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USL Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

3 Things: #LDNvPIT

May 30, 2021 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release


The Riverhounds are feeling good after picking up their first win of the season at the New York Red Bulls II, but there's no time to sit back and celebrate with the season's first midweek tilt on the slate.

Next up for the Hounds is a Wednesday road trip to Loudoun United. That game will be a 7 p.m. kickoff in Leesburg, Va., and will be streamed on ESPN+.

Speaking of the short week, that limited rest happens to be the first of our 3 Things to watch Wednesday:

1) Rest and rotation

Not only is this week the first midweek game of the season for the Hounds, it also kicks off the busiest stretch of their entire USL Championship season.

Beginning with the game Friday in New York, the Hounds play 10 games over a 40-day stretch through July 7, after which the team will finally have a weekend off. That schedule congestion is going to test the players' fitness and force the coaching staff to manage the workload placed on each player.

Some of the obvious rotation candidates include striker Tommy Williamson, who should be fresh after not making the trip to New York, and defenders Preston Kilwien and Jalen Robinson, both of whom came off the bench late in New York. In addition, players such as Anthony Velarde and Louis Perez, who have mostly featured off the bench so far this season, could be in line for starts, if not Wednesday, then later in this busy stretch of the season.

2) Folly of youth

Loudoun United isn't known for the same, up-tempo, high pressing style as Red Bulls II, but like New York, they do boast a roster laden with young players. Of the team's starting 11 in their last match, a 1-0 win at New Mexico United, goalkeeper Jermaine Fordah was the only player over 25, and four of the 11 were under 21.

With that in mind, the Hounds need to show their maturity when pressure comes and allow Loudoun to stretch themselves out of position. That will create gaps in the midfield and in the back line that the Hounds can exploit, just as they did against New York.

The flip side of that is dealing with the speed and energy of the young Loudoun players when they have the ball, which puts a premium on sound positioning and team defending when the Hounds are without the ball.

3) One-touch wonders

Perhaps the most impressive part of the Hounds' three goals in New York - apart from Alex Dixon's back-to-the-goal beauty of a backheel for an assist - was that all three came on first-touch finishes.

Danny Griffin calmly passed the ball into the net between the goalkeeper and a defender when he received Albert Dikwa's cross, Dixon redirected Dani Rovira's cross into the bottom corner, and Russell Cicerone powered his shot past the keeper after getting Dixon's deft return feed.

While the finishing touch to every goal isn't that easy, the Hounds did two things very well to make theirs in New York look clinical - spreading the defense wide enough to create space and recognizing whether power or placement was needed on the final shot.

If the Hounds continue to get behind defenses in wide areas, the players in finishing positions will have time to compose themselves, assess those situations and make the chances count, whether it's on the first touch or not.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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