Takeaways and Ratings: ‘Cool Headed’ Riverhounds ride unprecedented defensive postseason masterclass to first-ever league title

For some, especially many of those in the Greater Pittsburgh area who have been longtime fans and part of the soccer community, watching the Riverhounds win a championship on Saturday was 26 years in the making, since the club came into existence in 1999.

For others, it was 13 seasons in the making, since the dawn of the Highmark Stadium era, when the club and the sport began a bold new era, with a sparkling new, scenic stadium on the banks of the Monongahela River with Downtown Pittsburgh in the backdrop, which steered in greater possibilities and legitimacy for the franchise as the professional soccer landscape in the United States was growing by leaps and bounds.

To others, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds didn’t truly become a Championship caliber club until November 14, 2017.  That’s when the organization’s owner, Tuffy Shallenberger walked into the Highmark Stadium suites with a new head coach, Bob Lilley, at his side.

And lastly, for others, it may have been little more than a month in the making, since the club announced that Lilley, who amassed 128 wins in Pittsburgh from 2018 through October, was put on administrative leave by the club.

The sudden loss of the team’s Head Coach did not break this team’s will.

It only made them more resilient.

All of these sentiments can be true.

That’s why, on Saturday, when the Riverhounds celebrated the franchise’s first-ever league title, it was a culmination of many things.

Pittsburgh’s longest-ever running professional soccer franchise raised the long-sought, elusive trophy on a bright, autumn early afternoon in Oklahoma in a moment shared with great joy by players, coaches, organization staff, the team’s owner — and of course — the fans.

Riverhounds won by outlasting FC Tulsa in a gritty performance where they started out as the aggressors, but would have to weather a stormy response from a determined home side also seeking a first-ever championship in a match that went the distance without a goal being scored in the run of play.

For the third time in the league’s modern history, the Final would be decided by a penalty kick shootout.

For the Riverhounds, all five players who stepped up to make the spot kicks did their best to embody the city’s workmanlike, blue-collar approach, with nerves of steel, stepping up to the spot to convert each one of their chances.

The victory capped one of the most impressive runs of defensive play by a club in the history of the USL Championship or in U.S. professional soccer for that matter, as Pittsburgh went through the entire four-match postseason without surrendering a goal.

Throughout the postseason, the Riverhounds were on the front foot except in the second half and extra time in Tulsa, scoring just one goal.

This was the match where the Hounds would be pushed to the edge, and yet, they still held firm in completing a defensive masterclass.

When pushed to the brink, the hero who emerged was goalkeeper Eric Dick.

A 31-year-old veteran, who had bounced around so many places and stops, even playing one match for Tulsa when on loan in 2019, Dick has exemplified the meaning of journeyman pro soccer player.

A year ago, Dick found a home in Pittsburgh — earning the League’s Gold Glove honor as the top keeper.

On this day, Dick made five saves in the run of play, then made one critical save in the penalty kick shootout.

“These guys have earned it. The whole organization has earned it. I’m lost for words right now,” a humbled Eric Dick told PSN contributor John Franchina after the match.

Steering the ship in the final three matches of the regular season and into the playoffs as Acting Head Coach, was Rob Vincent, who began his journey with the club in April 2013, when Highmark Stadium opened.

Thrust into a role to replace Lilley, who he served as an assistant since start of 2024, Vincent put all his trust in the players and worked closely with the organization that gave him a shot to play as a professional more than a decade ago.

Now as an inclusive leader, Vincent leaned on veteran core group of players that included the team captain, Danny Griffin and midfielder and Upper St. Clair native, Robbie Mertz, along with wily veterans like Junior Etou and Dick, plus worked in tandem with a think tank, coaching group that each brought unique contributions to the table (Sporting Director Dan Visser, Goalkeeper coach Jon Busch and former Hounds legend Kenardo Forbes).

The team’s cohesiveness was never in question. No matter what adversity they faced this season, they banded together and were more than up to the task to be the first team in USL Championship history to survive and become champion by winning three rounds of penalty kick shootouts.

“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.”

In a postseason where teams across the league struggled to score goals — it was the Riverhounds — a team which Lilley built on strong defense and dictate terms of matches principles — who seized the opportunity to grab the trophy this season because they were ready for the moment.

See, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds were always ready for the moment because this didn’t just happen on a whim.

It was years in the making.

Personnel, Formation and FotMob Rating

Acting Head Coach Rob Vincent did not make any changes to the lineup and kept (mostly) the same structure in formation — staying with the same group in the starting lineup from the previous two matches.

In the chess match between first-year coaches, both former USL Championship legends in their own right, Luke Spencer opted to go to his bench sooner, and it appeared to pay dividends in that Tulsa started to really tilt the field in its favor as the second half and extra time periods played out.

