Pittsburgh Riverhounds 2 made it two wins from two games after another strong match in possession, taking a 2-0 victory over Erie Sports Center last Thursday, May 21 at F.N.B. Stadium. ‘
Midfielder Daniel Firek and forward Michael Lee off the bench who scored the goals to keep the first-year side in pole positions atop the Great Forest Division.
“Erie made it really difficult on us and defended very well for 90 minutes, which made it tough for us to play through them and do what we wanted to do,” Riverhounds 2 head coach Josh Kremers said. “We found an early goal in the first half, and they still stuck to their guns. They broke on the counter extremely well and made that tough for us. We had to be very sharp not to give those up.”
Erie’s defensive efforts were strong, especially in the first half, keeping the Hounds from getting many dangerous chances. The deadlock was broken in the 24th minute when Joshua Hardin’s run down the right found Israel Neto, whose quick, one-touch layoff set up Firek for a deflected strike from the edge of the box that beat the Erie keeper. The side continued to dominate the chances for the rest of the first half, but went into the break with only a 1-0 lead.
“We wanted to keep doing what we were doing going into the second half,” Kremers said. “We did a really good job in the first half going one-on-one and finding those moments to the end line, whether it’s runners from inside or out, or we circulated the ball quickly enough to find those moments and keep trusting the process. We created a lot of good chances early in the second half.”
Early in the second half, the side won a handful of corners, but it was Neto driving into the box in the 54th minute that won a penalty, which he narrowly missed hitting the bar on a chip down the middle. However, like their first match, a second penalty came after Lee’s shot was impeded by the hand of an Erie defender. This time, Lee was the player who stepped up, and confidently put it into the left side netting.
Goalkeeper Jack Moxom recorded his second clean sheet in as many games for Hounds 2, making a few saves on Erie’s counters.
Hounds 2 faces its first two-match week this week, hosting local side Steel City FC at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 27 at F.N.B. Stadium before going on the road for the first time to visit Cleveland Force — the team they beat in the season opener, 5-0 — at 7 p.m. Saturday.
