PITTSBURGH (May 29, 2019) – Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC took down Indy Eleven, 1-0, in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night at Highmark Stadium.
The Hounds were unable to put together many offensive chances in the early portion of Wednesday’s contest, but a goal from Kenardo Forbes in the 85th minute was enough to edge out the Eleven.
Kyle Morton earned the clean sheet for the Hounds, finishing the night with five saves.
First Half
It was a relatively quiet first half of play for the Black and Gold on the attacking end. Neco Brett ripped a shot toward the cage in the opening minutes of the match, but placed the chance well wide.
Brett took another go at goal in the 16th minute, this time with more of a direct look at the net, but fired wide once again.
A pair of big saves from Morton highlighted the opening period for the Hounds’ defense.
The goalkeeper made a diving save in the 40th minute to keep the match tied at 0-0. On the ensuing corner kick, he swallowed up another dangerous Indy opportunity. Morton finished the half with two saves.
Second Half
Indy came out of the break with a head of steam and nearly struck gold in the 51st minute. Eleven forward Thomas Enevoldsen booted a blast from just outside the penalty area, but was shutdown by a diving Morton.
Brett earned the Hounds’ first shot on target of the night in the 59th minute. The striker sent a low blast at the cage, which was corralled by Indy’s goalkeeper Jordan Farr.
In the 71st minute, Thomas Vancaeyezeele sent in a cross to Anthony Velarde, who then dumped it off to Sammy Kahsai. Kahsai took a rip, which was then banged around by Brett and finally Ryan James, who dropped a header into the waiting hands of the goalie.
Forbes came on for Kahsai in the 81st minute, and didn’t waste time to make an impact. Just four minutes later, Forbes buried a long blast into the back of the net to put the Hounds on top 1-0.
The Black and Gold held on to their lead for the remainder of the game and sealed the victory.
Hound of the Match
Kyle Morton’s five save effort earned the goalkeeper tonight’s Hound of the Match honors. Morton came up with several leaping saves to keep his club in the match.
Stat of the Game: 4
It took Kenardo Forbes just four minutes to find the back of the net. The midfielder hit twine on his lone shot attempt of the night.
What’s Next
The Hounds will take on Indy Eleven once again at 7 p.m. this Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium. The match will be televised on Pittsburgh’s CW.
With tonight’s win, Riverhounds SC advances to the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The Hounds will face an MLS club in the next round of cup play. More details about the match and opponent are scheduled to come out tomorrow.
Lineups:
Riverhounds SC – Kyle Morton – Ryan James, Uchenna Uzo, Joe Greenspan, Tobi Adewole, Noah Franke – Thomas Vancaeyezeele, Sammy Kahsai (Kenardo Forbes 80’) , Anthony Velarde (Robbie Mertz 82’) – Neco Brett (Dani Rovira 87’), Steevan Dos Santos
Subs not used – Austin Pack, Mark Forrest, Kevin Kerr, Christian Volesky
Indy Eleven – Jordan Farr – Matthew Watson, Neveal Hackshaw, Karl Ouimette – Patrick Barrett, Macauley King, Kenneth Walker, Tyler Gibson – Tyler Pasher, Thomas Enevoldsen, Joshua Penn (Dane Kelly 72’)
Subs not used – Alioune Diakhate, Ayoze Garcia Perez, Emerson Nieto, Mitchell Osmond, Mario Perez
Scoring Summary:
PIT – Kenardo Forbes 85’ (Noah Franke)
Misconduct Summary:
PIT – Ryan James 43’ (caution)
PIT – Joe Greenspan 74’ (caution)
Head coach Bob Lilley
On the second half…
“I like that we dug in a little bit in the second half and at least got in the game. In the first half, I don’t think we had a shot on goal. We had two long range efforts by Neco, but nothing in the box.”
More on the second half…
“Second half at least we made runs in behind them. We did press at times and we put some balls in good areas, but we didn’t execute well.”
On playing Indy again on Saturday…
“We’re going to need to play a lot better than we did tonight if we’re going to win at Indy on Saturday. Both teams will put some fresh guys on the field, some guys will play again. I would expect a much better game from both teams on Saturday.”
Midfielder Kenardo Forbes
On his goal…
“You know it was open, like 10 yards open, like 20 yards out, so I had to shoot it.”
On subbing…
“For the first time in a while, I got on the field when a couple of guys are tired, advantage for me, so I take advantage of it. It was good even though we made a couple errors in the back. It was just one of those games.”
Goalkeeper Kyle Morton
On his diving stop…
“It’s just one of those things you gotta shuffle over make sure you kind of have your part of the hole covered right.”
On the defensive performance…
“I thought we did all right. I thought we could have played a little bit higher pressure, maybe gotten a couple clearances.”
