Riverhounds Preseason Primer: Five Burning Questions as reigning USL Championship title winners set to begin training for 2026 season

Pittsburgh is in the midst of a harsh, snow-filled stretch of Winter.

This also means that it’s time for the Riverhounds to begin a new quest — entering an unprecedented new season as the USL Championship’s defending title winners.

The team’s first training session for the season is slated for Tuesday morning.

While there are a number of USL Championship clubs who have opted to begin training in nicer climate (clubs like Tampa Bay, Lexington kicked off trainings and friendlies in Florida) — while the Hounds have only gone South once previously ( in 2014 ) they can take advantage of AHN Montour Sports Complex in Coraopolis as its home training base with a more than an adequate indoor pitch to train while the weather is still very cold and there’s a lot of snow on the ground.

There will be some interesting storylines to follow as the team already has a roster that includes 17 players signed — and numerous others coming in as trialists looking to secure another six or seven spots on the roster before the regular season kicks off. 

As things get going this week, it’s a good time to ask five burning questions about the club heading into the new season.

In addition, you can see the full list of current rostered players along with position and contract status — see the bottom of this article.

1.) In his first full season as Head Coach, how will Rob Vincent reshape the identity of Riverhounds as a player’s coach?

When the Riverhounds made a remarkable run to win the USL Championship title a season ago, the players responded when Rob Vincent took over as the team’s acting Head Coach.  The Hounds won the final three matches of the regular season, then rode the momentum into the playoffs – especially on the defensive side of the ball.  It also helped that along the way they had unexpected home field advantage in the Eastern Conference playoffs and good fortune in capturing the club’s first-ever league crown in more than a quarter century.  

Now, Vincent doesn’t just have the keys to a borrowed car.

That car is now in his name.  

The biggest test for Vincent, who has added one new assistant coach, Adam Mitchell, who spent the past seven seasons at Duquesne, will be managing the team over the course of a long season that includes multiple tournaments (Open Cup and USL Cup) and a 30-game regular season haul.  

It’s one thing to ride momentum and catch fire and fortune during a seven-match span, it’s another to do it for eight to nine months and maintain success over the long haul. 

Vincent will be permanently replacing a coach — Bob Lilley — who never had a losing record and never missed the playoffs.   

In building the team’s roster, Vincent, along with Sporting Director Dan Visser — who served as an assistant coach under Lilley from 2018-2023 and also involved in roster builds in 2024 and 2025 in his new role – have plenty of solid returning pieces in place. The leaders of the group are two veteran midfield mainstays who set the tone in the locker room and on the field: captain Danny Griffin and hometown hero Robbie Mertz.  

There’s also a handful of returning starters including center backs Beto Ydrach and Guillaume Vacter, midfielder Charles Ahl, all who had outstanding rookie seasons, in addition to Perrin Barnes, Bradley Sample, Jackson Walti, Illal Osumanu and Junior Etou.  Add two more second-year Hounds, Brigham Larsen and Jorge Garcia, and this is a club with a lot of players who Vincent and the coaching staff are familiar with, who can continue in their development while building upon the club’s successful foundation established by former coach Bob Lilley.

The most interesting areas to watch will be to see how the Hounds evolve in terms of roster management/squad rotation, team cohesion and tactically under Vincent’s direction.

Team cohesion should not be an issue, as the team kept a strong bond and embraced having Vincent as the Head Coach.  

Vincent provided a sharp contrast to Lilley, providing a patient and composed approach and inclusive management style.

Tactically, players also raved about having more freedom under the former club legend, who parlayed his success in his third season in 2015 into DC United buying his contract. When he had his breakout season as a player with Pittsburgh, Vincent was part of a system that allowed attacking midfielders to thrive with one target forward.  Last season, when Vincent stepped in as acting Head Coach, the Hounds stayed in a three center-back base (usually 3-4-2-1 or 3-6-1), while giving a little bit more opportunity for one of the central midfielders to get into the attacking areas, leaving one player (usually returnees Bradley Sample or Jackson Walti), serving as deep holding midfielder.  

