Takeaways and Ratings: Riverhounds advance into historical, uncharted territory by any means necessary

During the first period of extra time of the scoreless USL Championship Eastern Conference Semifinal playoff match between the Riverhounds and Detroit City FC at Highmark Stadium on Saturday night, an announcement came over the public address system.

Public Address Announcer Brandon Rossi revealed the result of the other Eastern Conference semifinal match, sharing that Rhode Island FC had defeated North Carolina FC.

With RIFC advancing, the Riverhounds would be hosting the Eastern Conference Final at Highmark Stadium the following week if they could shake off a pesky challenge from Detroit.

Riverhounds’ acting Head Coach Rob Vincent heard the announcement.

“I hope they didn’t jinx us,” Vincent shared after the match.

“I turned to the bench; said I wish that hadn’t happened.”

Knowing that the Riverhounds organization and its faithful supporters have been on this doorstep before, only to get knocked down and have the door slammed shut in its faces, it was completely understandable for Vincent to start feeling some trepidation.

(Vincent knows a little something about how quickly things can turn sour in Extra Time too — in 2015 as a player, the Hounds squad he starred on had a 2-1 lead in extra time of Eastern Conference Quarterfinal, which turned into a 4-2 loss at NY Red Bulls II)

On the field, the Riverhounds players were laser focused, showing no hesitation, pressing forward with business at hand in a match that would go the full 120 minutes.

Despite being on the front foot for most of the contest, for the second straight week, the Hounds could not find a breakthrough in the run of play — setting the stage for another penalty kick shootout.

The match came down to spot kicks, which took some twists and turns, but after trailing in the shootout after two rounds, the Hounds found a way to once again, survive and advance — winning the shootout, 4-3.

FINAL: Riverhounds SC 0, Detroit City FC 0 (Hounds win PK shootout, 4-3)

With this euphoric, dramatic victory once again on home turf before a record crowd of 6,220 partisans, the Riverhounds have entered unchartered territory — reaching the USL Championship Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in club history.

They did it for the second consecutive playoff match without scoring a goal in the run of play.  In fact, if you go back into the end of the regular season and accumulate the added 60 minutes of extra time — the Hounds haven’t scored a goal in over 350 minutes.

On the flip side, no one is scoring on the Hounds right now.  It’s been more than 420 minutes since Pittsburgh has allowed a goal.

If anything, this is a determined, cohesive and resilient team.

“It’s not the way we want to do it, by any means,” Vincent said.

“It’s not ideal to keep going 120, but credit to the guys. They kept going. They kept attacking. Playing on the front foot. We felt like we didn’t need to make too many substitutions. The guys were doing what they needed to do.”

Personnel, Formation & FotMob Ratings

Guillaume Vactor — who was listed as questionable after getting a knock late in regulation last week — was not in the 18.  The Hounds replaced the defensive stalwart with Perrin Barnes, who started a chunk of matches at outside back before suffering an abdominal injury.  This moved the versatile Luke Biasi into the center back trio to start the match.

“Right now, we’re not sure when he’ll be back,” Vincent said of Vacter.

The Riverhounds opted to leave a few cards on the table when the match concluded — having used just two subs — Jackson Walti who came on for Charles Ahl in the 88th minute, and Bertin Jacquesson, who replaced Perrin Barnes at the start of stoppage time.

“Thought Perrin did well.  We felt 90 was enough for him. We knew that Jackson would give us a solid 30.”

Vincent added: “Felt like the guys who were on, still had energy. They were making things happen. We felt like we were in control. Putting guys on in those types of games is tough.  Not that we don’t have any trust in those guys on the bench.  There’s an element of the guys are in the zone, there in the flow right now.  Let’s not change to much if we don’t have to.”

Adding a new wrinkle to this post match feature, we’ll include the graphic below from FotMob.com.

Riverhounds Formation & Player Ratings Courtesy FotMob.com 

Takeaways

No Small Sample Size 

The Hounds came out sniffing early for a goal — and nearly got one when Bradley Sample had room near the top of the box.  After cutting back from his right to his left, the second-year pro sent a low, lining ball toward the inside of the left post.

“I rolled ball the ball back, and looked, and thought, I might as well have a shot and, maybe it will go in,” Sample said.

The ball skirted through a crowed box.  DCFC’s keeper Carlos Saldaña stretched out to make the fingertip save to deny the early goal.

