Playoff-Bound Hounds Clinch with Indy Win
USL Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

Playoff-Bound Hounds Clinch with Indy Win

Published on October 11, 2025 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release


PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Riverhounds have qualified for the postseason for the eighth consecutive year - extending a team record - with a 2-1 win over Indy Eleven tonight at Highmark Stadium.

Danny Griffin and Sean Suber scored for the Hounds (11-10-7), who snapped a five-match winless run when facing Indy (9-14-5). James Musa scored in the 88th minute for the visitors, but the Hounds navigated five minutes of stoppage time to send the sellout crowd of 5,618 home happy.

The streak of eight consecutive playoff berths is the second-longest active streak in the USL Championship behind Louisville City FC, and it is the longest current streak among Pittsburgh's four professional teams.

First half

Indy, which entered the match as the first team on the wrong side of the playoff line in the Eastern Conference, came out pressing from the start, and Hounds goalkeeper Eric Dick made the first of his three saves in the seventh minute to smother a free kick by Aodhan Quinn.

Quinn nearly put the Eleven ahead on a counter-attack chance in the 22nd minute. The veteran found space alone in the left side of the box, but Dick again came up with a stop by getting his fingertips to a low shot, redirecting the ball around the far post.

But in the 38th minute, the Hounds put themselves in front on a play that began with a long cross snapped across goal by Robbie Mertz from the left sideline. The ball carried over the Indy defense to Augi Williams at the back post, and the striker hit a low, hard ball back across goal for a sliding Griffin to turn home for his sixth goal in all competitions this year, a career high.

Second half

Indy goalkeeper Hunter Sulte finished with five saves in the match, largely on a spectacular flurry early after the break.

Sulte denied Williams in the 58th minute with a kick save at point-blank range after a rambling run by Junior Etou to get into the left side of the box. One minute later, he dove to his right to deny Bradley Sample's hard-hit half-volley. He ended the sequence with a third save shortly afterward, pushing Charles Ahl's near-post attempt wide of the goal.

Suber finally increased the Hounds' lead to two in the 76th minute by rising at the near post to meet a Sample corner kick and turning the ball into the far side of the net with his head. It was the center back's first goal of 2025.

Indy pulled the goal back in the 88th minute with the Hounds defending a long throw-in. The defense headed the ball clear to Jack Blake, whose volley attempt from outside of the box spun off the outside of his foot. The awkward delivery fell perfectly at the back post for Musa, who finished unmarked on the spinning ball.

Modelo Man of the Match

Danny Griffin put in a two-way shift with the goal being the highlight. But the captain also won possession a team-leading five times, won 4 of 7 aerial duels against a bigger Indy side and had five touches in the Indy box.

What's next?

With playoffs confirmed, the Hounds have two matches left to try and move into the top four in the East and earn the right to host in the playoffs. The first of those is a cross-country trip to face a Monterey Bay FC (7-14-7) team that must win its final two chances to have any shot at the postseason. That match will be a 10 p.m. start Saturday, Oct. 18 in Seaside, Calif.

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United Soccer League Championship Stories from October 11, 2025


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