In an offseason where almost everything changed for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, a pair of holdovers was the key for the Hounds in a 5-2 victory over the Harrisburg City Islanders.
Midfielders Kevin Kerr and Rob Vincent, playing for the first time under new head Mark Steffens, provided the offense, combining to score all five goals, and goalkeeper Ryan Thompson made a number of athletic saves to lead the Hounds to their first season-opening victory in three tries at Highmark Stadium.
“It was just one of those nights,” said Kerr, who scored his first professional hat trick. “Every time I made a run, one of the boys found me. I know it’s not going to be like that every time, but I’m going to enjoy it tonight and hope it continues.”
The Riverhounds got off to an excellent start with Vincent driving the play forward in the early going, and in the fifth minute, he connected with a shot from the left wing that beat Harrisburg goalkeeper Kyle Renfro to give the Hounds their first lead of the young season.
In the ninth minute, it was again Vincent leading the Hounds forward when he played a long ball over the defense and ahead to Kerr, who scored to give the Riverhounds a two-goal lead.
Thompson, playing his first game with the Riverhounds, set out to maintain the advantage, making a diving stop on City Islanders midfielder Yann Ekra in the 15th minute.
At the 22-minute mark, Zach Pfeffer took a pass from Jimmy McLaughlin and slid the ball low and to the left of Thompson to draw the City Islanders to within one.
Thompson made another brilliant save late in the first half to keep the Riverhounds in the lead. Dzenan Catic came streaking down the left side after a Riverhounds turnover but Thompson came flying off his line and smothered the attack. Thompson will be joining the Jamaican national team for their game next week against Cuba.
Steffens emphasized the attacking style that the Riverhounds played early in the first half as a key to securing the momentum for the rest of the game.
“Our game plan really was to come in and press hard,” he said. “I thought we did that really, really well for 15 minutes. We called off the press after 15 minutes and fell apart, basically. We did not play good soccer for the last 25 minutes or so of the first half.
“At halftime, we turned around and put the press back on, and we were going to do that for 45 minutes. I thought the guys did a great job pressing in the second half.”
In that second half, it was all Riverhounds. Kerr found himself surrounded by Harrisburg defenders at the top of the box, but made a nifty move to find some space and fired a shot off the outstretched fingertips of Renfro and re-established a two-goal lead for the Riverhounds at the 52-minute mark.
In the 62nd minute, the City Islanders provided some offense pressure, and Riverhounds defender Anthony Arena made an athletic clear, but it was ruled to have been a dangerous challenge and he received a yellow card.
Kerr completed the hat trick and put a bow on the victory when he took another pass from Vincent, made a move to his left foot to evade a defender, and it shot it to the low corner to beat Renfro in the 77th minute.
Harrisburg forward Garret Pettis scored on a questionably earned penalty kick at the 86-minute mark, but it was too little, to late for the City Islanders.
Vincent added insult to injury with his second goal of the night on a great long shot from the right side in stoppage time.
The City Islanders are the Riverhounds’ oldest and fiercest rivals. The teams have played against one other since the City Islanders were founded in 2004, and they are each other’s geographically closest opponents.
This year, for the first time, the Keystone Derby Cup will be awarded to the team that has the best record in the four games between the clubs scheduled for this season.
The next match for the Riverhounds is at Highmark Stadium against the Rochester Rhinos on Saturday, April 4 at 7:00 p.m.
Photo credit: Brian Mitchell
