Riverhounds pick up contract options on four returnees from title winning squad, declining options on six players including Augi Williams and Bertin Jacquesson

Riverhounds took their first step toward building next season’s roster, by announcing through a team release that they will be picking up 2026 contract options for four players and declining club options for six others.

The club picked up its team option to retain four players, center backs Guillaume Vacter and Beto Ydrach, outside back Perrin Barnes and midfielder Jorge Garcia. They will return in 2026 alongside four players already under contract: outside back Junior Etou, center back Illal Osumanu, midfielder Charles Ahl and forward Brigham Larsen.

The club declined its 2026 options on six players — Chase Boone, Jason Bouregy, Max Broughton, Bertin Jacquesson, Ben Martino and Augi Williams.

In addition, on Friday, goalkeeper Eric Dick announced he will not be returning to Pittsburgh.

USL Championship postseason MVP Eric Dick will not return to Riverhounds in 2026

 

“We’re excited about the group returning and the foundation it gives us for 2026. These players reflect the identity and standards of our club, and we’re looking forward to building around them as we prepare for next season,” Dan Visser, the team’s Sporting Director, said through a team release.

In a league where some clubs, like Louisville and Rhode Island, for example, have announced they’re bringing back the majority of its roster, the Riverhounds, the league’s defending champions, will once again, be looking to spend much of the offseason overhauling more than half of its roster.

The club will begin the process of building the team’s roster for the 2026 season, which will including open and closed tryout sessions, scanning the college and international player market and also re-negotiating deals with players from the 2025 roster who have expired contracts.

The Riverhounds still have not announced the status of Head Coach Bob Lilley, who was put on administrative leave less than 24 hours before the team’s third-to-last regular season match on October 10. Since that time, acting Head Coach Rob Vincent, working with the existing technical staff that included Jon Busch (goalkeeping coach), Kenardo Forbes (assistant) and Dan Visser (Sporting Director), guided the team to unprecedented heights, winning the USL Championship title following a remarkable four-match playoff run

The announcement of four player options being picked up while six others are not coming back may be a very clear indication that the Hounds could very well be shifting to a new, permanent coach who will work with Visser to build around existing, mostly younger pieces in place who were part of a Championship, but with a different vision, purpose — and yet  have plenty of room to add players who fit more into a newer identity.

Through its release, the team stated that they are actively engaged in talks to re-sign players who contributed to this season’s championship run and who are now out of contract.

Nine players from the 2025 team had their contracts expire and are now free agents, including long-tenured fixtures Danny Griffin, Robbie Mertz and Luki Biasi, in addition to the team’s last two All-USL First Team selections from the past two seasons, defender Sean Suber and goalkeeper Eric Dick.  Other players who are now out of a contract are listed below.

The Hounds are currently in negotiations with those players, as well as with free agents from outside the club, as the club looks to build a title-contending team for the 2025 USL Championship season.

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About the players who the Hounds picked up contract options for 2026

Bringing back these players provides the Riverhounds with some continuity from the group that landed a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference during the regular season and proved they were more than up to the task during the postseason.  However, with six players not getting contract options picked up, the 2026 roster will have a lot of new faces.

1. Perrin Barnes — D — Solid first campaign in 2025 — starting the final two postseason matches.
2. Jorge Garcia — MF — Spent most of 2025 campaign making spot appearances off the bench. Showed some promise with a few highlight goals from distance.
3. Guillaume Vacter — D — looking at defensive metrics, Vacter a fantastic stopper, landing in the top percentile of some very important categories among center backs in the league (98th percentile in Aerial Duels / 92nd percentile in Chances Created) and landed highest on the team in FotMob player ratings (7.20), and landed USL Team of the Week honors three different times. This is no brainer to bring Gui back.
4. Beto Ydrach — D — a versatile player, one who immediately fit the mold of player that has thrived on Bob Lilley teams in recent years being very adept with ball at his feet, having exceptional vision who could play in the midfield but more than held his own as a defender, first in college (2024 Big East Defender of the Year at Akron) and now at the USL Championship level.  Same as Vacter — don’t waste a second in bringing Beto back.