With the club extending contacts of Ydrach and Vacter, along with return of Illal Osumanu, the Hounds have a solid backline base to build around a new group of goalkeepers. 

The long season also brings plenty of challenges that include intense competition for playing time, keeping healthy squad and dealing with injuries, there will be international commitments for some players too — so Vincent will have begin developing his own system and get a feel for player game day selections and starting lineups.   

Once again, Rob Vincent is facing a new challenge.  

We’ve seen him defy the odds as a player.  

We’ve seen him lead a team to a championship as an acting head coach.   

Now, it’s clear why many club supporters and players believe he’s the right person to lead the club into its next chapter.  

2.) With another season of significant turnover at the target forward spot, can Albert Dikwa and Trevor Amann rediscover high-level form from 2022-24 as significant goal scoring contributors?

After rolling through the 2025 playoffs scoring just one goal in the run of play, Visser, Vincent and the returning coaches had to make some hard decisions on players whose 2026 contract options the club held while addressing the need to improve in goal scoring production. (Pittsburgh ranked 19th out of 24 teams with 33 goals in 32 regular season matches, with a goal conversion rate of 13% — ranking 18th).  Among those players who the team held contract options for this season included Augustine Williams and Bertin Jacquesson, the two big offseason signings a year ago.  

While Williams led the team with nine goals in 2025 (5.84 G+), the USLC veteran, who has scored more than 80 goals in his career, proved to be extremely durable and brought a very high work rate to every match, still, many of his critics believe heunderachieved in terms of his goal scoring production. Jacquesson, a former Pitt standout, who made an impact when coming to Pittsburgh on loan from Real Salt Lake late in the 2024 season, could never regain that form after he started the season injured and had to battle his way back into the lineup.  

The Hounds decided, ultimately, to part ways with both players as they were confident, they could find a few target forwards in the open market – or in the case of Albert Dikwa – available via transfer.  They also penned Trevor Amann to a deal.  

Suddenly, the Hounds have the USL Championship and USL League One’s Most Valuable Players from 2023 on their current roster.  

The question remains, can they get close to form that earned those honors in 2023 and solid seasons they had in 2024 when transitioning to Sacramento and Rhode Island, respectively?  

There’s no doubt that when fully healthy, Diwka will bring the same work rate at the top of the attack that will match what Williams provided for the Riverhounds a year ago.  Having Dikwa back in the fold, playing alongside some of his former teammates and best friends since they both came to the Riverhounds back in the 2020 preseason, should be a positive thing. 

Dikwa struggled in 2025 during the regular season. 

The Cameroonian led RIFC in goals in 2024 with 10; but in 2025 is was a much quieter year, with just three goals and four assists to his name. From March to July he was the defacto starting striker for Coach Khano Smith. But with just two goals over that stretch, he was benched in favor of JJ Williams.

Dikwa, shockingly, roared to life in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, grabbing the go-ahead goal in the 82nd minute with a perfect back-post header off a set piece; and then chipping in an empty net goal off of a recovery in Extra Time to seal the deal just minutes later.

And that was coming off the bench. After three goals in 1,691 minutes — he bagged his last two and most important in about 12 minutes total. As PSN’s Mark Goodman pointed out when previewing Dikwa and RIFC ahead of it’s match vs Hounds in Eastern Conference Final: soccer is a weird game.  

In Amann, they have picked up a player who has proven to be a solid starter at this level and also been utilized as a target man off the bench to varying levels of success.

