Good Point on the road for the Hounds

---

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds opened the 2009 United Soccer Leagues Second Division season with a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace Baltimore. The game was played at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County Stadium in front of an announced crowd of 2,015.

The Riverhounds won the possession battle in the first half but were unable to create many scoring chances. Pittsburgh's best chance of the first half came in the 25th minute when Justin Evans headed the ball towards the net, but Palace goalkeeper Brian Rowland made a tremendous save to keep Baltimore in the game.

In the 35th minute, Baltimore midfielder Dan Lader seemed to have scored, but was judged to have been in an offside position.

The second half saw a more aggressive approach by Crystal Palace, but their scoring opportunities were still scarce. Pittsburgh threatened to break the tie on Sean Cameron's shot from the six yard line, but Palace keeper Brian Rowland again made another important save.

"We had several good chances on set piece opportunities, but didn’t score.  Still, we’re happy to come away with a point in the opener against one of the top teams in USL-2," said Riverhounds Head Coach Gene Klein. "We played well as a team and corrected some of the issues we were facing during the preseason."  

The Hounds were outshot 10-7.  Zach Varga, who started in goal, had three key saves for Pittsburgh.

The Riverhounds' next game is away against the Richmond Kickers.