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC 2026 roster (as of 12/1/2025)

1. Junior Etou — MF — (re-signed for 2025-26, contract option for 2027)
2. Illal Osumanu — D –(re-signed for 2025-26, contract option for 2027)
3. Charles Ahl –MF — (signed for 2025-26, contract option for 2027)
4. Brigham Larsen — F — (signed for 2025-26, contract option for 2027)
5. Jorge Garcia — MF — (signed for 2026, contract option for 2027)
6. Guillaume Vacter — D — (signed for 2026, contract option for 2027)
7. Beto Ydrach — D — (signed for 2026, contract option for 2027)
8. Perrin Barnes — D — (signed for 2026, contract option for 2027)

Players With Expired Contracts

Even with the existing signings, midfield and goalkeeper are positional areas that hang by the balance heading into the offseason.

Danny Griffin and Robbie Mertz are two organizational pillars, and it would be very difficult to imagine this team moving forward even without one of them.  In 2021, Mertz went separate ways (to Atlanta United FC 2) in 2021 but came back halfway through 2022.  Griffin tested the MLS Next Pro waters in 2023 but came back two months into that season.

In each postseason during the Bob Lilley era, players who have completed All-USL level play or comparable, who have expired contracts have always signed elsewhere.

If the Hounds bring back Sean Suber and Eric Dick, the two players who earned All-USL First Team status in the past two season, they will show that they are willing to step into a new zone as far as roster retention.

This hasn’t been their business model.  Even without Lilley in the picture, Visser will likely stick to the same plan.

Therefore, it should not be a surprise that Sean Suber and Eric Dick could very well sign elsewhere. However there are a few wild cards in all of this.

First, the Hounds just won the league title. They could look to make a stronger push to bring back two of the team’s most valuable players from the Championship squad.

Second, the USL Championship’s Collective Bargaining Agreement with the USL Players Association expires on December 31.  Both side do not appear to be anywhere close in terms of negotiations. Mertz has been an active member of the USLPA — so it will be interesting to see if Mertz and some of the veteran players hold out until a new CBA is in place before signing any new contracts.  In an exclusive interview with Pittsburgh Soccer Now, Players Association Executive Director Connor Tobin shared that this may not be a factor and teams will still go about their business in signing players.  Still, it will be interesting to see how that affects free agent signings in December — particularly USL veterans like Mertz, Griffin and Dick.

Lilley and Visser have done wonders building around a young core and letting higher priced players go when their contracts are expired, while working around what — according to Transfermrkt.com rates as the roster with the lowest market value in the USL Championship.

1. Danny Griffin — MF / Captain — one of the club’s cornerstones of the past five years. Griffin, a New England native, has been equal parts leader, ironman and a player who helped carry torch passed along from Kenardo Forbes in terms of executing principles of Lilleyball and provided exceptional leadership during could have been calamitous situation with Lilley being put on administrative leave.
2. Robbie Mertz — MF — even before this season and the recent remarkable postseason run which Mertz scored what may be difficult to find a bigger goal in the history of the club, the Upper Saint Clair native’s place in club history has already well-established. The question is, how much longer will the 28-year-old want to keep playing? He certainly performed at a very high level in 2025, at the top of the league in chances created.
3. Jackson Walti — MF — up until an injury in August, the former Pitt captain was having an outstanding season in his second year with the club and his third season as a professional. Usually thriving as a deep, holding midfielder, Walti grew into his role in the Riverhounds’ system. If the Hounds re-sign Walti and bring back Jacquesson, they’ll keep its Pitt pipeline intact, and who knows, maybe pick up another former talented Panther or two?
4. Luke Biasi — MF / D — has spent all four pro seasons in Pittsburgh, becoming a valuable part of the team’s core group while being an extremely versatile contributor, who can be a strong presence on the wing but also stepped into center back line when needed (and he was needed there in the final two matches of the postseason).
5. Sean Suber — D — the team’s lone All-USL selection in 2025 (All-USL First Team), who much like Dick, will generate a lot of attention on the market as a free agent — so the Hounds may have a difficult time re-signing to a contract within their means.
6. Bradley Sample — MF — much like Walti, emerged as a solid contributor in the central midfield.  May also look to explore other options, as he blossomed in the central midfield pairing with Griffin, especially becoming better with his two-way play.
7. Aidan O’Toole — MF — came into the season expecting to have a bigger role, then succumbed to knee injury.  May have to work his way back into a USL roster next season.
8. Jacob Randolph — GK — two seasons as the primary back-up behind Dick and under the tutelage of Jon Busch certainly provided the young keeper with an excellent opportunity as an understudy.

