Jäger Cup Play Wraps with Shootout in Portland
USL Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

Jäger Cup Play Wraps with Shootout in Portland

July 25, 2025 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release


The Pittsburgh Riverhounds' first journey through the USL Jägermeister Cup wound to a close with USL League One side Portland Hearts of Pine claiming the bonus point in a shootout, 5-4, after the teams played to a 2-2 draw tonight at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland, Maine.

All four goals in the match were scored in a wild 11-minute stretch of the second half. Substitutes Ollie Wright and Titus Washington both scored to put Portland ahead, but each time, Bertin Jacquesson answered for the Hounds to record his first multi-goal match of 2025. Portland played the final hour of the match down a man after goalkeeper Kashope Oladapo was sent off for a last-man foul on the Hounds' Charles Ahl.

Both teams finish Jäger Cup group play with a 1-2-1 record, and neither team will advance from Group 4, which will be won by either Rhode Island FC or Hartford Athletic, who meet tomorrow.

First half

Goalkeeper Jacob Randolph came up huge in the 20th minute after a turnover in the Hounds' defense. Evan Southern won the ball for Portland and fired a driven shot from atop the box that had the left corner of the net picked out, but Randolph laid out to his right to get a glove on the ball and deny the chance.

Nine minutes later, a long ball out of the back by Randolph set up the match's biggest flashpoint. The ball bounced past center back Shandon Wright, allowing Ahl to slip behind the defender and beat Oladapo to the first touch outside of the box. Oladapo bumped Ahl to the ground outside of the 18, and referee Edson Carvajal sent off the goalkeeper for a foul as the last defender.

Jacquesson nearly opened the scoring in stoppage time with his header from a corner kick, but Portland defender Nathan Messer denied the Hounds with a header clear from the goal line.

Second half

Play opened up in the second half during which the Hounds had 80 percent of possession and an expected goals (xG) mark of 2.04, according to Opta, but it was Portland that opened the scoring against the run of play.

Substitutes combined as Wright slipped a ball forward to Washington on the counter, and Washington allowed the ball to run across his body before smashing a shot into the roof of the net in the 64th minute.

Things got frantic in the coming moments, as Jacquesson equalized on a loose-ball scramble from a corner kick by cutting the ball sharply onto his left foot and driving home a 71st-minute finish. Less than a minute later, Portland was back ahead 2-1 when Washington found Wright making a trailing run to the top of the box for a curling finish.

The Hounds came right back on the ensuing kickoff, and Junior Etou got around defender Mohamed Mohamed into the left side of the box, winning a penalty kick as Mohamed pulled him back from turning toward goal. Jacquesson converted the penalty kick down the middle, leveling things at 2-2 with his third goal of the season.

The Hounds kept the pressure on through stoppage time, but shorthanded Portland bunkered down late to send the match to a shootout - unique to the Jägermeister Cup - after regulation time ended.

Portland goalkeeper Hunter Morse, who entered the match after the red card to Oladapo, made the only stop of the shootout to deny Jorge Garcia. Patrick Langlois sealed it for the hosts by converting the last of a perfect 5-for-5 shootout by Portland.

Modelo Man of the Match

Bertin Jacquesson had his most active attacking day of the season, not only netting both goals, but racking up seven total shots (five on goal) and having a match-high 11 touches inside the opposition box.

What's next?

With cup play behind them, the Hounds (6-6-4) turn attention back to their push for a top-four spot in the Eastern Conference, which begins with a home match at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 29 against Miami FC (5-8-3). That match at Highmark Stadium will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

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United Soccer League Championship Stories from July 25, 2025


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