(Aug. 16, 2023) — Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC had its winning streak snapped on the West Coast with a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Orange County SC tonight at Championship Soccer Stadium in Irvine, Calif.
Milan Iloski, last year’s leading scorer in the USL Championship, scored the game’s only goal on a counter attack by Orange County (11-9-4) five minutes before halftime.
For the Hounds (13-5-8), goalkeeper Jahmali Waite made a pair of saves, but the attack couldn’t find the net despite an 11-8 edge in shots.
First half
The Hounds’ first threatening moments came through center back Arturo Ordóñez, who had a header on target and a left-footed effort over the bar from corner kicks in the first 12 minutes.
Albert Dikwa also forced one of three saves by Orange County goalkeeper Colin Shutler in the 23rd minute, but he couldn’t get much power on his shot moving to the right of goal after being set up by an interception and pass from Marc Ybarra.
Five minutes later, Waite made a stop for the highlight reel with his close-range, diving stop of a Thomas Amang header, and the play ended with Orange County being called offside on the rebound.
The hosts got the breakthrough just before halftime on a long ball forward to Iloski. The striker’s first touch took a fortunate bounce of Ordóñez to turn the defender the wrong way, and that allowed the space for Iloski to finish from the top of the box.
Second half
The Hounds pressed for a tying goal early with long-range efforts by Ybarra and Kenardo Forbes, but the team couldn’t find the frame early in the half.
In the 69th minute, Dikwa reacted quickly to try for a spectacular bicycle kick finish on a pass popped into the box by Dani Rovira, but his effort bounced wide of the left post.
Ybarra had another look at goal in the 90th minute, but a boot in from an Orange County defender took the speed off his shot to make it an easy save for Shutler.
The hosts nearly added a second goal late, but Waite came up with another good save to stop Cameron Dunbar in a 1-on-1 situation from an angle.
Heineken Man of the Match
Danny Griffin had another busy night in the center of midfield before moving into a more defensive role as the Hounds threw extra attackers into the match. The Hounds’ iron man had 84 touches on the ball and connected on 65 of 71 passes (91.5 percent) while winning possession a team-leading 12 times.
What’s next?
The Hounds will be on regular rest for their next match, a road outing against Hartford Athletic (4-15-4) on Wednesday, Aug. 23 in the Connecticut capital. The teams just met in Pittsburgh last Saturday, when the Hounds took a 2-0 win.
Riverhounds SC lineup (5-3-2) — Jahmali Waite; Junior Etou (Trevor Zwetsloot 79’), Nate Dossantos, Joe Farrell (Robbie Mertz 46’), Arturo Ordóñez, Dani Rovira (Edward Kizza 70’); Kenardo Forbes (Luke Biasi 79’), Danny Griffin, Marc Ybarra; Tola Showunmi (JC Obregón 70’), Albert Dikwa
Orange County SC lineup (4-1-4-1) — Colin Shutler; Ryan Doghman (Andrew Fox 46’), Dillon Powers, Markus Nakkim, Owen Lambe; Kevin Partida; Kyle Scott (Seth Casiple 58’), Milan Iloski, Ashish Chattha (Brent Richards 72’), Kevin Lankford (Bryce Jamison 46’); Thomas Amang (Cameron Dunbar 82’)
Scoring summary
OC — Milan Iloski 40’
Discipline summary
PIT — Joe Farrell 14’ (caution – reckless foul)
OC — Kevin Partida 63’ (caution – delaying restart)
OC — Bryce Jamison 71’ (caution – tactical foul)
PIT — Marc Ybarra 76’ (caution – tactical foul)
OC — Brent Richards 78’ (caution – deliberate handling)
