Riverhounds Head Coach Rob Vincent after season opening loss at Charleston: ‘Both goals were avoidable’

The Riverhounds kicked off the new season with a disappointing 2-1 loss at Charleston, in a match where the defending USL Championship title winners were out played by their longest running rivals for most of the contest.

FINAL: Charleston Battery 2, Riverhounds SC 1

Hounds Head Coach Rob Vincent was disappointed that his team came out tentative and on their heels.

“I think we started the match a little bit too cautiously. We let Charleston really kind of pin us back for the first 15-20 minutes. But once we finally came out of our shell a bit, the first half evened out, and we looked much better the last 25 minutes or so,” Vincent said.

Goalkeeper Nico Campuzano, making his debut with the Hounds, made a pair of stellar saves in the 11th and 12th minutes to turn back a couple of dangerous Charleston chances.

“Nico made some big saves,” Vincent said, but added.

“We were down 2-nil, but he did well to make some good saves to keep us in it. I think we were happy with him overall, and there’s areas he can keep getting better.”

The Hounds did eventually worked their way into the match, advancing further and building up possession as the match started to open up both ways later in the first half.

The best chance for Pittsburgh came in the 34th minute when Charles Ahl put a header on target to force one of three saves by Luis Zamudio — himself a former Hounds player on loan in 2023.

However, one of the players who helped the Hounds complete a remarkable postseason run a year ago, Sean Suber, delivered a gut punch to his former club late in the first half.

Suber delivered a well-struck header from a corner kick in first half stoppage time to give the Battery a 1-0 lead.

“I felt we weathered the storm early, which we knew we might have to, but obviously giving up the goal right before halftime is a bit of a sucker punch, especially from a set piece,” Vincent said.

At the start of the second half, Campuzano stood tall again, denying Wilmer Cabrera, when he came off his line and kept his frame wide to block away the shot from the left side of goal.

In the 52nd minute, Charleston, a strong possession team under Head Coach Ben Pirmann, used some pinpoint one-two touch passing to get the ball into the center of the box for Cabrera. The sequence began with a pass from Messer on the left side which connected with Cabrera who took a solid touch to control the ball, then strike a brilliant ball between defenders, evading the outstretched arms of Campuzano.

“In the second half, we didn’t come out with enough intensity and put our best foot forward,” Vincent admitted.

Sure enough, falling behind by a pair of goals for the first time as a club in a very long time, the Hounds finally broke through, converting on a quick transitional moment in the 62nd minute.  Danny Griffin’s accelerated to the edge of the box, then played the ball thru to Ahl, who made a slicing, diagonal run to the edge of the right corner of the goal box, then cut back a lining low pass intended for Albert Dikwa.

Instead, Charleston defender Nathan Messer came flying though to deny the pass to Dikwa on the back post, but in doing so, with all the momentum carrying him toward goal, knocked the ball in for an own goal for the Riverhounds.

“It took us 2-nil before we came out of our shell,” Vincent said.

“After the second goal, it seemed like then the shackles came off and we had our best spell of the game.”

The rest of the match, both teams continued to try and create, and Campuzano made another strong stop to deny Maalique Foster, but nothing compared to the chances in the three minutes of stoppage time.

The Hounds had a golden chance to tie the match when Sam Bassett lofted a ball into the box that Brigham Larsen headed back across the penalty spot. Trevor Amann arrived late to strike the ball, which deflected off the leg of defender Graham Smith before being saved over the bar by a diving Zamudio.

The Battery nearly made it 3-1 countering off the ensuing Hounds corner kick, but Bassett showed exceptional hustle to track back and deny Foster with a slide after Campuzano had slipped and been caught out of position on the wet grass.

Despite all the club’s success in recent years and confidence coming into the season, continue to come up short against Charleston, as the league’s top scoring team a year ago, showed they’ll continue to be a tough team to beat.  The Battery have now won four straight matches against the Riverhounds.

“We had a preseason where we had a lot of good results, so it was a good test against a good team at a place where we don’t necessarily have the best record,” Vincent said.

“It’s a different surface than we’re used to, and maybe took us a little time to settle into the game, but we’re going to be away to Loudoun next week and then back down to another warm climate on grass at Tampa Bay.”

The first of 30 league matches offered a valuable lesson for Vincent and his squad.

“I don’t think you can make the argument that Charleston didn’t edge us and deserve the win, but we had chances there in the second half to get a second goal, and we could have come away with at least a draw. Both goals were avoidable, so that’s something we’ll look at and try to improve.”