The Pittsburgh Riverhounds did enough to stay alive, but they let yet another opportunity to punch their ticket to the USL postseason slip away as a late equalizer by the Rochester Rhinos ended the Hounds thoughts of an upset, as the teams drew, 1-1.
The Hounds started their Wednesday night match in eighth place in the USL Eastern Conference, and they desperately needed three points to get back into the race.
Complicating matters was that the Hounds’ opponents, the Rochester Rhinos, had the best record in the league and had allowed just 12 goals all season.
Lebo Moloto did everything in his power to give his side the advantage. After playing a more defensive role in the Hounds 4-4-2 alignment, he was pushed forward in the second half as head coach Mark Steffens eyed a more offensive alignment.
Moloto responded when he took a give-and-go feed from Miro Cabrlio and struck a beautiful 30-yard drive past the outstretched arms of Rhinos goalkeeper Adam Grinwis to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead in the 69th minute.
Unfortunately for the Hounds, a familiar foe would rear its ugly head: the late equalizer.
“It seems to be the story of the season,” said defender Anthony Arena. “They’re in first place. Sure, it’s a good team, but at this point in the season, we can’t concede goals like that. It’s a mental lapse.
Against a team like that, you can’t do that, especially up 1-0, scoring the goal that we did. We were in the driver’s seat there. We need to close out games.”
For the second time in a three-game span and for seemingly the umpteenth time this season, the Riverhounds conceded a backbreaking goal.
In the 83rd minute, Rhinos midfielder Nate Bordeau bounced a through ball out in fron t of striker Christain Volesky. Riverhounds goalkeeper Calle Brown came off his line to challenge, but Volesky chipped it around him in, silencing the 1,536 fans in attendance.
“It’s not the same thing every time; there’s been a couple of set pieces, this one, they got behind us.” head coach Mark Steffens said of his team’s propensity to give up late leads. “If you give up one goal a game, which we’ve been doing, and mix a shut out in there, the second half of the season has been really strong for us defensively. It’s a tough game to shut out the teams that’s number one in the country in the USL.”
Despite the disappointment of the draw, it does keep the Hounds in the hunt for the final playoff spot, but they will now need a win on the road on Saturday against arch-rival Harrisburg.
Photo credit: Terry O’Neil / Riverhounds.com.
