Riverhounds preparing for season opener against Louisville City FC
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While the Pittsburgh Steelers are waiting for training camp to start, the Pirates are going through summer camp and the Penguins are getting ready for NHL’s restart, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds are preparing for their first game of the USL Championship season.
The defending Eastern Conference champions are champing at the bit.
The Riverhounds open the season with a 5 p.m. matchup Sunday against Louisville City FC (1-0) on ESPN2 in the inaugural game at Lynn Family Stadium.
“At some point, we’ve all been antsy to be back with the opportunity to play,” Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley said. “I think all of us — staff, organizations and certainly players — are going to want to be safe and have some concerns in the back of their mind, but I think there’s going to be a sense of, ‘OK, now it’s time,’ and there will be a lot of pent up energy.”
The last time these teams met, Lou City spoiled an exciting night in front of 6,000-plus fans at Highmark Stadium with a 2-1 extra-time victory in the USL Championship playoffs. A lot has changed since that meeting last fall.
First, although they kept a solid foundation from last year’s historic run, the Riverhounds suffered a lot of turnover in the offseason. Goalkeeper Kyle Morton, leading scorer Neco Brett and USL Defender of the Year Joe Greenspan departed, but Lilley and company brought in several players to fill the holes.
Then, the coronavirus pandemic forced the USL Championship to shut down on three separate occasions and the Riverhounds to pause camp days before their season opener. Now, after weeks of resumed training, the Riverhounds are looking to see where they stand.
“We know this should be a good barometer, and we should know more about our team after this weekend,” Lilley said. “But most important, whatever we learn this first few weeks is that we’re able to grow quickly and gather momentum quickly. It’s a short season, 16 games, and we have a tough first seven games.”
In their first seven games, the Riverhounds will play Louisville City FC, Philadelphia Union twice, Indy Eleven twice, and New York Red Bulls twice. The four teams won a combined 53 games last year and produced 180 points.
But for now, the Riverhounds are looking to their match at Lynn Family Stadium against the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last season, and Lilley believes in order to come out with a victory they have to find opportunities to be aggressive in the attack.
“We’re not gonna be able to be on our front foot for 90 minutes, but we have to be brave, we have to be assertive and we have to be willing to go forward,” Lilley said. “If we don’t go there with the intent to try and win, I don’t think we can even go there saying, ‘Hey, let’s just keep it close, and maybe we steal it and get it a draw.’ I think a lot for us is giving a clear picture to our guys. How are we going to hurt Louisville, how are we going to get our opportunities?”
On the other hand, Louisville scored 66 goals last year, tied with the Riverhounds for fifth-most in the league. So, while Lilley wants to his team to make Lou City uncomfortable in its own end, he knows the Hounds must be sound defensively.
“We have to have a clear picture of how we are going to slow them down, and we want to defend,” Lilley said. “That’s first and foremost. We are on the road.
“Our team defending will be important, and we have to be able to slow them down.”