Riverhounds lose at Tampa Bay, missing chance to climb standings

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds missed a chance to move into the top spot of the USL Championship Eastern Conference standings Saturday, losing 3-1 to the Tampa Bay Rowdies in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Riverhounds (7-3-1) remain tied with Memphis 901 FC for third in the conference, two points behind Louisville City FC and Detroit City FC.

The Riverhounds took a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute Saturday night when, on a counterattack, Alex Dixon took a pass from Russell Cicerone on the right wing and rocketed a shot that banked in off a defender.

Tampa Bay’s Jake LaCava tied the score in the 36th minute when he found a loose ball in a scramble in the box off a free kick and buried it.

The Rowdies scored the game’s decisive goal in the 57th minute.

Lucky Mkosana tacked on an insurance goal in the 94th minute.

“I thought the effort was there, but we weren’t quite good enough on the night,” Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley said in a press release. “Overall, I think it was a good effort, but at times we allowed them too much space. But there’s something we can take from this game, and now we have to come home and get ready to go back down to Miami.”

The Riverhounds are off until they return to Florida to face Miami FC at 7 p.m. next Saturday.