Still, Vincent had to make moves based mostly out of the way a very physically demanding match played out.  Already filling in on the back line, Luke Biasi, who has not been subbed out a lot this season, came off in favor of Illal Osumanu while Bradley Sample was replaced by Jackson Walti in the central midfield. Both of those subs took place in the 80th minute.

In the very late stages of regulation, Vincent then opted to pull rookie Charles Ahl for veteran Chase Boone.

The Riverhounds’ final sub came when Vincent opted to pull an exhausted Augi Williams for Bertin Jacquesson at the start of the second period of extra time.

 

USL Championship Match Takeaways

Coming Out on the Front Foot in Hostile Territory 

It was critical to the Riverhounds to come out swinging in a match where they knew they might have to weather a few storms.

The Hounds have been a strong first half team for much of the second half of the season. After some early feeling out by both sides, Pittsburgh did not hold back in getting on the ball and looking to get forward.

The first 45 minutes saw a number of exciting offensive chances at both ends of the pitch — with the Hounds finding a few moments where they put Tulsa on its heels, starting in the 13th minute when Luke Biasi’s attempted cross in from the right side floated ever so dangerously over Tulsa keeper Tyler Deric — and hit the bar for a sneaky dangerous early moment in the match.

Ahead of the contest, Tulsa Head Coach Luke Spencer cited this as a concern, pointing out that the Hounds were more than capable of possessing the ball, using patient build-up to find chances.

The Hounds were anything but sneaky though throughout the rest of the first half.

Credit to Pittsburgh’s center backs, central midfielders and wingers, plus Robbie Mertz, Charles Ahl and Augi Williams who were working relentlessly to extend possessions, albeit at time when they had to venture through a physical gauntlet of black shirts waiting for them in the middle of the park who were feeding off of moments to intercept balls and get back into transition.

Somewhat maligned through the season by choice fans and some media members for his lack of production (nine goals this season for one of USLC’s legacy goal scorers in his first campaign in Pittsburgh), Williams was working diligently to find chances to pick out in the first half.

One thing that should never be doubted about Williams has been his continuious, high work rate, which led to his best chance in the match in the 23rd minute.

Making a run off the outside shoulder of the last Tulsa defender on his right, Williams was fed a nice ball (another looper), then found room to unleash a shot from just inside the right side box, which forced Deric to extend to push the low roller headed toward the inside the left post, away and out of danger.

Tulsa’s press wasn’t overly effective in the first half, but they were still prodding and waiting for their moments through the first half.

One of those moments came in the 32nd minute when Hounds left winger Junior Etou missplayed a ball in the defensive third, creating a quick build-up play between Tulsa’s Jamie Webber and Alex Dalou that nearly put Tulsa on the board, but Dalou’s attempt sailed over the crossbar.

Etou was in the middle of the action again in the 35th minute when the Hounds played direct (or in this case — a looping ball) to the target man, Williams, who found one of the attacking mids (Charles Ahl) to lay a ball off, then find the Congolese winger breaking down the left width to the attacking corner.

Etou did his part to draw a foul and set up a free kick.

If Pittsburgh can keeping using Augi Williams as the anchor to set up winger-wingback interplay in the channels before Tulsa can set, they're in *very* good shape.

— John Morrissey (@usltactics.com) 2025-11-22T17:51:22.369Z

The Hounds had two more decent looks in the latter stages of the first half.  First, when Sample got on the end of a free kick from Mertz, and had a piece of a contested header that sailed very close to the post, but bounced wide.

Then, near stoppage time, with his back to goal at the top of the box, got under a high ball in the air, then back-kicked the ball over the top right to the foot of Williams.  Pittsburgh’s number nine was onside and had space, but pulled his one-time chance wide right.

Tulsa created its most dangerous moment near the end of the half too. In the 40^th minute, after a Lucas Stauffer throw-in sailed into the box, Lamar Batista header over to Kalil ElMedkhar for another header forced Dick to make a big leaping save, deflecting it just over the crossbar.

Beyond that, it was safe to say that in the first half, the Riverhounds had the better of the play.

As they had done through the playoffs — they were still living dangerously without a first-half goal to show for it.

Tulsa Tilts Match in its Favor 

As the game progressed, Tulsa seemed to take on a bit more control of the possession and really started pushing into the final more.

“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.”

Tulsa — a strong second half team all season — really did turn up heat after the break, creating problems with their forward pressure.

A turnover in their own half in the 59th minute put the Hounds in danger, but Griffin made a late sliding intervention to deny a pass from ElMedkhar to prevent Tulsa top scorer Taylor Calheira from getting a chance in front.

Making the first substitution in the match in the 69th minute, Tulsa turned to a player who scored six times this season off the bench — including game-winners in a pair of 1-0 matches in the first two rounds of the playoffs — Stefan Lukic.

