Pulse of Pittsburgh Soccer: Are you ready for more playoff soccer?

Wait, there’s more?

That’s right, after an exhilarating and eventful week of end-of-season for some and postseason for others we have more.

The complete Pittsburgh Soccer schedule for the rest of the week can be found at the bottom of the post.

After this week, well, that is a big question mark.  Pitt and Robert Morris men are still playing, with conference tournaments coming up this week (more on that below) and, of course, the Riverhounds are alive and kicking too.

Riverhounds season continues

On Saturday night at Highmark — where attendance came 67 persons short of a sellout crowd — the Riverhounds did what they had to do to survive and advance by keeping their composure and coming through when needed in an emotionally charged, grind-it-out battle with Hartford Athletic, that was ultimately decided on penalty kicks.

The Hounds came through with its first home playoff win since 2019, and with USL Championship tournament bracket getting busted this weekend — the Hounds will be back at home this week to host the upset darlings — Detroit City FC (Saturday – 7:30 p.m.).

Here’s my long form Takeaways and Player Grades from Saturday’s match:

Takeaways and Player Grades: Keeping composure and delivering in PK shootout, Riverhounds survive and advance

With the top two teams losing over the weekend, the USL Championship tournament is really up for grabs, so why not the Hounds?

If they can start scoring some goals in the run of play, then yes, the Hounds can beat anyone left in this tournament.

Steel City FC men keep US Open Cup quest going

The Capital City Islanders proved — if anything — to be a difficult to put away opponent that Dan Brower’s makeshift Steel City FC squad had to overcome — and they did.

If you missed it, PSN’s Colton Coreschi was at Rooney Field and has the match report, as Steel City FC kept its push to return to the US Open Cup alive.

FINAL: Steel City FC 1, Capital City Islanders 0 (2026 USOC Qualifying)

WPIAL Crowns its Champions; PIAA Boys and Girls Soccer Tournaments kick off Tuesday 

For the first time ever, due to the Riverhounds hosting a playoff match, the High School playoff schedule shifted from three to four days. We did our best to keep up.  We had live threads for each match plus check out the interviews with the winners on our Social Media platforms.

Congrats to the Eight WPIAL Champions:

Boys

• 1A — Bentworth Three-Peat winners, beat OLSH, 3-1 
• 2A — Deer Lakes break the dam again, beat Beaver to win third WPIAL title this decade 
• 3A — West Allegheny magical run culminates with defeat of Franklin Regional 
• 4A — Fox Chapel takes down section rival Seneca Valley in shootout to repeat as 4A champs 

Girls

• 1A — Bentworth girls make it a clean sweep, beat Sewickley Academy with late game-winner
• 2A — Freeport wins first-ever WPIAL title 
• 3A — Fox Chapel earns second title in three years with Golden Goal in Extra Time
• 4A — North Allegheny knocks out Seneca Valley for its 4th WPIAL title since 2019 

It’s not over!  Now, 23 Pittsburgh area high school teams will now follow up the District playoffs by entering into the State playoffs.

Here’s a look at both the boys and girls brackets and Tuesday’s schedules.

PIAA Boys Soccer Tournament Schedule & Brackets

PIAA Girls Soccer Tournament Schedule & Brackets

Pitt and Robert Morris men’s soccer eye conference tournaments 

And if that’s not enough, the two programs from the area who were in the NCAA Men’s Soccer tournament a year ago, Robert Morris and Pitt men’s soccer teams still have a fighting chance to get back to the Big Dance, but it will take some serious work to get started on this week as Conference tournament action will get started.

Pitt will have a rematch against Clemson on Wednesday night, who they played earlier in the season in a wild, back-and-forth match.  With a 5-6-5 overall record, the Panthers need to win at least two, possibly three matches in the ACC tournament to have any chance to be considered for an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament.

Pitt Men’s Soccer Falls to .500 After Top 5 Road Loss | Pittsburgh Soccer Now

The good news for the Panthers, they’re unbeaten in the last three matches.  The bad news — they have quite an uphill climb.

As for Robert Morris (2W-1L-5D in Horizon League), they have one more regular season match to go on Tuesday at Wright State. — but after suffering its first loss in Horizon League  on Friday, to Green Bay, the Colonials have dropped down to 6th place — still above the playoff line.  However, if they beat last place Wright State in the season finale on Tuesday, they could potentially jump ahead of one or more of the teams directly above them in the standings.

Here’s a look at the Horizon League Standings and the Horizon League (empty) tournament bracket and schedule.

Duquesne WSOC — Resurgent Season Ends in Heartbreak 

Lastly, kudos to Jessica Guigucz and the Duquesne women’s soccer team for an outstanding season.  On Saturday, the Dukes were eliminated from A10 tournament in cruel fashion — in a penalty kick shootout.  Zac Weiss was at Rooney on Saturday and has more with Guigucz, plus check out PSN’s match recap.

Takeaways and Player Grades: Keeping composure and delivering in PK shootout, Riverhounds survive and advance

John Krysinsky

John Krysinsky has covered soccer and other sports for many years for various publications and media outlets. He is also author of 'Miracle on the Mon' -- a book about the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, which chronicles the club, particularly the early years of Highmark Stadium with the narrative leading up to and centered around a remarkable match that helped provide a spark for the franchise. John has covered sports for Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, DK Pittsburgh Sports, Pittsburgh Sports Report, has served as color commentator on Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC broadcasts, and worked with OPTA Stats and broadcast teams for US Open Cup and International Champions Cup matches held in the US. Krysinsky also served as the Head Men’s Soccer Coach at his alma mater, Point Park University, where he led the Pioneers to the first-ever winning seasons and playoff berths (1996-98); head coach of North Catholic boys (2007-08), associate head coach of Shady Side Academy boys (2009-2014).