Referee: Islam Sallaj Assistant Referees: Ian Forbes, Charles Murphy 4th Official: Phil Cunningham
Weather: Sunny
Team Summary - Richmond Kickers
Players
Ronnie Pascale, William Yomby, Henry Kalungi, David Hertel, Roger Bothe (Nsereko 57’), Luke Vercollonen (MacKenzie 74’), Gerson Dos Santos (Foglesong 54’), Sascha Coerres, Edson Elcock, Mike Burke (Villanueva 57’), Matthew Delicate
Players not used- Chase Harrison, Evan Harding, Charlie Reiter
Hunter Gilstrap, Sterling Flunder, Louie Rolko, Shintaro Harada, Jason Kutney (Pierce 69’), Matt Tuttle, Alex Weekes, Tracis MacKenzie, Tommy Gray, Jeremy Deighton (Salsi 76’), Chad Severs (Baker 72’)
Players not used - Jason Stenta, Niko Katic, Adam Gazda
Pittsburgh, PA - On a hot and steamy evening, with field temperatures above 90 degrees, the Riverhounds (4-4-5) converted two against the Kickers (6-5-5). With a playoff-like atmosphere; the two Clubs did not disappoint, as an exciting display of soccer was showcased in front of the 905 fans that were in attendance at Chartiers Valley Stadium.
The match began with some early miscues from the Riverhounds, but Hunter Gilstrap was on point from the opening whistle and was up for the challenge. A give-away in the middle third allowed for Kicker midfielder, Sascha Gorres to slot a slashing Edson Elcock through the central defense and one-on-one with Gilstrap. Only a quick, right-footed kick save from Gilstrap would deny Elcock of his efforts in the 9th minute.
Nearly ten minutes later, the Riverhounds received their first quality scoring opportunity of the match. A combination between Jeremy Deighton and Chad Severs created an unbalanced Richmond defense allowing the third attacker, Tommy Gray to receive the through ball down the right flank and cut inside of his pursuing defender. Gray’s low left-footed strike slid just wide of the Kickers’ near post.
The remainder of the first half was a battle in the middle third of the field, seeing Riverhounds captain Travis MacKenzie winning tackles, headers and directing the tempo of the match. His composure allowed the Riverhounds to play through him and strike down the flanks with overlapping runs and diagonal balls into the corners.
Minutes before the break, a Kickers’ turnover led to a Riverhounds counter. Gray intercepted a pass and turned up field into space, to find a cutting Deighton, and played a brilliant through ball between two Kicker defenders. Deighton had a step on his mark and struck a low shot to the near post, but was denied by Kicker’s goalkeeper, Ronnie Pascale. The rebound landed back on Deighton’s foot for a second shot in as many seconds, but the same result unfolded as Pascale parried the ball wide and smothered the ball out of danger.
The last 45 minutes of the match began with the same fury as the first, with both sides attacking the goal with pace. Each team was looking for a counter, but Gilstrap and Pascale were on form to deny anything that was shot on goal during the first ten minutes.
In the 57th minute, the Riverhounds built their best attack of the match. Starting from the left defensive flank, Sterling Flunder took the air out of the ball and patiently waited for a passing lane to open up and find Matt Tuttle alone. Flunder’s pass provided Tuttle the necessary space to attack with speed and recognize a numbers up situation, as three slashing Hounds were running through the Kickers’ defense. Tuttle played Deighton a bending ball towards the right post and free to strike a shot on goal. Pascale was in good position, but gave up a rebound allowing an on-rushing Gray to slide it past Pascale only to be denied by the upright. The ensuing deflection off the left post came to the feet of Severs, who calmly slotted it into the back of the net in order to provide the Riverhounds with the first goal of the match.
Three minutes later, a miscue from the Kickers’ defense played Deighton one-on-one with Pascale. The veteran Pascale denied the opportunity with a beautiful kick save.
In the 64th minute, the Riverhounds committed a foul in their defensive third and gave the Kickers’ a quality opportunity to even the score. The Kickers’ Gorres served a back post ball to Elcock behind the Riverhounds defense. Elcock’s header nearly caught Gilstrap sliding across his line, but Gilstrap was able to recover and make a table-top save and deflect the ball off of a Kicker attacker for a goal kick.
A counter attack off of a Kickers’ corner led to the Riverhounds second goal of the match. Gilstrap plucked the ball out of the air on the cross and played a quick drop-kick into the Kickers’ defensive third. The ball landed and bounced over the recovering Kickers’ defenders to find Severs out-pacing the Kickers’ backs and sliding a low-hard strike into the bottom left corner of the goal for his second on the evening.
The Kickers’ had two late set pieces in the 89th and 90th minute to cut the score, but Gilstrap came up with two diving saves to secure his fifth shutout in league play.
The Riverhounds return to action this Saturday when the Harrisburg City Islanders travel to Pittsburgh for the second meeting of the Keystone Derby. The match is scheduled to Kick-Off at 7:00 p.m.
To purchase tickets for Saturday’s match visit www.riverhounds.com or call into the Office at 412.539.1191 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 412.539.1191end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
