The ball screamed toward the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC goalmouth.
Finding himself on the goal line, defender Hugh Roberts blocked the incoming New York Red Bulls II shot. The ball continued to ricochet off the goalpost before ultimately being cleared by fellow defender Ray Lee.
Moments later, the Hounds flipped the field on Red Bulls II and scored the second goal of their 3-0 victory. As Roberts’ blocked shot helped preserve the shutout last time out, Pittsburgh (6-1-6) will look to continue its defensive success in a road match against the Charleston Battery (5-3-6) at 7 p.m. on Saturday at MUSC Health Stadium.
“We’ve been really organized the past couple weeks,” goalkeeper Dan Lynd said. “We had a stretch there where we were giving up a few too many [goals] and we really made it a focus in training to stay organized in the back and with the midfielders. So far, we look so good.”
Currently, the Hounds are on a historic pace on the defensive side of the ball. The team’s 0.54 goals allowed per game average ranks as the best mark in team history. The only other time Pittsburgh allowed less than one goal per game came during the 2004 season, when the squad allowed 0.85 goals per game.
“It’s a bunch of guys that know the USL, know their jobs and the system,” Lynd said. “Three of the four [defenders] last game were with Bob [Lilley] previously, so they have a really good understanding of what we want to do, and everyone else has picked up on it as well.”
Playing under Lilley at the Rochester Rhinos in 2017, defenders Jordan Dover, Ray Lee and Todd Pratzner, as well as Lynd, have built on their first season as teammates. Eight Hounds have played at least 900 minutes this season, and the aforementioned group makes up half of these athletes.
Roberts, also one of these veteran defenders, appeared in his 100th career USL match earlier this season against Toronto FC II on April 7. Heading into the showdown against Charleston this weekend, Roberts ranks fourth on the team with 38 clearances.
As the backline carries years of experience, it allows the group to hone in on aspects of the game in which it can improve upon.
“I think we were unhappy [Red Bulls II] played through us a couple times last game,” Lynd said. “I think overall we did pretty well. It’s just tweaking little things throughout the week to make sure we give ourselves the best chance to get a win.”
The Hounds will carry an unbeaten road mark of 2-0-3 to MUSC Health Stadium this weekend. Despite the zero in the loss column, only one of Pittsburgh’s eight clean sheets have come on the road – the squad’s 0-0 season opener result at Nashville SC.
Meanwhile, in the Battery’s 14 games this year, they have only been shut out three times. The Hounds have not blanked Charleston on the road since 2011.
“We showed well against Red Bulls II,” Lynd said, “and we’ll tweak some stuff going into Saturday and hopefully put on a good performance this week.”
