Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (4-0-5) overcame an early deficit – the team’s first deficit this season – against the Tampa Bay Rowdies (4-5-1) on Saturday at Al Lang Stadium. With help from an own goal and Romeo Parkes’ first tally this season, the Hounds bounced back to tie the Rowdies, 2-2, after falling behind 1-0 in the 3rd minute. Here’s how Pittsburgh came away with one point in St. Petersburg.
20’ Max Lachowecki (own goal)
In the 20th minute, Christiano François bolted down the right side of the pitch. Once he hit the halfway line, the attacking midfielder sent a long ball to Parkes.
In the above photo, Parkes beat defender Ivan Magalhaes to the ball on the right side of the 18-yard box before blasting a shot at goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald, who came out to cut down the angle on the take.
After being deflected into the air by Fitzgerald, who initially blocked away Parkes’ take, the ball descended near the crossbar. Seeing it approach the goalmouth, Max Lachowecki (red arrow) attempted to clear the sphere away from the goal line, but instead knocked it into his own net. This miscue provided Pittsburgh with the equalizer, bringing the score to 1-1.
30’ Romeo Parkes assisted by Kenardo Forbes
The Cabaret, Haiti native started the attack for Pittsburgh’s second tally as well. Gathering a loose ball at the halfway line, François then passed forward to Parkes.
As seen above, Parkes (yellow arrow) fielded the pass from his teammate before one-touching a ball to Kenardo Forbes (orange arrow), who made a break down the right side of the field. Magalhaes (red arrow) aggressively charged at Parkes, which left Forbes open on the right flank.
As Forbes approached the penalty area, he drew the attention of Hunter Gorskie (green arrow) while Parkes had a step on two Tampa Bay players. Seeing this chain of events, the Kingston, Jamaica native sent a pass to the Pittsburgh striker, who then buried a near-post shot past Fitzgerald to give the Hounds a 2-1 lead at the time.
The Other Side
The Rowdies used set pieces and traffic in front of the net to catalyze their offense, as both goals came from such opportunities.
In the 3rd minute, Alex Morrell received a corner kick from close range. The forward then bolted toward the 18-yard box and sent a pass into the penalty area. Just being able to flick the incoming ball with his right foot, Lance Rozeboom’s sneaky shot beat goalkeeper Dan Lynd to the bottom-right corner of the net.
Tampa Bay used a free kick in the 59th minute to notch an equalizer, bringing the score to 2-2. Joe Cole lined up just outside the penalty box and subsequently released a low, hard shot by the right of a three-man wall and Lynd.
Tale of the Tape
Holding a 3-0-1 record at home this season, Tampa Bay used this advantage in part to outshoot the Hounds 15-8 over the course of the match. Despite the wide disparity in total shots, the shots on goal differential was much closer with the Rowdies besting Pittsburgh, 5-4.
On both of the Hounds’ tallies, the pressure originated from the right side of the field, which was a common occurrence for the entirety of the match. Throughout the game, Riverhounds SC elected to utilize the right side in the attacking third 53.5 percent of the time. This number increased to 58.6 percent for the first 45 minutes, when the Hounds notched each of their tallies, which allowed for them to steal a point on the road Saturday night.
