Riverhounds hope to build on first win with home opener
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds Soccer Club broke into the win column last weekend with a 1-0 victory at two-time defending league champion Louisville City.
The team hopes to build on the victory as it opens the home portion of the 2019 schedule Saturday against Hartford Athletic.
The match, set for 7 p.m. at Highmark Stadium, is six years to the day the team played its first-ever home game at the venue.
The Riverhounds played their first four games on the road and produced a 1-1-2 record. They sit in 11th place in the United Soccer League Championship Eastern Conference.
The game-winner against Louisville City came in the 74th minute as Neco Brett converted a penalty kick after a foul inside the 18-yard box.
It was Brett’s first goal of the season. The striker scored a team-best 15 goals and led the way with 37 points in the 2018 campaign, his first with the Riverhounds.
Ben Lundgaard recorded the first shutout of his professional career.
Hartford Athletic (0-5-0) is one of four teams in the Eastern Conference without a win this season.
The USL first-year club is down nine to their opponents in goal differential, the worst in the conference by five goals.
Hartford plays its first eight matches on the road.
Pittsburgh has earned draws in its past two home openers.
Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.
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