Shootout deja vu plagues Hounds as Cup ambitions slip away in Charleston

In a standard regular-season USL Championship environment, walking away from Patriots Point with a scoreless draw and a defensive clean sheet would be viewed as a highly encouraging, resilient road point for Head Coach Rob Vincent’s evolving squad.

But this wasn’t the regular season.

For the second time in the Prinx Tires USL Cup group stage, a hard-fought Riverhounds draw dissolved into a penalty shootout defeat.

By dropping the bonus point in a 4-2 shootout loss to the Charleston Battery following a 0-0 regulation stalemate, the Hounds (1-0-2, 5 points) saw their destiny completely taken out of their own hands.

While not mathematically dead, the Hounds’ chances of escaping Group 6 are now firmly on life support, requiring a regulation victory over Loudoun United on July 11 and a massive amount of outside help to sneak through as a wild card.

Here is the match breakdown and the critical takeaways from another bittersweet cup night in the Low Country.

How It Happened

Head Coach Rob Vincent used this cup window to aggressively test his squad’s depth, rolling out a heavily rotated starting XI that featured Mike Sheridan in goal and a 4-3-3 shape that saw Trevor Amann leading the line, flanked by Charles Ahl and Eliot Goldthorp.

The rotated group looked incredibly sharp early.

Despite an 11th-minute scare where Charleston’s Emilio Ycaza rattled the left upright, the Hounds actually dictated the tempo and held the advantage in shots for the first 80 minutes of the match. Goldthorp was a constant menace between the lines, forcing a stellar diving save from Battery backup keeper John Berner in the 28th minute, while Mike Sheridan matched it at the stroke of halftime with a massive hand to tip a Graham Smith effort over the crossbar.

The turning point arrived in the 81st minute. Left back Lasse Kelp got his feet tangled with a racing Douglas Martinez. Deemed a tactical foul, it earned Kelp his second caution of the night—marking the first time the Hounds have been reduced to 10 men in the 2026 campaign.

Pittsburgh held on compactly through a barrage of late corner kicks to secure the regulation draw, but the subsequent shootout proved agonizingly familiar. While Robbie Mertz and Jackson Walti converted their spots, Berner denied Jorge Garcia with a full-extension dive, and Aldi Flowers-Gamboa pulled his effort wide. The Battery executed a perfect 4-for-4 showing, ending the night with Joey Akpunonu burying the winner.

🧠 Critical Notebook Takeaways

1. The Cost of Cup Math vs. Regular Season Logic

The bitter pill to swallow here is the structural reality of the USL Cup.

Under normal league conditions, containing Charleston’s explosive offense to zero shots on target after going down to 10 men is a positive result, especially with a backline missing injured anchors.

But by failing to secure the regulation win, or at least salvage the extra shootout point, the tournament math all but eliminates them.

That is the brutal irony of Cup competition. The soccer gods have a funny way of balancing the ledger.

Last year, the Hounds rode the knife’s edge and came out on top in three different penalty shootouts, looking completely unflappable from the spot in winning its first-ever USL Championship title. Fast forward to this year’s USL Cup group stage, and that exact same format has completely deflated their Cup campaign with two shootout losses.

It’s a tough pill to swallow when a performance that would normally earn a solid, respectable road point in league play instead leaves your tournament hopes on life support. Safe travels on the road back to Pittsburgh!

2. Victor Souza is Becoming an Elite Anchor

If there is a massive silver lining from Saturday, it is the performance of center back Victor Souza.

Earning Man of the Match honors, Souza single-handedly kept the Hounds compact and organized after the Kelp red card. He won 7 of 10 duels, logged five clearances, and put on a distribution masterclass—completing 41 of 45 passes (a staggering 91.1%). The Hounds’ defensive spine is rapidly growing up, and Souza is at the absolute heart of it.

3. Execution in the Final Third Remains the Next Hurdle

While the expected goals (xG) metrics are climbing, the Hounds missed two golden opportunities to completely alter their tournament trajectory in regulation. Trevor Amann failed to hit the target on a beautiful, high cross from Charles Ahl in the 16th minute, and a brilliant sequence between Mertz and Ahl on the hour mark left Goldthorp with a point-blank look that was rescued only by a desperate, last-second block from Charleston’s defense. To win trophies, those are the margins that must turn into goals.

Up Next for the Hounds

The cup distractions are temporarily shelved as the Hounds return to Western Pennsylvania for high-stakes Eastern Conference regular-season action.

Pittsburgh will host second-place Indy Eleven (5-2-3)—and a very familiar face in former Hounds goalkeeper Eric Dick—on Saturday, June 13, at 7 p.m. EST at F.N.B. Stadium.

Lineups & Match Information

Riverhounds SC Lineup (4-3-3): Mike Sheridan; Lasse Kelp (sent off 81’), Owen Mikoy, Victor Souza, Perrin Barnes; Sam Bassett (Max Viera 54’), Danny Griffin (Jackson Walti 72’), Robbie Mertz; Charles Ahl (Aldi Flowers-Gamboa 83’), Trevor Amann (Albert Dikwa 72’), Eliot Goldthorp (Jorge Garcia 83’)

Charleston Battery Lineup (4-2-3-1): John Berner; Nathan Messer, Joey Akpunonu, Graham Smith, Douglas Martinez (Alec Hughes 86’); Sean Suber, Kirill Pakhomov; Langston Blackstock (Wilmer Cabrera 15’), Emilio Ycaza (Chris Allan 69’), Maalique Foster (Jack Wayne 69’); Miguel Berry

Up Next

The Hounds return home to Western Pennsylvania to jump right back into crucial Eastern Conference regular-season action. Pittsburgh will host Indy Eleven at F.N.B. Stadium on Saturday, June 13, at 7 p.m. EST.

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).