After dominating the Wilmington Hammerheads last weekend, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds fell to Louisville City FC on Friday night, 2-1.
However, there were moments of hope for the Riverhounds against LCFC. The Hounds got on the board first, with a goal from forward Corey Hertzog in the 27’ minute, off an assist from defender Mike Green.
“I think Kevin [Kerr] and Danny [Earls] played a quick one,” Hertzog said after the match about his goal. “Then Danny played a long ball to [Mike] Green. Just in training, he is trying to get down the line. After his touch, to put it in the box, I just figured to get there as quick as possible. It was a great ball by him, and made my ball all that easier. It was a great ball by everyone around. Credit to all of them.”
The Riverhounds went into halftime leading LCFC, 1-0. However, after halftime, LCFC came out strong and went on a scoring campaign. George Davis IV had both goals for LCFC, with his first coming in the 56’ minute, which was unassisted. His second goal, which was assisted by Aodhan Quinn, came in the 82’ minute.
The Riverhounds almost went down 3-1 after a penalty was called for LCFC on a Green foul. The foul ended up sending Green off the pitch as, after discussion, the red card was shown. Also in the caution scheme was Lebo Moloto, who will miss the next game after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season in the 80’ minute.
The Riverhounds, now down 10 men, relied on goalkeeper Mauricio Vargas to save the upcoming Chandler Hoffman penalty kick. Vargas did what he was expected, by diving to his right to save the kick.
“It gives you a massive lift,” captain Kevin Kerr said about Vargas’ penalty save. “As soon as a [penalty kick] goes in, heads are dropping. He saves that, and everyone is re-energized, and ready to go again.”
The Riverhounds lost the match and all three points to Louisville, but spirits were high after the match- even from head coach Dave Brandt.
“I’m proud of the guys’ effort,” Brandt said. “We were unfortunate in a couple of ways. We battled well. We started the game really well. Right now that’s a little bit at our capacity, and our tendency not to be able to keep our foot on the gas.”
“Honestly, I am proud of them, but it’s on us. We need to do better,” Brandt said about letting LCFC score two late goals. “We stopped doing little things. And you do that, you get a little tired, and you start cheating a little bit. But we didn’t double down with the first goal, and we were late on the back side. Those are not things that are unlucky. Those were things that weren’t done well enough. So we paid by giving up a goal.”
The Riverhounds have a chance to get back into the win column against FC Montreal, which is an away match, on Wednesday, August 10.