Academy Contract 

1. Pablo Linzoain — M, F — (USL Academy Contract) — After starting with the first-team in 2024 under Academy Contract, the former Fox Chapel High School product transitioned to playing in College where he played 11 matches (four starts) at Davidson University.  It will be interesting to see if any current or prospective Academy players will be added to next year’s roster.

Players out of contract who announced they won’t return to Pittsburgh

1. Eric Dick — GK — In the Bob Lilley-era, have never re-signed a goalkeeper beyond picking up an option year on a contract. As postseason MVP and the League’s Gold Glove winner, even at age 31, Dick will certainly interest from various suitors, making it very difficult for the Riverhounds to resign him. Sure enough, on Friday, Dick announced that he will not return to Pittsburgh in 2026.

https://pittsburghsoccernow.com/2025/12/05/usl-championship-postseason-mvp-eric-dick-will-not-return-to-riverhounds-in-2026/

Players Hounds did not pick up option

1. Bertin Jacquesson — F — For most of 2025, Jacquesson, former Pitt standout, could never find the same form he had when he came to the Hounds at the end of 2024 on loan from Real Salt Lake, in part due to an early season injury, then battling to find a spot that could maximize his talents with the majority of his minutes as either Augi Williams’ replacement at target forward or as a winger with Robbie Mertz and Charles Ahl being the primary workhorses in that role. The question is, if the Hounds bring back Bertin, what will his role be with the club and can he flourish as an attacking threat we know he’s capable of being?
2. Augustine ‘Augi’ Williams — F — One of the USL Championship’s all-time leading goal scorers (85 goals), Williams’ work-rate in his first season in Pittsburgh was excellent, while he under-produced as far as scoring goals. The Sierra Leone native still provided a solid, reliable veteran presence on a team that focused mostly on playing with one high-line, target forward who took on multiple defenders and drew a lot of physical attention most of the season. With the Hounds holding his contract option, although it’s likely one of the most expensive contracts on the roster, it would likely be a wise investment to let the 27-year-old grow with this club in his second season.
3. Max Broughton — D — the former West Virginia All-American didn’t get a chance to crack into any regular time in 2026 — as the young backline proved to be a very competitive and talented group featuring an All-USL center back and two other rookies. That being said, Broughton was in the 18 for the last three postseason matches as the next man up when Guillaume Vacter was injured.  Bringing Broughton back could provide added continuity to the backline, especially if Sean Suber signs elsewhere.
4. Jason Bouregy — MF — like his fellow former Villanova teammate, spent much of the season coming off bench and in and out of the 18, though had a few starts at the beginning of the season.
5. Ben Martino — GK — for the sake of continuity, Martino, who has local roots, part of Hounds Academy and attending Allderdice High School before latching on with MLS Academies, can take a step forward to battle for more playing time if one or both keepers ahead of him on the depth chart this season, who have expiring contracts, are not brought back.
6. Chase Boone — F — a good, mid-to-late season addition to the attacking line. Have to wonder if he was brought in as temporary measure? The Hounds may opt to look to add younger depth on the attacking line.  However, if the Hounds feel that Boone, who converted one of the penalty kicks in the Final, is a reliable attacker off the bench and potentially a solid spot starter, they could bring him back.