“I lost sight of it through the traffic. And thought, maybe it went in, I hit it okay. I peeked out.  Wanted to test him early and maybe it created a rebound or it gets in.”

After that, the first half turned into a stalemate as both sides were taking turns swatting each other away.  While Detroit did carry some possession edge through the first 25 minutes, the majority of play centered in the midfield and with the Hounds high press keeping the visitors pinned back pretty deep.

The only chances Detroit could summon in first half came from a few free kicks from attacking side of field but each time, Hounds keeper Eric Dick was able to come off his line to take command of high balls into the box.

The Hounds tilted the match in its favor, but that wasn’t saying much. Detroit City defended well in the box but did not create much of anything in the attacking third.

Watching Sample operate for 120 minutes — it was clear he was one of the best players on the pitch, keeping the Riverhounds on the front foot and controlling play in the middle of the park.  Not only was he sharp in connecting passes throughout the night (90% accuracy), picking out spaces to send quality balls (12 of those into the final third), when creeping forward, he created three chances.  In a position which requires solid two-way play, Sample also added eight recoveries and four defensive contributions.

Since August, Sample has become a regular starter and has built a solid partnership with Griffin.  With Vacter out of the match, Vincent, as Bob Lilley did before him, leaned on his central midfielders to carry a lot of responsibilities.  When Perrin Barnes was subbed out of the match, the Hounds opted to move Griffin back to work with the two center backs.  Knowing that Sample and Jackson Walti were there in front of the backline, the Hounds stayed connected and very well organized in its defensive shape and getting forward.

Shots, Crosses and Missed Chances

The Riverhounds kept coming forward in the second half.  At the end of the match, Pittsburgh held big advantages in shots (18-5) and crosses (37-13).

One interesting observation — the Hounds were willing to tee up more shots from distance in this match (with 12 of the team’s 19 shots coming from outside the box — which is not something that was part of the discipline of playing in Bob Lilley’s system.  Vincent, who may have been the Hounds greatest ball-striker in his time roaming the Highmark Stadium turf, seems more willing to let the guys go for it if they have the opportunity.

As they continued to push forward, the Hounds had a few missed chances that could have easily tilted the match, coming in the second half and in extra time.

While none registered as a ‘Big Chance’ on FotMob, they were all moments that got away for Pittsburgh.

• An early second half corner kick resulted in a a Robbie Mertz’s delivery that found the head of Ydrach, whose headed effort went high.
• Possibly the best chance in regulation came in the 67th minute when Danny Griffin was right there in the middle of the box on the end of Mertz’s free kick was sent back across goal by Ydrach, but the captain’s header sailed wide of the left post.
• Augi Williams thought he had put the home team ahead in the 71st minute, heading home a long diagonal ball served into the box by Luke Biasi.  Referee Natalie Simon disallowed the goal for a push by Williams against former Pitt and Hounds defender Shane Wiedt. (Those two really had a lot of pushing and jockeying for position all night)
• As stoppage time wound down, the same player who opened the match with a chance, Sample, had one final look at goal in stoppage time, but his well-struck effort off a second ball kept rising over the bar from the top of the box.

Sample, who had both chances coming from outside the box, acknowledged that Detroit’s deep defending resulted in more chances coming on the fringes.

“That’s what Detroit gave us more in this game,” Sample stated.

“Look, Detroit’s a really good defensive team. We tried to take what they could give us.”

Vincent wanted to keep mixing things up.

“We have to keep variety.  Can we get in and break the seams? Can we get higher?  Can we get more crosses”” Vincent answered a question with a few questions.

“Sometimes, it may be that long-distance strike — catch someone off guard and we pick up a rebound. We’ll do the same this week. We’ll continue to add variety.  I don’t think it was a lack of opportunity tonight.”

In extra time, the two best chances were emblematic of how things have been going for the Hounds in the playoffs and the last regular season match vs Phoenix — opportunities were there but they were turned back.

First, Jacquesson beat his man on a near-post run to meet a Junior Etou cross from the left, only for his header to smack off the left post.

Then, with three minutes to play, Saldaña robbed Mertz with a full-extension dive to his right to deny the Hounds once more.

