Against Detroit FC, Riverhounds can avenge playoff loss, earn elusive trip to conference finals

No matter what the sport is, from hockey to football, postseason play is unmatched, as it becomes not just a test of wills, but at times it’s simply about luck and the right place and right time.

For Detroit FC, a bit of timing and luck has propelled the No. 8 seed of the USL Championship Eastern Conference into the semifinals against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. It was just two seasons ago that Le Rouge did to the Riverhounds what they did last week at Louisville FC: go on the road and knock off the No. 1 seed and Players Shield winners for 2025.

Devon Amoo-Mensah scored the only goal of the game last Saturday for Detroit, and Carlos Saldaña registered three saves in a 1-0 road shutout over a Louisville team that accrued 36 more points than Detroit in the final regular-season standings.

In 2023, Detroit (10-11-10) came to Highmark Stadium and did the same to the Riverhounds (13-10-8), ending their season after hoisting the same trophy as the top team in the USL Championship by the same final score of 1-0. It’s almost a mirror image of that 2023 run, as Le Rouge went to Louisville for a semifinal match.

The Riverhounds are looking for a different result than two seasons ago. And with an 8-3-3 mark at home this season, the odds are on their side. Also, the team has seen a slight boost in scoring since Rob Vincent took over as “acting manager” in the wake of the club putting head coach Bob Lilley on “administrative leave” four weeks ago.

The move to Vincent, according to striker Augi Williams, has been a positive one that has liberated the forwards.

“I think (Vincent) has come, and he’s a little different that what I was used to,” Williams said. “The freedom to be able to express myself, how I move — in terms of how I want to move, it’s helped me a lot in terms of making a decision, and he trusts me to be able to make that.”

The downside to the last two matches is that the Hounds have not scored in two straight games, going 1-0-1 over that time.

On the flip side, the Riverhounds have only allowed four first-half goals at home in 2025 and 12 total. Goaltender Erik Dick has racked up 12 clean sheets in USL play this year.

Still, a win can get the Riverhounds into unfamiliar territory: the Eastern Conference finals. That’s a step never taken at any level of play for the 26-year-old franchise, an achievement that is not lost on Vincent.

“I think we know it’s going to be a bit of a scrap,” Vincent quipped after Friday practice at Highmark. “It’s going to take a lot of fight in the middle there, picking up loose balls as we can. It’s going to be a playoff environment, and you just hope to come out on the right side of it.”

Very few players remain from the 2023 Players Shield club. Defender Luke Biasi is one of them and is taking this game a bit differently than most of his comrades.

“For me, it’s a lot more personal than it is for the rest of the locker room,” Biasi said. “I try to keep that separate. I think the story is already written, however, with (Detroit FC) beating Louisville. They’re an eight seed, but we clearly know what they are capable of if they can beat a team that had one loss all year.”

The season series was won by the Hounds 1-0-1, but Le Rouge beat the Riverhounds in the Jägermeister Cup. This game should serve to break the deadlock on a very even series. The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised locally on SportsNet Pittsburgh and ESPN+.