In the 74th minute, the Hounds again scrambled defensively to clear danger. Travian Sousa curled a cross in from the left side that skimmed off the head of Lukic in front, but the ball stayed in play for Tulsa, allowing them to cycle the ball back to Giordano Colli for a shot just inside the box. Suber, Griffin and Bradley Sample all combined to slide in for the block, popping the ball into the air for Dick to collect.

Two minutes later, Tulsa again threatened from a corner kick, one of the few not corralled by Dick immediately. The ball popped around the box, but Ian couldn’t turn it on goal, as the defender lifted his effort over the bar.

As the match neared the whistle to end regulation play, a couple of sequences saw Robbie Mertz sprawling to the ground, losing his footing on the baseball field grass surface.

Mertz and the Hounds would have get their studs adjusted and dig in deeper as they would have to battle on for another 30 minutes.

In Extra Time and Penalties, Hounds’ cooler heads and Eric Dick shine brightest 

When extra time came, the Hounds were hoping to find some extra energy to get back on the front foot as they had through the previous postseason matches.

Not in this match.  

As pointed out during the telecast, analyst Devon Kerr stated that the Hounds expected goal rate had dipped throughout the match and they were not doing what they do best in getting after second balls.  (Tulsa ended the game with a 1.85xG to 0.5xG advantage).

Despite this, Pittsburgh’s defensive shape was solid and they were rarely compromised, even as they faced more pressure.

In the 96th minute, Pittsburgh could have crumbled under that pressure, when a ball was chipped into the box. Dick boldly came off his line to beat Lukic, then on the second ball in, the Hounds’ keeper grabbed it as he was absorbing contact.

“Big saves again tonight,” Vincent said.

“We’ve needed him all the way through again, just coming and being big on crosses. He was massive tonight. Everybody was, everybody dug in, everybody put the shift in. But yeah, Eric was fantastic. I think they put us under a little bit more pressure as the game wore on, and definitely in extra time. And yeah, he came up big, because there’s the MVP.”

Hounds hung on in last period of extra time, but Williams — who played 120 minutes in both previous extra time playoff matches (as well as USLC final in 2023 with Charleston) in a demanding position covering more ground than any other player) would be subbed off for Bertin Jacquesson. 

There was one potential promising early moment shen Jackson Walti sent a ball for his former Pitt teammate, Jacquesson at the far post as Deric bumped in to one of his defenders before corralling the loose ball under pressure.

Pittsburgh remained well-organized, but defended deeper than it had all postseason as the match came into the last 15-20 minutes.  PIttsburgh didn’t have enough to generate any shots.  A few decent advances resulted in a Jacquesson shot that was blocked and Perrin Barnes worked to the edge to set up a Mertz corner which was snagged by Deric.  

Even on the front foot, the Scissortails couldn’t find any late-game magic that often put them over the top all season long.

The Riverhounds stepped into passes, cleared balls and worked their tails off defending in the box.  (Pittsburgh ended the night with 41 clearances, 11 interceptions and 75 percent tackles success rate, plus won 54 percent of all duels and 58 percent of all aerial duels)

“I thought our performance was pretty good. Credit to Pittsburgh. They were tough again,” Spencer said.

Once the whistle blew — the teams finished the match and the entire postseason run of four matches each — without surrendering a goal in the run of play.  Tulsa ended the season without surrending a goal in over 700 minutes.

Once the penalty kick shootout began, Pittsburgh found themselves in one unfamliar place — they would shoot first this time around.  In the previous two penalty kick shootouts, they went last.

In addition, with Augi Williams out, the only player replaced in the shootout rotation that Vincent and the coaching staff came up with would be midseason acquisition, Chase Boone.

Pittsburgh went with Jacquesson, Mertz, Boone, Sean Suber and Beto Ydrach in the shootout.

In the first round, shots were converted by Jacquesson and Tulsa’s leading scorer, Taylor Calheira. Then Mertz put a hard, elevated liner to his left through to start the second round. Deric guessed correctly on both Hounds attempts but each shot had more than enough pace to blow by the Tulsa keeper.

Dick would then face Tulsa’s second half assassin who’s been lights out all season late in match, Lukic.

Not only did Dick guess correctly — diving to his left — but Lukic’s shot inexplicably wasn’t hit that hard.

Tulsa made its next two, putting it on Yrdach to hit the clincher.

The rookie stepped up as the 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.”

“They deserved it,” Spencer said.

“For us, it’s just disappointing. I’m proud of the group that we have. Very proud of the season that we had. It’s just disappointing to have this result be the end of it. They got another shutout, and Dick put on a really good performance, and so they earned it.”

Dick, who earned a well-deserved postseason MVP, deflected all praise to his teammates.

“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.”

And once again — Pittsburgh can lay claim to being the City of Champions — with a new, deserving team that belongs in the conversation.