Sports stats

USL Birmingham Legion FC

Birmingham Suffers Loss to Pittsburgh on the Road

May 13, 2023 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Birmingham Legion FC News Release


PITTSBURGH, PA - Birmingham Legion FC suffered its third loss in a row on Saturday night, falling 2-1 to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on its home turf at Highmark Stadium. Albert Dikwa of the Riverhounds netted a brace to become the top scorer in the Championship, and Legion's Matthew Corcoran scored a screamer from a free kick for his first professional goal.

The Riverhounds opened the scoring up in the 11th minute. A three-piece play saw Pittsburgh's no. 2 Danny Griffin find Kernado Forbes out wide, and the veteran playmaker sent in a cross to meet the head of Dikwa to put it past Legion's goalkeeper Matt VanOekel.

Legion would go on to equalize before the first-half whistle. In the 33rd minute, 19 yards out from goal, 17-year-old Corcoran stepped up on a Freightliner Freekick and curled the ball into the top corner of the net to score one of the most beautiful goals of the season. The wondrous strike was the youngster's first-ever professional goal.

"Pasher handed me the ball with confidence in me," said Corcoran on his set-piece goal. "I felt good over it. I hit it nice, and was grateful it went in. I'm thankful my teammates trusted me to take it."

Things were level between the two sides for the first part of the second half, with Pittsburgh more on the front foot. The Riverhounds scored in the 63rd minute, but the goal was ruled offside. In the 70th minute, however, the Riverhounds found its breakthrough with Dikwa again pulling his side towards a win. Langston Blackstock fed in a ball from out wide and Dikwa found the end of it to score the game-winning goal. Dikwa now is the leading goalscorer in the Championship, with nine goals to his name.

"Too many times we were indecisive about who was taking him," said Head Coach Tommy Soehn on Dikwa's hot form. "You give him a look or two, he's going to bury it. He had a good game for himself."

The Legionnaires have been operating on little rest. In the past five matches, the squad has only had an average of 3.4 days of rest in between matches, and have played more games than any team in the USL Championship.

"Obviously, we're at the end of a stretch of seven games in 21 days," said Coach Soehn. "Tough stretch to get through. There's been highs and lows through that, and obviously, we finished with this one. But it's one game, and now we have to focus on the next one."

"It's just about making sure we get back to full fitness and make sure our legs are rested and we can actually train," said Soehn on how he aims to improve the squad's performance. "We haven't trained, but maybe one or two days in the last three weeks. So that's all part of the grind we've been through."

Goals: PITT - 11' - #9 Albert Dikwa (assisted by #11 Kenardo Forbes) BHM - 35 ‚¬Â² - #17 Matthew Corcoran PITT - 70' - #9 Albert Dikwa (assisted by #7 Langston Blackstock)

Lineup: BHM - 4-2-3-1 - #1 Matt VanOekel; #13 Jake Rufe, #21 Alex Crognale, #2 Ben Reveno, #33 Moses Mensah (76 ‚¬Â² #16 Gabriel Alves); #17 Matthew Corcoran, #5 Mikey Lopez (46 ‚¬Â² #6 Anderson Asiedu); #15 Tyler Pasher, #7 Diba Nwegbo (58 ‚¬Â² #19 Enzo Martinez), #10 Prosper Kasim; #11 Neco Brett (28 ‚¬Â² #9 Juan Agudelo)

The squad is back at home on Saturday, May 20 to face the El Paso Locomotive at Protective Stadium! Kickoff will be at 6:30 PM and fans can get tickets for the match right here. Be sure to show up and cheer on the Legionnaires!

For all club news and updates, fans are encouraged to follow @bhmlegion on social media and keep an eye on bhmlegion.com and the Legion FC app. Download the Legion FC app today on Apple or Android.

Check out the Birmingham Legion FC Statistics



United Soccer League Championship Stories from May 13, 2023


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.

Other Recent Birmingham Legion FC Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central