The ability to adapt to an opponent’s playing style is key to winning games, and it showed in Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC’s 3-1 season opener victory against Louisville City FC on Sunday at Lynn Family Stadium.
Early in the first half, Pittsburgh initially kept Louisville off the board, despite several good chances. Louisville broke through in the 18th minute, though, and took control for the time being.
From here, the Hounds would adjust to Louisville’s pace, and allowed only two more shots in the first half. Pittsburgh even scored a goal right before the half, after Kenardo Forbes sent a ball in to Jordan Dover, who snuck in a right-footed shot into the bottom-right corner.
The second half featured more of the same. The Hounds capitalized on Louisville’s early mistakes and scored two goals in six minutes. Part of the Hounds’ success in the second half came from their defensive adjustments. They were forcing Louisville into bad habits, and got them to turn the ball over often.
“At halftime, we were able to clean some stuff up,” head coach Bob Lilley said. “I think we started the second half really well with the attitude that we’re here to win the game and we’re going to make it hard. There were two great goals. We made the extra passes. Ropapa [Mensah] held on to the ball and found the right runners going forward in Robbie [Mertz] and Anthony [Velarde].”
Pittsburgh’s stellar defense continued as the second half went on. The Hounds forced Louisville to chase, and also kept them from cutting into the deficit. Louisville didn’t get many great opportunities to speak of in the second half–of six second-half shots, goalkeeper Tomas Gomez only had to save one shot.
As the Hounds look to build on this momentum, they may focus on limiting their fouls and controlling the time of possession.
“We have things to work on this week to get better, but it was a gutsy performance and a collective performance,” Lilley said. “I thought we did an effective job managing the game once we got the two-goal lead. We didn’t give a ton of clear-cut chances and we made it hard for them. In the second half, I’m really proud of how they responded to get in front and bring home the three points.”
