped a bit deeper but served as a link-up central midfielder in pairing with Jackson Walti.

Once again, on the wings, it was the duo of Perrin Barnes and Luke Biasi who patrolled the two-way duties as full backs who at times pushed forward out wide.

No need to change things in the back — the Hounds stayed with usual suspects on the back line, with Beto Ydrach, Sean Suber and Guillhaume Vactor as the center backs in front of goalkeeper Eric Dick.

Remarkably, even while holding on to 1-0 lead in playing on farily tired legs, the Hounds used two subs — Bradley Sample and Charles Ahl — for Jacquesson and Mertz — to help with keeping up the high press.

Takeaways

Hounds survive sluggish start — thanks to Eric Dick

Things could have easily gone off the rails early for the Hounds in this match.

In the first 30 minutes of the match, Pittsburgh faced three shots on frame and two key players, Beto Ydrach and Luke Biasi were booked for late tackles.

While they weren’t being totally outclassed, as they were pressing — and the effort was there — but they looked like a team that was struggling to get into a rhythm and were fortunate that they didn’t concede.

Dick was tested early, as the Hounds left a few holes in a couple transition and set piece moments for Rhode Island.  But Eric Dick was up to the task, making his first stop on a long-range attempt by Clay Holstad barely two minutes into the match.

Holstad would try his luck again on a volley in the 17th minute, and while it was struck well, Dick was in good position to make the save and control the ball.

Pittsburgh did have a bright chance in the 20th minute when Robbie Mertz struck a good shot of his own from 20 yards out on the left side, and it forced a diving stop by Rhode Island goalie Koke Vegas to push the ball around the post.

The Hounds were left exposed again — as ball over the top from a free kick fell right to the feet of Rhode Island’s Maxi Rodriguez, but the USL Championship veteran sent his one-time opportunity wide right of the goal.  Moments later, former Hound Albert Dikwa took a touch from a clever cross — that he may have been better off leaving go thru to Rodriguez who was wide open on far post side.  The Hounds bottled up in front of Dikwa – to block his chance.

 

Finally — Hounds find another gear in pushing forward collectively 

Something happened after the half hour mark that ignited the Hounds’ efforts to finally in taking its build-up play to a more dynamic level into the final third.

Things picked up on an excellent sequence that began with a sharp-edged Jacquesson cross that delivered right to Mertz at the top of the box.  Immediately drawing a couple of defenders, Mertz played a clever ball back for Walti — who had his shot blocked.

The connection between Jacquesson and Mertz brought out scenes remincient of how the Hounds played late last season when Jacquesson emerged as a playmaker and goal scorer that the team sorely was missing for most of last season.  Coming back from an injury in preseason which kept him out of the lineup for the first two months of this season, Jacquesson’s quality has been missed.

A few sequences later in a build-up that didn’t lead to anything special, Jacquesson and Mertz connected on something we haven’t really seen much of all season from this team.  Jacquesson boomed a long, arcing and slightly diagonal ball from the far right sideline that hit Mertz in stride.  We’re talking about a 50-60 yard ball that was sent while he was in full stride.  There are not too many players at this level who can pull that off.  Not since current Riverhounds’ assistant coach and club legend, Rob Vincent was working those side-to-side switches with Kevin Kerr in 2015, have we seen a player who has those capabilities.

Not to digress on the merits of any one player — the real positive was that the Hounds were collectively pushing forward and building momentum in its favor.

Another solid build-up came with Biasi cutting toward the edge of the box — and while he had bodies moving forward with him — the winger got ambitious and hit a shot from behind the 18 that went too high.

A couple corner kicks followed — and after the second — Griffin was there to make sure the Hounds capitalized on this positive flurry of activity.

A beauty of a strike from distance ☄️@DannyGriffin04 opens the scoring for @RiverhoundsSC in Rhode Island! pic.twitter.com/UG5sNf3AgN

— USL Championship (@USLChampionship) May 24, 2025

Believe it or not, Griffin is now the team-leader in goals through the first 10 matches, with three.  This one came in his native New England, in the state where he went to college — so it certainly had to have some special meaning for the Hounds’ captain.

More importantly, Pittsburgh kept coming and didn’t let up its high press — generating a few more chances before the end of the half.   Walti had a shot that barely scraped the bar in the 45th minute that nearly doubled the lead.

