Riverhounds still looking for 1st goal after losing home opener to Orange County

It’s only two games, and there’s a long way to go, but the Pittsburgh Riverhounds have yet to find the back of the net.

It wasn’t for a lack of opportunities Saturday night, but the Hounds didn’t have their finishing touch.

Add in a couple defensive lapses, and it made for a dismal home opener as Orange County SC earned a 2-0 victory over the Riverhounds at Highmark Stadium.

The Hounds got off 12 shots but only two on target and fell to 0-2 on the year.

“It was maybe partially a game of missed chances, but also a game of a couple of critical errors on the defensive side,” Hounds coach Bob Lilley said.

The Hounds had a pregame ceremony where they showcased the USL Championship Players’ Shield trophy, which they earned for having the best record in the regular season last year.

That was pretty much the only highlight of the night for the home side.

Orange County whisked away any momentum a crowd of 5,125 brought by scoring in the third minute.

Ryan Doghman dribbled in against a Hounds defense that was backing up and slotted a low cross through the box, and Brian Iloski beat Junior Etou to the far post and slammed the ball past Hounds keeper Eric Dick.

Orange County’s second goal came in the 76th minute and it was a backbreaker. It came after the Hounds had started to push hard for a tying goal and against the run of play.

Christian Sorto put a cross into a wide-open Cameron Dunbar, who made one move and slotted the ball into the net to make it 2-0.

Prior to the goal, the Hounds had several attempts to tie it.

The best chance was in the 69th minute when Babacar Diene flicked a pass on to Robbie Mertz, who got a clear path to goal.

Mertz got a shot over Orange County keeper Colin Shutler, who had charged off his line, but the Orange County defenders rushed back to clear the ball off the goal line.

Several more chances went by the wayside after the Hounds went down two goals, but Lilley took some positives to build on for next week.

“It was nice to see us pass the ball a lot better than last week,” Lilley said. “We worked on a lot of those things. Guys played with confidence. They wanted the ball. Nobody was hiding out there. We were miles ahead of where we were last week. The good thing is we created chances, and if we keep creating those types of chances, we will score goals.”

The Hounds have been without new forward signing Kazaiah Sterling as he’s waited for a stamp on his passport in England. Lilley said after the game that Sterling had his passport stamped Friday and is expected to be in Pittsburgh this week to train with the team.

West Allegheny and Duquesne grad Nate Dragisich made his Hounds debut, coming on as a sub in the 90th minute. He nearly scored in stoppage time, but his attempt in front of goal drifted wide.

The Hounds lost only one home game all last season. Home openers have not yielded great results, however. They are now 3-6-3 in the home opener at Highmark Stadium and 2-2-3 in the Lilley era.

They’ll travel to Louisville next Saturday before returning home to play Tampa Bay on April 6.