Hounds Heaven: Riverhounds prevail in PK’s again to claim first-ever USL Championship title

Riverhounds prevail in PKs again to claim USLC Final

TULSA – Of course, it came down to a penalty shootout again. Beto Yrdach scored the final goal in PKs and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC claimed the USL Championship title Saturday afternoon, defeating Tulsa 0-0 (5-3) in front of 9,507 fans at ONEOK Field.

Pittsburgh, operating since 1999, was playing in its first league final and made the most of the opportunity, going all four rounds of the playoffs without conceding a single goal, and winning three of those games in penalty kicks.

With the Riverhounds up 4-3 and Yrdach stepping up as their final shooter with the opportunity to put the game away, he just had to block out the noise and stay in the moment.

“We’ve been training for these moments all year, it’s just about getting in the routine again, calming myself down, just taking deep breaths, picking a spot and sticking with it,” said Yrdach, who drilled his shot into the upper left corner. “I completely blacked out, I don’t really remember what happened, I think I sprinted over (towards the Steel Army), I don’t know what happened. We deserved this, we’ve been through a lot this year, a lot of adversity and we’re just happy to bring the trophy back to Pittsburgh.”

Before Yrdach even had the chance to put the final nail in FC Tulsa’s coffin, it was Pittsburgh goalkeeper Eric Dick providing the heroics, as he has so often during this playoff run. He made five saves during the game itself, then denied Tulsa’s Stefan Lukic on the second PK attempt, giving the Riverhounds the chance to win it. Dick’s stop on FCT’s leading scorer Taylor Calheira in the 7^th minute of extra time, when he got an arm on Calheira’s point-blank attempt, was literally a game-saver.

Dick was named the Most Valuable Player of the Final, and true to his humble nature, he deflected credit back onto his teammates, and almost everyone else associated with the team.

“I’m honored, but the guys did the work,” said Dick, who recorded his fourth straight playoff shutout and record 16^th across all competitions this season. “I was just back there and I just did my part, I think it’s the team MVP. Anything that came from this game was a team thing, we all won this. Our fans that made an 18-hour bus ride to be here and never stopped being loud the entire game. My parents came here, we had so many people built into this. Tuffy, he brought us all together, he’s built Pittsburgh Riverhounds into what it is and what it will become, and this is a huge step. I just think this was a whole team effort, and I’m honored for that, but I’m giving it right back to the guys, because without them, we’re not celebrating right now.”

Dick is right that his defense deserves a ton of credit, and defenders Yrdach, Sean Suber, Perrin Barnes, Luke Biasi and Illal Osumanu each played very well. The team overall ended the season with an incredible streak of not allowing a goal in 632 minutes. But interim coach Rob Vincent and Dick’s teammates endorsed Dick as the MVP, knowing just how instrumental he was in this victory – and all throughout the season and playoffs.

“We’ve needed him all the way through, and just coming and being big on crosses,” Vincent said of Dick. “He was massive tonight. Everybody was, everybody dug in, everybody put the shift in, but Eric was fantastic. I think they put us into a little bit more pressure as the game wore on, and definitely in extra time, but he came up big. He deserves the MVP.”

“Eric won us the trophy for sure,” Yrdach added. “He had three massive saves that kept us in it, and he had the clincher with the penalty save as well. That guy deserves the world. He deserves the MVP trophy and more.”

In a battle between two teams that didn’t concede a goal at all throughout the playoffs, it’s not surprising that it was a scoreless tie going into penalty kicks, but the first half, at least, had a number of exciting offensive chances at both ends of the pitch. Early on, the Riverhounds probably had the better of the play, but as the game progressed, Tulsa seemed to take on a bit more control of the possession, pressing more and more – but the ‘Hounds defense and Dick kept them at bay.

“They pressed us, they made things difficult,” Vincent said. “We had to defend for large parts tonight, they probably edged us out over the course of the game, and I thought as the game grew, they probably looked the most like scoring, but I thought we dug in, we defended well. That’s what we’ve done all post-season, we’ve kind of made it really hard to score against us. And when you take it to PKs, it’s just who can hold in there, so I’m glad we did it.”

The atmosphere was charged on a brisk Saturday morning, with supporters of both teams chanting loudly over an hour before kickoff. A bus full of Steel Army supporters were at ONEOK Field, right at the bottom of Section 109, making themselves heard throughout the proceedings.

In such a closely-contested match with two very good teams going at it, it was a shame someone had to lose, and some might suggest that FC Tulsa, the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, deserved a better fate.

“Disappointed more so with the result, I thought our performance was pretty good,” Tulsa coach Luke Spencer said. “Credit to Pittsburgh, they were tough. They got another shutout and Dick put on a really good performance, so they earned it, they deserved it. For us, it’s disappointing, I’m proud of the group that we have, I’m proud of the season that we had, it’s just disappointing to have this result be the end of it.”

In some ways, it almost seemed like the Riverhounds’ victory was preordained. They entered the playoffs as the No. 4 seed from the East, and in the first round, both No. 1 Louisville City and No. 2 Charleston each went down in upsets. No. 3 North Carolina FC fell, leaving a more favorable path to the final.

Pittsburgh knocked off No. 5 Hartford in the first round, then took out No. 8 Detroit City in the Eastern Conference semifinals and No. 7 Rhode Island in the Conference Final last week to end up here.

The best chances of the game came in the first half. Pittsburgh controlled the majority of the play for the first 15 minutes or so, generating the game’s first good opportunity when defender Luke Biasi sailed a cross into the box from about 35 yards out on the left side in the 13^th minute, and it curled on net, clanking off the upper right corner of the goalpost.

Tulsa started to counter-attack and controlled possession for about 5-7 minutes after that, with their best opportunity coming in the 17^th minute when Jamie Webber cut into the box from the right side and slid a pass into the middle for Alex Dalou, who drilled a shot from about 17 yards out that sailed just over the crossbar.

The ‘Hounds started spending more time on Tulsa’s side of the pitch again, and nearly scored on the counter-attack in the 22nd minute. Charles Ahl launched a long lead pass that Augi Williams chased down, and as he raced into the box, Williams fired from about 12 yards out, forcing Tulsa goalkeeper Tyler Deric to make a diving save, as he got just enough of it to deflect it just wide of the far post.

Tulsa ended up with the best chance of the half in the 40^th minute after a Lucas Stauffer throw-in sailed into the box, was headed by Lamar Batista over to Kalil ElMedkhar for another header that forced Dick to make a big leaping save, deflecting it just over the crossbar.

Then the Riverhounds nearly got one in the 43^rd minute after Danny Griffin’s bicycle kick from 20 yards out ended up on Williams’ foot about six yards from the net, and his shot rolled a whisker wide of the right post.

There was only one really good chance in the second half, coming in the 77^th minute after a Tulsa corner kick, where the ball bounced around in the box for a moment before Ian popped a shot from five yards out that blooped just over the crossbar and landed on top of the net.

And once again, they eventually ended up in PKs.

“It’s not the plan, but there’s a real togetherness about them,” Vincent said. “I think in those penalty shootouts, we just say, ‘Stay calm, go through your process. We’re all in this together, if somebody misses, we’ve got your back, just do your thing.’ And fortunately, we’ve had a lot of cool heads, and Eric came up big tonight, so I’m glad we could make it through it.”