Takeaways: Riverhounds overcome defensive lapses, pick apart Loudoun United FC for first win

Following a frustrating season-opening loss at Charleston, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds entered Saturday’s clash at Segra Field determined to dictate the tempo.

While they ultimately secured a 3-2 victory over Loudoun United FC, the win required overcoming a few defensive lapses that bookended a positive scoring surge.

Despite dominating the ball for much of the afternoon, the Hounds found themselves chasing the game early after conceding a preventable opening goal. It was a performance that left Head Coach Rob Vincent with mixed emotions.

“I’m glad we got over the line, but again, I’m disappointed with the way we started,” Vincent said.

“We settled into possession a little better than we did at Charleston, but the intensity wasn’t there, and the goal we gave up was just really poor on our part. It kind of took that to wake us up and get us playing, which can’t be the way we do things. We have to go in at the start and play at a higher tempo earlier… but the most important thing is that we get three points and hopefully learn something from it.”

FINAL: Riverhounds SC 3, Loudoun United FC 2

Here are some immediate takeways from the Hounds win on Saturday afternoon in Northern Virginia.

Hounds 3, Loudoun 2 — Three Takeaways

Hounds were more assertive in possession and final third

Head Coach Rob Vincent and his coaching staff should at least feel a level of satisfaction after this match they they looked sharper on the ball for longer stretches.

After all, they’ve been working diligently to craft this year’s team into a more possession-oriented group that is more comfortable on the ball and control matches with sharp passing, solid movement off the ball and a willingness to pull things back when things are bottled up instead of settling for direct play.

Last week, getting constant build-up into the final third with quality, more constant touches in the box was missing until they fell behind by two goals.

That changed on this sunny, cold afternoon in Leesburg — but they still started slow.

Even though they were trailing after 21st minute mark, Pittsburgh stayed with it and didn’t panic.

Pittsburgh found pressure they needed on Loudoun when Perrin Barnes got into the right side of the box in the 26th minute, then attempted to pass back to the middle, but Salvatore Mezzaferro ran through the Hounds wing back and conceded a penalty kick.

Albert Dikwa was more than happy to step up and convert on his first penalty attempt of the season to level the match at 1-1.

The Hounds stayed assertive at the start of the second half — converting on a corner kick when Sam Bassett’s service was pinpoint — right to Dikwa’s noggin.  The Hounds’ target forward pinged a header over to Bradley Sample, who ponged it into goal with his head for the 2-1 lead.

The first two goals were solid products of the Hounds being on the front foot.

The third goal was the payoff for Vincent’s investment in the personnel he put on the field and the style of play he wants this team to play.

Initiated by a sound, low, turf-buning pass from right center back Beto Ydrach, Bassett took a touch then moved forward into the attack, playing it off to Charles Ahl, who played it back to Bassett, who made a quality run into the box and used some clever footwork to beat a few defenders then find a nifty, left-footed finish.

After last week’s match, in my Takeways and Player Grades, among the things that came out of that match was that both Ahl and Bassett need to have the ball at their feet in and around the final third more.

This is not the kind of goal we’ve seen the Hounds score a lot of in recent years.

“I think it was a pretty good team goal all around,” Bassett said.

“We moved it pretty well. Beto (Ydrach) found me in between the lines, and I was able to turn and find Charles (Ahl). Then one of the things we’ve been working on this week kind of came out. Once I played the ball, I made the run forward and Charles found me again, and then my thought was, ‘Can I get a shot off?’ So I got there, took one touch to my left and tried to finish it, and it went in.”

With the personnel in the midfield — all so comfortable in tight spaces, playing one-two touch soccer and also having a willingness to explore when chances come to extend possessions — this team has potential to be more versatile in the attack than many Hounds teams that have come before them.

Bookended Defensive Lapses Need to Be Cleaned Up

The Hounds are showing plenty of confidence on the ball when they start to assert themselves, but they’ve now allowed four goals in the first two matches.

Last week, Vincent said both goals were avoidable.

I’d say the same thing about this week’s goals the Hounds allowed.

In this match, they had to overcome an early defensive lapse by Guillaume Vacter, who inexplicably didn’t see the dangerous Icelandic rookie, Thor Úlfarsson breathing down his neck and turned in the wrong direction to clear the ball after adisjointed defensive play when Victor Souza stepped up to block an initial shot by Salvatore Mazzaferro,.  Úlfarsson, who tortured Pitt last season when he was a senior at Duke, scored the first goal of the match despite the Hounds being in control for the first 20 minutes.

