Riverhounds Notebook: Team looks to build on perfect week
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The Pittsburgh Riverhounds are coming off of their best week of the season.
From Aug. 28 to Sept. 5, the Riverhounds played three games and went undefeated without allowing a goal and scoring nine. It was a week most coaches dream of, and it put the Riverhounds in prime position, as they now lead Group F by six points and have the best goal differential (23) in the entire USL Championship.
Before facing off with Hartford Athletic on Saturday for the second time this season, Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley met with the media via Zoom on Wednesday to discuss last week, how they’ll approach the rest of the season and a few other storylines.
A perfect week
Not only did the Riverhounds come away with three victories this past week, but they also recorded three shutouts and scored nine goals en route to putting themselves in a great position in Group F.
“It seems like it was the big moment for us during the season, and it put us in the driver’s seat in our division,” Lilley said. “I think we gained confidence from that, and guys are being more consistent with their performances.”
Throughout the three-game stretch, the longtime coach was able to dive into his bench to rotate players, which allowed starters to rest and let Lilley to get a good look at what his team has to offer.
Forward Albert Dikwa got his first minutes of the season and scored his first goal against Loudoun United on Sept. 1 to make it 3-0.
Lilley also saw defenders Patrick Bunk-Andersen and Mark Lindstrom prove their worth throughout the stretch of games, which is forcing him to make decisions he didn’t have to before.
“Three or four weeks ago, we didn’t have a lot of choices,” Lilley said. “So, it’s good to have some of these tough decisions to make.”
Netminder
Throughout the Riverhounds’ perfect week, goalkeeper Danny Vitiello started to stand out between the posts for the black and gold.
He earned two straight starts for the first time this season and tallied five saves between the two games, including a penalty kick save against Loudoun United. He recorded his second and third clean sheets of the season.
“He’s been pretty solid during all four of his starts, and we had liked what he had done during all of the games,” Lilley said. “The Loudoun game I thought he was particularly sharp. He made some big saves, he saved a penalty kick, and he’s gotten better dealing with crosses. I think he’s grown a lot since the beginning of the year.”
Vitiello and Tomas Gomez have been interchanging in net for most of the season and Gomez has made 18 saves and allowed six goals in eight games this season. But heading into Saturday’s matchup with Hartford Athletic, Vitiello has started to create a little bit of a problem for Lilley.
“We’re getting good goaltending, and it’s almost tricky when you have two guys that are capable,” Lilley said. “We have to make those decisions, and in the New York game, we decided to go with Vitiello and he handled it well and we’re anticipating him starting against Hartford on Saturday.”
Extra rest
At different points throughout this season, the Riverhounds have played multiple games with short rest in between. This past week was the final time that the Riverhounds will have to play more than one game in a week, and Lilley is looking forward to his team having the extra rest.
“There’s more time to rest and more time to be specific with the game plan for each game,” Lilley said. “We can play with different combinations; we have more time to train guys early in the week and then hone in on the game plan later in the week. We can push guys in some areas that need to be pushed.”
The Riverhounds played three games in seven- or eight-day stretches multiple times this season, but as the season nears its end, they’ll play five straight games on Saturdays and three of those games will be at home.
“Thursday and Fridays, we’ll try to taper down for the games on Saturdays but the good thing now is we can build up the familiarity with the opponent,” Lilley said. “It gives guys time to recover and then hopefully freshen up by the weekend. It’s a little easier to do that now.”
A fresh face
The Riverhounds got another fresh face this past weekend when defender Tony Walls joined the team for their trip to Red Bull Arena. The former Rochester Rhino wasn’t listed in the 18 but could see time over the course of the next few weeks.
“Right now, our job is to try and get him fit and I think we’ve done a pretty good job at that with Bunk-Andersen and Dikwa,” Lilley said.
Walls spent last year with the Chattanooga Red Wolves SC of USL League One, where he made 24 appearances. He’s also suited up for St. Louis FC from 2017-18. During his USL Championship tenure, Walls has tallied 98 appearances, eight goals, three assists and 19 points.
Mertz named to Team of Week
For the third time this season, Robbie Mertz was named to the USL Championship Team of the Week. Mertz had a goal and four key passes during the Riverhounds’ two games this past week. He tied the team high for goals with five and also leads the team in points.
Vitiello was also named to the Team of the Week bench after posting two clean sheets and five saves.