It’s not often someone comes off the bench to score two goals in a soccer game, but Dane Kelly isn’t your average substitute.

Kelly, the USL Championship’s all-time leading scorer, got a rare night off from the starting eleven, but when he entered in the 60th minute he made a immediate impact scoring two times in 13 minutes to lead the Pittsburgh Riverhounds to a 2-0 win over a spirited Loudoun United FC team Saturday night at Highmark Stadium.

It was goals 101 and 102 in Kelly’s USL Championship career and upped his total to three with the Riverhounds (3-0-1). They were also the first two goals Loudoun (2-1-1) has conceded in the young season.

“Dane’s a goal scorer, so as long as you’re getting him service, he’ll be dangerous,” Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley said.

Five minutes after entering the game, Kelly found himself alone in front of goal with Albert Dikwa.

Dikwa slipped a pass to Kelly for a tap-in goal, which came in the 65th minute.

“As a striker, the plan whether you are starting or coming off the bench is to try to score goals,” Kelly said. “(The first goal) was easy for me, because Dikwa did all the hard work, and I just finished the chance.”

The second goal came in the 73rd minute off a corner kick from Kenardo Fobres, which Kelly headed into the net.

“That’s something we have been working on in practice is crosses, and tonight it paid off,” Kelly said. “I told (Forbes) to put it near post, and I’d finish it off.”

Prior to Kelly’s goals it looked like Loudoun could put up a fourth consecutive clean sheet.

The Rivherhounds had a few chances in the first half but started generating more opportunities in the second, eventually leading to Kelly’s goals.

“In the first 20 to 25 minutes we had a lot of attacking possessions, but I didn’t think we did well enough to get all the way in,” Lilley said. “We kept cutting back into the middle. The adjustment at halftime was that we needed to get around the corner and pull their center backs apart. I thought we did a lot better job with that, which allowed us to cross some balls into the face of goal. We were definitely more complete on the ball in the second half, and that was the difference.”

Luke Biasi and Luis Argudo made their first starts for the Riverhounds on Saturday.

The Riverhounds’ next match is a US Open Cup tilt against the Maryland Bobcats of the National Independent Soccer Association 7 p.m. Tuesday at Highmark Stadium. It’s the first US Open Cup match since 2020 after the tournament was put on hiatus for two years because of the pandemic.

“Some guys that didn’t play a ton of minutes tonight will probably play more on Tuesday,” Lilley said. “We can’t take those games for granted. (Maryland) will come in with a lot of energy. Every level has players that can hurt you. We just need to pay attention with our preparation and show up ready to compete. I think our quality is good enough to handle that game. It’s important because we want to advance and give ourselves a chance to see what we can do later on in the tournament.”

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