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USL Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

Game Day: Hounds vs. Las Vegas Lights FC

May 19, 2023 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release


PITTSBURGH - May momentum is on the Hounds' side, and they'll try to keep that going Saturday night when the team hosts Las Vegas Lights FC at Highmark Stadium for the first time at 7 p.m.

The match, which will be shown live on Pittsburgh's CW and streamed via ESPN+, will see the Hounds try to remain undefeated at home in 2023. The team has a 3-0-1 record at Highmark in all competitions this season, most recently winning last week in a tussle with frequent playoff foe Birmingham, 2-1. The match will be the first time the Hounds have played consecutive games at home all season, and tickets are still available through Ticketmaster or at the Highmark Stadium Box Office.

Perhaps more relevant than the team's home record is their record this month, two wins and a draw, including the massive May 9 U.S. Open Cup win at the New England Revolution. That three game stretch coincides with the return of Danny Griffin to the Hounds, and the fourth-year pro has already been impactful to the team's numbers when it comes to ball-winning, possession and even scoring - Griffin scored the winner against New England and would have had his first league goal Saturday against Birmingham if not for a whistle awarding a foul that none of the replay cameras was able to detect.

Though Griffin's goal did not stand, both strikes by Albert Dikwa did. That gave the 25-year-old striker nine goals in the first 10 matches of the league season, a Hounds record. Currently the USL Championship scoring leader, Dikwa will try to keep up his current impeccable form that has seen him score five goals over the past three USL matches.

On the other side of the coin, the Lights come into the match as the league's last remaining winless team, but also as one of the harder teams to beat with six draws in their opening nine games. Apart from a single outlier - a 4-1 loss at Miami last month - the Lights have played nothing but one-goal games, including a narrow defeat against defending champion San Antonio.

The Lights, with nine goals in nine matches, are the third-lowest scoring team in the league currently, ahead of only Detroit and Indy in that regard. Lucas Stauffer, a former New York Red Bulls II player, leads the way with two goals and two assists in his first year back in the U.S. after time in the German lower leagues. But Las Vegas does have some proven firepower stashed away, most notably former Middlesborough and FC Cincinnati man Emmanuel Ledesma, who has one goal this season.

Highmark Stadium is expected to be packed once again after consecutive league sellouts, and the match will feature the second guest of the 412 Celebrity Series when former Pittsburgh Pirates NL East-winning catcher and former Gold Glove winner Mike LaValliere presents the game ball pre-match and joins fans for a special meet & greet. Saturday is also Mental Health Awareness night, part of the USL-wide "Need Support?" campaign which launched last week.

The Tailgate Zone will open at 5 p.m. to begin the night's festivities, and gates open at 6 p.m.

Match info

Riverhounds (3-2-5) vs. Las Vegas Lights FC (0-3-6)

Date: Saturday, May 20

Time: 7 p.m.

Location: Highmark Stadium

Tickets: Ticketmaster

Odds: Hounds -195 / Draw +300 / Birmingham +450 (FanDuel)

TV: Pittsburgh's CW

Streaming: ESPN+ (national), Pittsburgh's CW (local)

Live statistics: USL Championship Match Center

Live updates: @RiverhoundsSC on Twitter

Match hashtags: #PITvLV and #HOUNDTAHN

Check out the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Statistics

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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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