Riverhounds play to a draw against Loudoun United

It was muggy and overcast at the ‘Mark on the Mon for Sunday’s USL Championship Eastern Conference match between the host Pittsburgh Riverhounds and Loudoun United. The visitors sat six points ahead of the local 11 entering play with 26 points off eight wins so far this season.

If there was ever a time for the host to gain much needed ground against a conference opponent ahead of them, with a head-to-head win in hand, this would be it.

Despite giving up an early goal in just the seventh minute, tying and then taking the lead later in the second half, the Hounds gave up a tally in extra time, settling for a 2-2 draw at home in front of a rowdy crowd of 4,339 fans.

It was attacking forward Riley Bidois who gave Loudoun United an early lead in the seventh minute when his right-footed shot from close range found the center of the Riverhounds’ goal past Eric Dick. It was set up with a timely cross from Wesley Leggett to give the visitors an early advantage.

But six minutes later, a penalty kick was awarded to Pittsburgh when Loudon defender Yannis Leerman was called for a handball inside the box. After a few minutes of injury stoppage, Augi Williams did the honors and came through with a clean kick that beat goalkeeper Hugo Fauroux and found nylon to tie the game at 1-1.

The second half action was cautious in spots, as both teams worked the middle of the field battling for possession and any opportunities that would come of play. It was the host that gained an advantage in the 73rd minute courtesy of Robbie Mertz, who found himself the beneficiary of a ball inside the 18 from teammate Danny Griffin. Mertz went deep into the 6-yard box, took a shot that was blocked by Fauroux, but quickly flicked the rebound over his head and into the net to take the lead on his fourth goal of the season.

“His play has been great this season; today it was not. It was a great goal,” said Riverhounds manager Bob Lilley. “Today there was a lot of subpar play. When they would play long, we were slow to recover.”

Loudoun pressed the action looking for an equalizer. They found it in extra time when a ball inside the Riverhounds 18 got re-directed off the leg of defender Sean Suber and found United midfielder Ben Himes. His shot wasn’t a rocket but was placed well enough that Dick could not stop it, tying the game 2-2. It was his first goal in league play in more than two years.

“It was kinda coming,” said Lilley. “You get the lead. We didn’t pull into a 5-4-1. We said keep playing. We knew there was going to be a lot of stoppage time — the stop for the water break, there were injuries. It seemed like the clock was stopping. But we took a lot of shortcuts in the first five minutes. We didn’t recover as a team or put pressure on the ball.”

The tie did allow the Riverhounds to take over sole possession of fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings, one point ahead of Indy and next week’s opponent, Detroit City, who each have 20 points. With a game in hand, in addition to a 2-0 win over the Motor City club, the Riverhounds will need at least a draw to stay ahead in the standings, while also locking up the tiebreaker.

“I guarantee you the way we played today, it makes the Detroit game that much harder,” said Lilley. “So now, how do we respond? On the road. It’s going to be a challenge.”

Friday’s contest will begin at 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN 2.