Robbie Mertz delivers elusive, special goal that sends Riverhounds to USL Championship Final

The match started with both sides tentatively feeling each other out.  Riverhounds had a slight possession edge while Rhode Island send a few shots on goal but never really threatened.

After a sluggish first half, with neither side manufacturing any quality chances, the Riverhounds came out with an aggressive mindset after halftime.

The best chance the Hounds could come up with in the first 45 minutes came when Robbie Mertz played a clever short ball for Danny Griffin who broke behind last defender into the box, but RIFC GK Koke Vegas came off his line to deny Griffin a clean chance at the bouncing ball.

In the 51st minute, Hounds target forward Augi Williams ran down a deflected ball with lots of spin on it by right endline, then sent a one-time shot from a tough angle sails across the goal box and past the left post for Pittsburgh’s best opportunity to that point.

While Mertz worked diligently to set others up through the first 55 minutes, the Upper St Clair native took note of his coach’s advice that someone was going to need to step up to make a play that could be the differece in the match.

Sure enough, Mertz took a pass from fellow midfielder and Hounds’ captain Danny Griffin, then immediately ran into a few defenders.

“Danny brought the ball down out of the air, and I gave him a shout. He laid it off to me, and I cut inside. I originally wanted to take it with my left, but I didn’t take the best touch. So as they committed to blocking that shot, I decided to take it to my right and had a little bit of room on the outside,” Mertz explained.

Not to be deterred, Mertz cut back to his right side, then found enough room to drive a shot through the crowded box, even taking a slight deflection.

“I took the shot, and it took a deflection but fortunately found the back of the net.”

Former Hound, Marc Ybarra picked up his second yellow card — getting sent off in the 61sth minute, putting visitors in predictament to play down a man the rest of the match.

The reigning Eastern Conference champs were still intent on busting forward in transitional moments and in doing so, played the final thirty minutes with plenty of determination.

“We had to weather a few storms,” Eric Dick, Riverhounds goalkeeper, said.

In a three-minute sequence, Dick had to come up with his two biggest saves of the night, robbing RIFC’s J.J. Williams in the 67th minute, when the big forward got behind Hounds central defender Sean Suber with only the  Hounds veteran keeper to beat.

With Suber closing in and forcing Williams to rush his chance, a high, blistering shot was pushed over bar with quick reaction stop by Dick.

“Sean, he recovered so well and bumped JJ off just enough to make it a shot where I could save it,” Dick said.

“That saved a goal, and all credit to Sean there.”

Two minutes later, a foul on the very edge of the box put RIFC in position for a free kick from 18.5 feet, which Hamody Diop sent a low bending shot around the wall.

Dick read the dangerous shot — diving to his right to keep the ball from entering inside the left post.

From that point forward, the Hounds continued to try to possess, but were disrupted by RIFC’s desperate attempts to step into passing lanes.

Dick and the back line held firm in goal as the minutes and seconds counted down before the referee blew the final whistle.

“I wanted to go home,” Dick said.

“You got a sense for everybody that we wanted to go home. It was a big moment, and I think they knew it was the last kick of the game and they wanted to see it out.”

Once match ended, the celebration provided Pittsburgh’s soccer fans, the players, c0aches, owner Tuffy Shallenberger and everyone in attendance a moment to cherish for a long time — celebrating a monumental win on home turf.

And yet, there’s still one more step for this team to go.

“I wanted to step back, and let the players enjoy it,” Vincent, who’s been part of the club and organization for most of the past 13 years, during the Highmark Stadium era.

Since taking over the club with three weeks remaining in the regular season, with Head Coach Bob Lilley being put on administrative leave, Vincent has been emphasizing the importance for the team to take a business-as-usual approach each day in training and in every game.

“It’s kind of been a nice little catchphrase that’s come out of all this is, ‘We go back to work on Monday,’ and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to enjoy this. The guys will go out and have some fun, and we come back on Monday and play for a championship next week.”