This is the conclusion of a series counting down the Riverhounds’ top five moments of 2023. Click here to read yesterday’s entry, No. 2 on the countdown.
Days after the high of going on the road and knocking off the New England Revolution in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the Hounds looked at another tense moment over which they had no control — the cup draw for the Round of 16.
The Hounds knew their opponent would be another MLS side after the regional groupings placed them in a pool with the Columbus Crew, FC Cincinnati and New York Red Bulls. But when draw day came, luck was finally on the Hounds side, as they were drawn at home against the Columbus Crew, who on Wednesday May 24 would be the first MLS team to visit Highmark Stadium since 2015.
Preparations immediately started for the Round of 16 match, which offered the Hounds the opportunity to reach the quarterfinals for only the second time in the club’s history. Tickets for the match sold briskly, and the decision was made to have a early rollout for the Hounds’ new white kits — dubbed the Summer Gold jerseys — as part of a white out to mark the occasion.
When game day rolled around, a record sellout crowd of 6,107 greeted Hounds, who entered the match as winners of three straight. As they did in the match against the Revolution, the Hounds rotated their lineup, keeping legs fresh to balance the congested schedule, but the spine of the team was kept intact with goalkeeper Jahmali Waite, a midfield trio of Danny Griffin, Robbie Mertz and Marc Ybarra with captain Kenardo Forbes again on the bench, and Albert Dikwa leading the line.
The Crew would go on to win this year’s MLS playoffs, but at the time of the match, their outlook was much more bleak. Columbus had been stricken with early-season injuries and had just one win in their past six league matches, though they did have two Open Cup wins over USL Championship opponents — Indy Eleven and Loudoun United — during the same period. And while the Hounds and Crew had met in the preseason, the February closed-door scrimmage in Columbus was hardly instructive, with both teams using lineups littered with trialists and reserves on that day.
That combination of recent form and the raucous crowd at “Fort Highmark” gave the Hounds reason to believe something special could happen in the match shown both locally and nationally via CBS Sports and their Golazo network.
The opening whistle blew to a loud roar from the crowd, and the game started much in the same manner as the Hounds’ win over the Revolution. Columbus, true to their usual style of play, held the bulk of possession — 75 percent by the end of the match — but the Hounds again seemed to have more of a cutting edge to their forays forward, logging the game’s first two shots.
But while the Hounds needed until just before halftime to strike against the Revolution, on this day, it would take 22 minutes for the moment of magic. Once again, an incisive ball down the middle of the park solved the MLS team’s defending, and this time it was Mertz who threaded the ball through for Dikwa to do the rest.
The script was setting up similarly to the win over the Revolution, but this time, the Hounds had the backing of a packed stadium to push the team along. Still, the Crew managed to give Waite more work than he had in the previous round. Thomas Roberts drove a low, near post shot from a corner kick in the 52nd minute, and Gibran Rayo hit a bouncing effort through traffic that forced Waite to make an uneasy save with attackers bearing down on him.
Less than 10 minutes later, Tola Showunmi came agonizingly close to doubling the lead from close range, but he put his chance from a deflected Junior Etou cross over the bar. The Hounds kept their foot on the gas, however, preventing the Crew from logging another shot on goal (and not a single shot until the 90th minute), while Griffin had a tight-angled chance of his own in the waning minutes.
Crew frustration led to some chippy moments in stoppage time, and Edward Kizza was sent off for the Hounds for retaliation after five of six total minutes of stoppage time. But as the final whistle blew, the crowd erupted, setting off celebrations in the stands and on the field for arguably the Hounds’ biggest win in club history.
The aftermath of the win led to attention on the Hounds from national outlets, such as CBS Sports, ESPN and SiriusXM, while advancement to the next round would solidify the club as the Open Cup’s prize-winner for the team to progress farthest out of the USL Championship. And just as was the case against the Revolution, advanced metrics backed the Hounds’ superiority on the night, as the Hounds’ expected goals figure from Opta dwarfed the Crew’s, 1.35 to 0.52.
The best cup run in team history would end in the next round with a 3-1 quarterfinal loss at FC Cincinnati — a matchup between the MLS’ Supporters’ Shield and Championship’s Players’ Shield winners — but the magic of the night taking down the Crew will live on for everyone in attendance that night at Highmark.
The full match can be watched via U.S. Soccer’s YouTube channel, but for the short and up-close version of the No. 1 Riverhounds moment of 2023, enjoy U.S. Soccer’s video produced from the scenes that night.
