Pulse of Pittsburgh Soccer: Bridge City lose third straight on the road, Riverhounds preseason schedule gets underway in return of Old Guard foe

February is here which means that Riverhounds will start to play matches against opponents while Pittsburgh’s indoor pro team, Bridge City FC, will continue with a current stretch of road matches looking for their first win of the calendar year.

Last week proved to be a challenging week with the crazy weather and with added travel issues, a lot of content we were hoping to get out will be pushed to the next couple of weeks.

Below you’ll find the Pittsburgh soccer schedule for February, as the Hounds will begin preseason play on Monday, Bridge City FC resumes play next Saturday, while the area’s college programs are back at it too, with Spring semester training, with some schools seeing new players coming onboard to get a head start and a few will start playing Spring competition (in the case with WVU and Pitt — they’ll face the Riverhounds on Feb. 27 and 28th, respectively).

Additionally, RMU opens spring competition on February 28 with a road match against USL League Two’s Steel City FC.

Robert Morris women also announced its Spring schedule too, but they won’t take on any outside competition until March 27, with a road matchup at Duquesne. The Colonials will then continue road play with a visit to Slippery Rock on March 31.

From a content standpoint, also be on the lookout for more than one episode of Sounding Off on Soccer Podcast to come this week, as a few top-flight guests are lined up!

In case you missed it, as Hounds kicked off preseason officially on Friday, we took a closer look at the five most burning questions for the club.

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

Also, on Monday night, PSN’s John Krysinsky will be a guest on another podcast, Feuerstein’s Fire.

Riverhounds face USL Old Guard foe, Richmond Kickers in first preseason contest

After a week of training, the Riverhounds will finally get to test themselves against an opponent, when Indy Eleven come to Pittsburgh, specifically to the AHN Montour Soccer Complex for a friendly that kicks off the preseason schedule.

Richmond, if you recall, was a mainstay and regular rival of the Riverhounds for 20 seasons, from 1999 until 2019, when the Kickers self-relegated down to USL League One.

USL’s old guard breaking up? Richmond Kickers now dropping down to DIII

The two teams first battled on June 13, 1999 in Virginia and have played 40 competitive matches against each other — the fourth-most of any Hounds opponent — but they have not met since Aug. 1, 2018. The visitors reached the League One playoffs in three of the past five seasons, but last year, they slipped to a 13th-place finish.

The Hounds will be mostly focused on getting a closer look at numerous players who remain unsigned, while also looking to get newly signed players on the same page with 13 returning core players who were part of last season’s title winning squad.

All-time, the Riverhounds were 4W-8L-6D against Richmond, winning the last two matches, 2-1 and 3-0, in 2018.

Pittsburgh’s first-ever win on the road against Richmond came when current Head Coach Rob Vincent was having a breakout season in 2015 — as early goals from Lebo Moloto and Miro Cabrilo gave the Hounds a comfortable cushion in a match which ultimately gave the club momentum in a successful run of matches that followed including an Open Cup win vs NASL Tampa Bay Rowdies (Vincent scored the game winner) followed by Miracle on the Mon, remarkable come-from-behind, 6-5 victory.

Riverhounds earn first road win of the season at Richmond

Riverhounds 2 Announce Josh Kremers at Head Coach

Last week, we recieved official word that the Riverhounds 2 will be officially entered into the same division as Steel City FC, in USL League Two.

Then, on Friday, the new club has named Josh Kremers as the head coach of the club’s entry into USL League Two that will begin play for the first time later this year.

Kremers, 33, has been with the Riverhounds organization for the past two years, joining as the Riverhounds Academy’s Boys Regional League Director and also coaching academy boys teams in the 2007-08 and 2012 age groups.

“Josh is a fantastic young coach who brings tremendous energy and enthusiasm to Riverhounds 2. We’re thrilled to have him leading this project and helping shape the next phase of our player development pathway,” Dan Visser, Sporting Director, said.

