Riverhounds beat Tulsa to win 1st USL Championship title

TULSA, Okla. — On a chilly afternoon Saturday in front of 9,507 fans at ONEOK Field, the visiting Pittsburgh Riverhounds met FC Tulsa with the 2025 USL Championship season hanging in the balance.

The winner would claim its first league title.

Like they had two times prior this postseason, in one of the most unlikely postseason runs in Pittsburgh sports history, the Riverhounds dragged scoreless play into extra time, then penalties to decide who would be crowned champion.

Behind Beto Ydrach’s fifth and final goal of penalties and Eric Dick’s biggest save of the season on FC Tulsa’s second chance, the Riverhounds took a 5-3 decision in the shootout after a scoreless deadlock through 120 minutes of play.

The Riverhounds finished fourth in the Eastern Conference standings in the regular season, changed coaches in October and scored just one goal in four postseason matches. Yet they capped off the franchise’s 26th season with championship gold.

“We deserved this,” Ydrach said. “I don’t know what really happened. I had to look back, and I saw everyone running so I knew that we won. We’ve been through a lot this year. A lot of adversity. We’re just happy to bring the trophy back to Pittsburgh.”

Dick, who was named MVP of the match, was emotional afterward while discussing the Hounds’ magical run.

“This group has fought tooth and nail all year,” Dick said. “We knew we had it, the talent to do it. Down the line, these guys had clutch moments and made clutch plays. They stepped up and made PKs. Battled 120 minutes again. All credit to them. I’m just so thankful right now.”

The teams spent the first 10 minutes feeling each other out. It was in the 13th minute when the Riverhounds’ Luke Biasi settled a ball from midfielder Junior Etou about 35 yards away on the far-left side of the field. He launched what looked like a pass to the far post, but it managed to get over the head of Tulsa keeper Tyler Deric and kissed the far post.

In the 22nd minute, the Riverhounds got another crack at Deric when Charles Ahl placed a long ball downfield that forward Augi Williams found onside and behind the Tulsa defense. His shot to the lower left had room, but Deric got his right hand on it for a save.

In the 37th minute, the Hounds kept pressing. Robbie Mertz found a ball that he sent ahead, where midfielder Bradley Sample took a header that just missed wide left.

The second half saw a slower pace, and the teams came out cautious. In the 64th minute, the Hounds got a long cross into the box off a direct kick from Mertz. It found Sample, but his header went wide.

Tulsa coach Luke Spencer was gracious in defeat, suggesting his club knew if things went to PKs, the visitor would hold an advantage.

“Credit to Pittsburgh. They were tough,” he said. “They put on a really good performance. They earned it. They deserved it. We knew it was going to tough to break them down. They were experienced in that in these playoffs. It’s one moment, but I thought we played pretty well.”

Off a corner in the 76th minute, Tulsa got close to scoring when Dick played the ball but didn’t completely catch it. The rebound found FC Tulsa defender Ian Daniel lurking nearby, but his soft flick off his right foot just found the top of the net. The game headed to extra time.

Riverhounds acting coach Rob Vincent spoke about how the club prepared for the waves of attacks, saying, “I think the match played out as we expected. They pressed us. They made things difficult. I think the one thing we weren’t prepared for was the surface. It was a bit sticky, but I think we adjusted well.”

The Riverhounds went 4-0-3 after Bob Lilley was placed on administrative leave and Vincent took over as acting coach Oct. 10.

Tulsa kept the pressure in both 15-minute blocks of overtime but could not score, sending the game into penalties. And like the previous two Pittsburgh participated in, it had the better of play, converting on all five shots, the last by Ydrach to seal the win.

For team captain Danny Griffin, this brought an end to a very rough three months after he was accused of using a racial slur in a match against Hartford in late September, only to be cleared of any wrongdoing by the league.

“I want to have this feeling again,” said Griffin. “To see the guys so happy, I’m extremely blessed, extremely grateful and proud of the group.”

Notes: This was the second USL Championship in three years to reach penalties. In 2023, Phoenix defeated Charleston on the road. The first final to get to PKs was in 2011 when Orlando City beat the Harrisburg City Islanders. It was also just the fourth finals match to reach extra time. … The 9,507 in attendance was a Tulsa franchise record. … It was just the second time Tulsa made it to penalties in the postseason, losing in 2020 to the El Paso Locomotive, 4-2.