Amann may have scored a ton of goals in USL League One, then had a strong start with Sacramento under Head Coach Mark Briggs, as he was second on the squad with nine tallies in 2024.  A coaching change at Sacramento, with former Rowdies gaffer Neill Collins taking over in 2025, it looked like Amann got put on the short end of the stick as far as playing time, relegated to spot minutes in Sacramento, then turned out to be an insurance back-up for the Western Conference champion Tulsa squad. Amann started just three of 25 matches and played only a total of 389 minutes last season, though in that previous season in Sacramento, he started 17 of 35 matches, as a key piece of the rotation for one of the Western Conference’s top teams, with over 1,500 minutes played

Though a lot can happen between now and start of regular season, the hunch here is that Annan will like start as the number two option to Dikwa on the depth chart, especially if the Hounds continue to utilize a single target forward.  With Amann’s track record of being dangerous and reliable with the ball at his feet in the box and getting behind defenders — plus coming in motivated with the opportunity to prove himself after a season where he had limited minutes — could prove to be a good fit in Pittsburgh as solid second option behind Dikwa, in a two forward formation or as a spot starter.

The Hounds previously picked up USL League One MVP (2022) when they signed Kaziah Sterling in 2024, who scored 30 goals in 48 league appearances for South Georgia Tormenta FC.  In one season in Pittsburgh, Sterling underperformed, with three goals in 19 appearances (12 starts) and did not see his team option picked up in 2025.

3.) The Hounds will also start over again at the goalkeeper position this season. Does Nico Campuzano come into camp at the number one keeper?

It won’t be easy, but the Riverhounds will have to fill the large shoes of Eric Dick, who had two of the best seasons in club history at the goalkeeper position.  

While the Hounds system under Bob Lilley has always relied on a very strong organizational structure in front of goalkeepers, numerous netminders have thrived and had their best seasons with the club during this recent era, which has included multiple Gold Glove winners.

In looking to fill this void, the Hounds went out and found a former Pitt goalkeeper Nico Campuzano, bringing the former University of Pittsburgh netminder who was thrown to the wolves and tested with getting the majority of starts with Monterey Bay FC last season.

Since leaving Pitt, Campuzano has built his pro resume.

In 2025 his 84 saves for Monterey Bay was tops in the USL Championship, posting a .677 save percentage across 28 matches in his lone season in California. It was his fourth team in as many seasons in the pro ranks, having debuted in 2022 with FC Cincinnati 2 in MLS Next Pro, spending 2023 with New England Revolution 2 — where he recorded six clean sheets in 12 regular-season starts — and moving to USL League One in 2024 with Lexington SC.

The Hounds have struck gold before when it comes to goal keepers — so if Campuzano seizes the starting spot in Pittsburgh — they should be in good hands once again.

Goalkeeping coach Jon Busch will also be working with a few other unsigned trialists in the preseason.  PSN’s sources have learned that Mike Sheridan, a former Villanova and Philadelphia Union II keeper, is among those in contention for additional goalkeeper roster spot and could be close to a deal with the club.

Ridley native Mike Sheridan’s journey to Philadelphia Union II goalkeeper far from typical

4.) How will USL Championship and USL Players Association dispute and lack of Collective Bargaining Agreement affect the 2026 season?

It’s been almost a month now that the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the USL Championship and the Players Association expired.   

Collective bargaining agreement between USL Championship and USLPA to expire without resolution in sight

There appears to be no resolution in sight.

How this will affect things will be very interesting to see.  Teams have been going about their business during the off season — announcing new player deals, re-signings and more.  Riverhounds midfielder Robbie Mertz, who served on the USLPA Executive Board of Directors for a number of years before rotating off ahead of this season, was very involved.  Ironically Mertz was the last player re-signing announcement that the club made.  It will be interesting to get his and other player takeaways on the current situation.  (Mertz is slated to be a guest on Sounding Off on Soccer Podcast this week).

There has been no significant interuptions in business at hand as all clubs and the league are all systems go for the season — which means that the league appears to be holding a lot of leverage, but the USLPA will continue to be banging the drum and demanding better for its players.  Executive Director

In the Riverhounds league title win at Tulsa in November, players from both teams used the platform with a Nationally Televised audience to take a stand, wearing t-shirts during the ceremonial walk-in before the match kicked off which read:

USL HQ:

Pro-Rel?