After the Hounds scored its third goal, the 3-1 lead seemed safe, but Vincent wasn’t smiling for that long.

The Hounds let down their guard — on a day where the Hounds bottled things up very well in the middle of the pitch –Loudoun found a rare effective advance through the heart of the midfield and into the top edge of the box.

Sean Young’s brilliant finish, wrapping a bending shot into the open right side of goal beating Nico Campuzono’s diving effort to make a grand save.

In all, Pittsburgh did a pretty good job in applying its base defensive principles, but mental letdowns let to both goals — as Pittsburgh dominated the stats column, with 63 percent possession, with 85 percent accurate passing, a 14-6 (8-2 on target) shots advantage, drew 16 fouls (only conceded seven), held a 5-1 edge on corners and held a whopping 27-7 edge in touches in the opposition box.

And yet, in the final moments of the match, they were holding on, working to keep Loudoun from finding an equalizer which would have wiped out a dominant performance.

The Hounds brought four veterans on the field in the late stages, which helped them close out the match, even with Loudoun sniffing for an equalizer.

Who knows, maybe under a different coach in a different year — those defensive lapses even after a win might have kept the players on the field for a long, stern lecture from the team’s gaffer.

Instead, the team leaves Northern Virginia knowing they have to clean things up in the back.

Who Stood Out: Chico shines, Sample sizes up and wingers complement build-up play

In week two, Albert Dikwa put in a solid 78 minute performance which saw the former USL Championship MVP pick up a goal and an assist, also getting a good allotment of touches (30 — with nine in the opposition’s box!), four shots (two on target) while working hard defensively (for second week in a row he could be seen making defensive contributions in the box on opposing set pieces).

This is the kind of performance the Hounds were hoping to see from Dikwa, who while getting in the box in the second half last week for a near goal which turned into an own goal, was mostly quiet vs Charleston.

While praises were already abound for Bassett and Ahl for finishing with that terrific third goal, Bradley Sample put for an excellent two-way effort that included his first goal since last April. The midfielder also recovered the ball four times and won eight of nine duels in the middle of the park, adding a clearance and two free kicks won for good measure.

Vincent also changed things up by starting Max Viera in place of Junior Etou.  In place of Etou’s straight-line style out wide, Viera brought a little more finesse that worked well with keeping combination play going — also resulted in solid passing stats (82 percent accuracy, a few touches in the opposition box, plus six passes into the final third; Etou didn’t have any touches in box last week) along with a shot on target, plus four recoveries.  On the other wing, Barnes drew the foul that set up Dikwa’s penalty goal and was up-to-the-task for the full 90 minutes, with 91 percent passing accuracy, five defensive contributions and earned three fouls overall.

There’s a long season to go and the Hounds were far from putting on a high level 90-minute performance emblematic of a polished final product and a league champion.

Loudoun were missing its most explosive scorer and they are a club that’s even more of a work in progress after the departure of Ryan Martin and many of the players who were part of the playoff team last year.

Still, for week two – it was more than good enough for the Hounds.

And also a quick shout out to the Steel Army and all the Pittsburgh fans that showed up in a big way.

In all, it was a good, bounce-back performance for the Hounds — one that they’ll have to build on in league play as next week’s trip to St. Petersburg won’t be an easy third straight road league match, as the Tampa Bay Rowdies have reloaded and look like they’ll be a tough out this season.

Next up for the Hounds though will be the US Open Cup First Round tilt on Tuesday night at Highmark against the local USL League Two foe, Steel City FC in the first match in 69 years between two Pittsburgh-based clubs in the long-running National Tournament.

Formation, Tactics, Personnel & FotMob Ratings

The Hounds made one tweak from last week, as rookie Max Viera, who starred at nearby Georgetown University, started on the left wing in place of veteran Junior Etou. The rest of the starting lineup remained the same.

Pittsburgh stayed in its 3-4-2-1 formation — but unlike last week — Griffin and Bassett were mofe fluid — as Bassett was pushing higher up at times while Griffin held deeper.

In the 69th minute, Jackson Walti came on for Sam Bassett (right after Bassett’s goal!) in the 69th minute, while a veteran quartet came on to help close the match out in the last 10 minutes including Robbie Mertz making his season debut after a knee injury at the start of preseason, Trevor Amann, Illal Osumanu and Junior Etou.