In addition to leading Riverhounds 2 in the 2026 season, Kremers also will serve as an assistant with the Riverhounds First Team.

This means Rob Vincent is working with two new assistants — Krembers and Adam Mitchell.

Kremers comes to the role with USL League Two experience, most recently with FC Carolinas, where he served as the club’s Boys Director of Coaching and helped with their teams in League Two and the USL W League. He was also an assistant coach in 2017-18 with the Charlotte Eagles, who won the League Two title in 2017.

Before entering coaching Kremers was a three-year starter at Messiah College — where Visser also went to school — as he won three national championship during his career from 2010-13. Making the move into coaching after the conclusion of his time at Messiah, Kremers currently holds a U.S. Soccer Federation B Coaching License.

Bridge City loses, 7-6, in the Windy City

In addition, Bridge City FC, after a 2-0-0 start, enter February looking to reverse a three-match losing streak, as Pittsburgh’s indoor pro squad fell in a tight contast in the Windy City, 7-6, to the Chicago Mustangs on Saturday night.

In its inaugural season, Bridge City is now 2W-3L-0D in the highly competitive MLIS North Division.

View this post on Instagram

You can check out the match highlights from Saturday’s match here.

Josh Luchini (North Allegheny / Pitt) and Nathan Dragisich (West Allegheny / Duquesne / Riverhounds) each scored twice.   Luchini now leads the squad with seven goals.

Bridge City FC will remain on the road in the first half of February, with road matches at Lansing FC (Saturday, Feb. 7) and Rockford (Monday, Feb. 16).   Please note that Bridge City’s January 23 match at Toronto was postponed due to the bad weather and has been rescheduled for March 21 on the back end of the season.

BCFC are not schedule to return to its home field until February 28, when it hosts Rockford (IL) in the first of a three-match homestand.

Pittsburgh Soccer Schedule (February 2026)

Monday, February 2 

12 p.m.  Riverhounds SC vs Richmond Kickers (AHN Montour Soccer Complex)

Friday, February 6

2 p.m.  Riverhounds SC at Indy Eleven (Indianapolis, IN)

Saturday, February 7

8 p.m.  Bridge City FC at Lansing FC (Lansing, MI) TOCA Soccer and Sports Center Novi East

Friday, February 13

1 p.m.  Riverhounds SC vs Loudoun United FC (AHN Montour Soccer Complex)

Monday, February 16

1 p.m.  Bridge City FC at Rockford Thunder (Rockford, IL) Indoor Sports Center at Mercyhealth Sportscore Two

Saturday, February 21

12 p.m.  Riverhounds SC vs Lexington SC (Highmark Stadium)

7 p.m.    Bridge City FC at Cleveland Crunch (Cleveland, OH) Wolstein Center

Friday, February 27

7 p.m.  Riverhounds SC vs West Virginia University (Highmark Stadium)

Saturday, February 28

Time TBA – Robert Morris (Men) vs Steel City FC (location TBA)

6 p.m.  Riverhounds SC vs Pitt (Ambrose Urbanic Field)

John Krysinsky

John Krysinsky has covered soccer and other sports for many years for various publications and media outlets. He is also author of 'Miracle on the Mon' -- a book about the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, which chronicles the club, particularly the early years of Highmark Stadium with the narrative leading up to and centered around a remarkable match that helped provide a spark for the franchise. John has covered sports for Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, DK Pittsburgh Sports, Pittsburgh Sports Report, has served as color commentator on Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC broadcasts, and worked with OPTA Stats and broadcast teams for US Open Cup and International Champions Cup matches held in the US. Krysinsky also served as the Head Men’s Soccer Coach at his alma mater, Point Park University, where he led the Pioneers to the first-ever winning seasons and playoff berths (1996-98); head coach of North Catholic boys (2007-08), associate head coach of Shady Side Academy boys (2009-2014).