Living Dangerously all the way to another Shootout

While Pittsburgh controlled play, in the course of a 120 minutes, there were a few moments where Detroit could have pulled off another upset, as they did two years ago at Highmark and last week in Louisville.

It was critical that the Hounds continued to keep numbers behind the ball.  When Detroit brought on forward Jordan Abayo-Smith — for the first time all night — Le Rouge were starting get in deeper and put the Hounds’ defenders on their heels a bit.

Dick made his biggest play of the night — one of only two saves — in the 96th minute when he charged off his line, using his head and shoulder as he slid to block away the chance on a quick break

“I think Detroit gave us a few problems there.  Especially when Abayo-Smith came on — and gave us some issues with his pace. I thought we dealt with Smith pretty well,” Vincent added.

Intense play prevailed through to the end of the second period of extra time, with the overflow crowd at Highmark hanging on every play — but giving the Hounds the extra supported they needed to get to the finish line strong.

“It was incredible,” Sample said after the match.

“It was the best atmosphere we’ve ever had at Highmark. It was one of the best atmosphere’s I’ve ever been a part of.  It was awesome.”

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Once again, it came down to penalty kicks.

Vincent checked with the players when they came off the field, then confirmed it would be the same order as the previous week.

This time around, another USL Championship legend would open the shootout against Eric Dick, but this time, Sebastián Guenzatti beat the Hounds keeper to get things going.

Bertin Jacquesson would convert his chance for the Hounds.

Kobe Hernández-Foster put Detroit in the driver’s seat in the 2nd round by making his shot.

Then, Mertz was robbed by Carlos Saldaña for the second time in a 10-minute span.

Things were not looking good.  The Hounds were trailing 2-1, with three kicks to go.

Then, some Highmark Stadium magic paid off.

Devon Amoo-Mensah began the third round hitting the left post.

From there, the momentum of the shootout shifted, and the crowd started to feed into it.

Augi Williams stepped up with a clinical finish to level the score in the shootout to 2-2 with two more kicks to go.

Detroit’s Ryan Williams proceeded to hit the bar to start off the fourth round.  Following that, last week’s hero, Sean Suber, with ice in his veins, pushed his ball through giving Pittsburgh the 3-2 lead heading into the fifth and final kicks.

With the match on the line, Detroit City’s Michael Bryant took care of his chance, putting the pressure on the Hounds’ fifth selection, Beto Ydrach, who was also fifth last week, but didn’t have to go since Suber put Pittsburgh through on the fourth.

“Last week I was ready to go, if the team needed me,” Ydrach said.

“This week, it was about preparation again. I was ready to go.  The moment just came to me.”

Ydrach took his time getting to the spot, but then Saldaña also went through some gamesmanship exercise walking back slowly to the spot to try to disrupt the Puerto Rican National.

Not to be fazed, the 24-year old from Orlando, took his time resetting the ball, then fired away.

“My heart was in my throat there for a second. But when it went through — it was straight ecstasy,” Ydrach said.

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No one felt more relieved than Robbie Mertz, who felt the weight of the world on his shoulders after having two-point blank shots stopped by Saldaña’s brilliance.

Vincent doesn’t believe the players are coming through in the penalty kicks in consecutive weeks is a coincidence.

“I think it’s a by-product of how we’re playing right now,” Vincent said.

“We’re trying to keep teams pinned back for long stretches.  Kind of feels like teams are sitting in a lot. I don’t think it’s designed. I don’t think any team is thinking of going 120 (minutes) without conceding. We’re playing well. We’re sustaining attack. We’re trying to keep them pinned in as long as we can. We have to keep trying to create chances — and hopefully one will fall in.”

“We got the job done in the end.”

On Saturday, for the first time ever, Highmark Stadium will host an Eastern Conference Final against none other than last year’s Eastern Conference winners, Rhode Island FC, who’ve done it again as a lower seeded team.

To add to the storylines — former Riverhound Albert Dikwa who won the Golden Boot and League’s Most Outstanding Player award with Pittsburgh in 2023 — scored both goals in RIFC’s Conference Semifinal win.

“We matched up against them pretty well,” Vincent said.

“We have that behind us. They’re big, physical team.  There will be some tactical things during the week.  We have to keep staying strong defensively and limit chances.  They showed last season and again this season, they’re a playoff team.”

Rest up Pittsburgh soccer fans — it’s going to be another wild ride next Saturday.