Try Pro

Standards First

After the Hounds’ win and subsequent ditched post-match ceremony, as the league did not follow through to holding a formal trophy presentation on the field after the match, in all likelihood as a response to this protest, USLPA’s Executive Director, Connor Tobin spoke with Pittsburgh Soccer Now in an exclusive interview.

Tobin drove home the association’s primary points of emphasis in negotiating a new CBA central to players’ core welfare:  healthcare, improving working conditions and increasing overall compensation.

Former Riverhounds goalkeeper Eric Dick issued a statement of solidarity on Tuesday evening.

Players are asking “one of the most successful leagues in the world” to treat them like professional athletes and provide professional standards. Not rocket science. Not world shattering.

Health care, fair wages, food, fair travel and facilities etc…

All. Pro. Asks. pic.twitter.com/fcKP6c30vE

— Eric Dick (@DaBrickWall00) December 31, 2025

What’s behind all of this?

The USL has announced its intention to create a new top tier, starting possibly in 2028, as well implementing a system of promotion/relegation, which would be a first in U.S. soccer.

With the USL pushing Promotion-Relegation and Division I league messaging feverishly since this announcement was made early this year, Tobin and the players wanted to make it clear — with an opportunity to use the nationally televised broadcast of the USL Championship’s Final as a platform — that they need to still improve basic working conditions and standards.

“From a player point of view, I think the message is pretty clear, particularly geared towards the league office that some of these concepts like Pro-Rel are very exciting. We understand that, but I think a lot of us are excited by that as well. But it is that being built upon a structure that isn’t working for everyone. We’ve got to address some of these core professional standards. Prior to going down all these routes like that, there can’t be these two different realities. I think that’s what the messaging was addressing.”

When reached previously, the league offered no comment with regards to the current negotiations.

5.) What New Players will challenge for starting positions and significant playing time?

As for attending preseason matches and checking out training sessions — this is what we’ll be paying attention to the most in the coming weeks and during the month of February. 

This will also be at the top of the agenda for Vincent and his staff as they round out the team’s roster.

It’s clear in terms of questions two and three, that goalkeeper and forward positions will be the most fascinating to watch during the preseason, to see who’s in good form and how they work with the large number of returning midfielders and defenders.  It’s likely that Victor Souza, a center back with New England Revolution and teammate of Campuzano, is going to be solid addition to defensive group.  

Under Bob Lilley, the Riverhounds have done outstanding work in finding many USL Championship-level diamonds in the rough.  Last season alone — you can point to Ydrach, Vacter, Ahl as some of those players right out of college who stepped into starting roles.  The Riverhounds had one of the youngest rosters in the league last season and that should remain the case, as only Junior Etou is over 30.

The current roster does not include any first-year players, but a host of second-year guys.  Many of the remaining open spots on the roster are likely where we’ll see potential rookie additions.

Riverhounds 2026 Roster (as of 1/28/2026)

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 2026-27, contract option for 2028)
7. Beto Ydrach — D — (signed for 2026-27, contract option for 2028)
8. Perrin Barnes — D — (signed for 2026, contract option for 2027)
9. Bradley Sample — MF (signed for 2026-27, contract option for 2028)
10. Jackson Walti — MF (signed for 2026, contract option for 2027)
11. Danny Griffin — MF / Captain (signed for 2026-27, contract option for 2028)
12. Robbie Mertz — MF (signed for 2026-27, contract option for 2028)
13. Nico Campuzano — GK (signed for 2026, contract option for 2027)
14. Eliot Goldthorpe — MF (signed for 2026, contract option for 2027)
15. Albert Dikwa — F — (reacquired from Rhode Island — terms TBA)
16. Victor Souza — D (signed for 2026, contract option for 2027)
17. Trevor Amann — F — (signed for 2026, contract option for 2027)