Rowdies Rout Riverhounds, 3-0, in Home Opener
USL Tampa Bay Rowdies

Rowdies Rout Riverhounds, 3-0, in Home Opener

Published on March 21, 2026 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Tampa Bay Rowdies News Release


ST. PETERSBURG, FL - The Tampa Bay Rowdies knocked off the defending league champions, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, with a convincing 3-0 scoreline in their first home outing of the 2026 season at Al Lang Stadium on Saturday night.

It was a relentless showing for the Rowdies, who outshot the visitors 17 to 2 and didn't concede a single shot on goal with an announced crowd of 6,267 in attendance.

"We were on the front foot; we weren't waiting for the opposition to do things," said Rowdies Head Dominic Casciato. "We're the ones taking the initiative. That's what Rowdies fans want to see. To me, that's the identity of this club, so I'm glad that we're back to that. We need to continue to build on that. We're not the finished product by any means."

Saturday's contest looked to be heading for a scoreless stalemate at halftime until midfielder Marco Micaletto combined with forward Russell Cicerone for an opening strike. As the halftime whistle neared, Micaletto collected a loose ball in Pittsburgh's defensive third and curled in a cross into the box for Cicerone to head into the back of the net. The go-ahead goal was Russell's 70 career regular-season goal in the league.

"Getting on the scoresheet first is massively important, especially playing at home," said Cicerone. "You build the momentum; you get the crowd a little more into it. Pittsburgh had the ball a lot in the first half, but they weren't really doing anything with it. I don't think we were bad or anything like that in the first half. It's just we could've cleaned a couple of things up and hurt them in different ways. I think we came out and implemented that stuff in the second half."

Cicerone went on to nab his first assist for the Green and Gold as well in the second half. Tampa Bay's second scoring sequence started from their own defensive end when defender Brian Schaefer played a ball into space for Cicerone, who took the ball in stride and carried it forward into the attacking half before threading a pass into open space for MD Myers to blast past the goalkeeper with a first-time finish from the top of the box.

Myers, who came off the bench only 11 minutes before his tally, was making his Rowdies debut. He wasn't the only one to score in his first appearance for the Rowdies on Saturday. Newcomer Evan Conway came off the bench in the 90th minute and notched a goal just four minutes later, redirecting a cross from Myers on frame and across the line for the Rowdies third of the night.

"(Getting goals from the bench) is massive," said Casciato. "Everybody here, from me to the people above, to our kit man, to the last guy on the bench, to the captain - everyone is responsible for this team's success. I think the guys are really buying into that. We always want to have an impact from our subs and we really got that tonight. That makes my more job more difficult in terms of who starts in the next game, but that's a really good problem to have."

The Rowdies are now unbeaten through the first two matches of the season with two shutout victories. Last year, it took the club until mid-June to surpass five points in the league standings.

"To come out with that kind of dominating performance is great, but listen, we're looking to grow every single week," said Cicerone. "We're not going to get complacent. It's always forward with us. The staff has that mentality, the players they brought in, everyone from the owners down have that mentality that we're going to keep growing every single day."

Scoring Summary

TBR - Cicerone (Micaletto), 45+1'

TBR - Myers (Cicerone), 77'

TBR - Conway (Myers), 90+4'

Caution Summary

TBR - Acoff (Yellow Card), 41'

PIT - Etout (Yellow Card), 56'

TBR - Micaletto (Yellow Card), 62'

TBR - Cicerone (Yellow Card), 90'

PIT - Amann (Yellow Card), 90+3'

Stats Summary: TBR / PIT

Shots: 17 / 2

Shots on Goal: 7 / 0

Saves: 0 / 4

Corner Kicks: 4 / 3

Fouls Conceded: 15 / 6

Offside: 1 / 1

Possession: 44.4 / 55.6

Lineups

Rowdies: Waite, Acoff (Perez, 66'), Schaefer, Dossantos, Ostrem, Hilton, Schneider, Cruz, Micaletto (, Myers, 66'), Cicerone (Conway, 90'), Dolabella (Henderlong, 84')

Rowdies Bench: Pack, Leerman, Rodriguez, Tita, Wyke, Perez, Conway, Myers, Henderlong

PIT: Campuzano, Ydrach, Souza, Vacter (Etou, 46'), Viera, Griffin (Walti, 80'), Bassett, Barnes, Sample (Mertz, 68'), Ahl (Goldthorp, 68'), Dikwa (Amann, 80')

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United Soccer League Championship Stories from March 21, 2026


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