Gritty effort needed to close out match 

Holding a one-goal lead with 45 minutes remaining — the Hounds knew they would have put forth a strong, gritty effort to close out the match.

Things remained fairly open-ended in a match that saw double-digit shot attempts for both sides.

Rhode Island’s Frank Nodarse was barely off target with a volley less than four minutes after play resumed.

Pittsburgh continued to push at times, as Jacquesson nearly doubled the Hounds lead by managing to pull off a solid hit on the ball despite being off-balance — which hit the left post.

Always keeping Lilleyball principles to the forefront, the Hounds did two impressive things in closing out the victory.  They kept numbers behind the ball, but also were swarming and making things difficult for RIFC on each and every touch.

Dick needed to make one more critical save in the 86th minute. A long cross from the right side cleared everyone in the middle of the field and fell to Rhode Island’s Jojea Kwizera alone on the left side. Kwizera took a touch toward goal and fired from a sharp angle, but Dick was able to smother the chance and leave no rebound.

Only using two subs, they proved to be instrumental in replacing Jacquesson and Mertz, who covered a lot of ground in the first 77 minutes — Ahl and Sample were helpful in stretching the field in late moments.

In fact, the Hounds nearly added an insurance goal late on a couple transition moments.  Williams got free on right edge and was denied by a terrific stop by Koke Vegas in the 90th minute when Ahl found space on the left side of the box and beat Vegas with his shot, but in a remarkable effort, Grant Stoneman cleared Ahl’s shot off the goal line to keep it a one-goal game.

Pittsburgh can use this match as an important benchmark as they have ambitions not just turn this season around but put themselves back into the conversation as a contender.

While starting strong is always a good thing, it’s more important how you finish.

That rang true for the Hounds in this match.

And, they’re hoping that adage carries over into the season as well.

Player Grades

Starting Eleven 

Eric Dick   GK — 8.5 — made five saves — looking at the big picture — is having another tremendous season so far.  Three of which came in the first 17 minutes as the Hounds settled into the match. It was the fifth clean sheet of the year for Dick and the fourth in USL Championship play.

Sean Suber  DF – 7 – top notch playing it out of the back (86% passing accuracy), with nine passes into the final third plus had five clearances

Perrin Barnes DF – 6 – active as usual both ways — had seven defensive actions and drew a couple fouls

Jackson Walti  MF – 7.5 – solid pairing with Griffin, allows DG to float and push higher while continuing to do dirty work (10 defensive actions) while efficent (86% passing accuracy) and picks spots in getting forward (two shots).

Danny Griffin (C) MF – 7.5 – happy return to his roots for New England native where he seemed more comfortable playing more central as a connector and behind Mertz/Jacquesson/Williams top line.  Said in this column he needs to have more touches — and slightly more in this match resulted in generating match leading three chances created.

Robbie Mertz – MF – 7.5 – nearly scored early, kept pushing and covering lots of ground while getting a lot of touches for an attacking midfielder (53).  Continues to be primary taker of corners and free kicks.

Bertin Jacquesson FW – 6.5 –  hit the woodwork. Was active with 27 touches (three in opposition box)– 71 percent accurate passing including two out of two in accurate crosses (as noted above).  This why he’s best in space and not as target forward.

Beto Ydrach DF – 6 – a bit careless foul early, but was disciplined through the rest of the match and solid both ways — generating 11 passes into final third while winning 6/7 duels with eight defensive actions.

Luke Biasi – MF – 6 – accurate passing (86%) with four passes into final third, while winning 7/12 duels.

Guillaume Vactor – D – 7.5 – very quietly becoming a solid piece of the center back line.  Had six passes into final third, but attackers who came his way were snuffed out — as he registered the most tackles in the match (3) —  had 13 total defensive actions, winning 8 of 11 duels.

Augustine Williams – F – 6 – he’s spending a lot of time in hold-up play — and that’s part of the reason why he’s not registering as many shots.  Logged back-to-back 90 minute matches this week — and something should be said for that especially as all forwards in Lilley’s system have to cover a lot of ground.

Bench / Subs 

Bradley Sample MF (77′) – N/R – committed foul but had some solid defensive work (three defensive actions) —

Charles Ahl MF (77′) – N/R – Expected to be part of the rotation early in the season but he’s now finally healthy — looked good in his two matches off the bench including adding a shot and two passes into the final third in this match.