Note: This is the first article of our annual series looking back on the best moments of the year. The full list will be revealed one day at a time on Riverhounds.com to close out 2025.
It’s a testament to the year the Hounds had in 2025 that knocking off an MLS team — a feat that earned No. 1 on the list just two years ago — merely cracks this year’s Top 5. But on the night of May 7 at Highmark Stadium, the team grabbed a win that felt as big as they come.
The Hounds hosted MLS side New York City FC in the Round of 32 of this year’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, a first-ever meeting between the two clubs. An evenly played, scoreless affair for most of the night, extra time seemed imminent until Beto Ydrach rose above the fray for a monumental first professional goal that clinched a 1-0 victory and a spot in the Round of 16.
Ydrach met the corner kick from Robbie Mertz and delivered a perfectly placed header crashing in from the back post, which, despite the erroneous ID by the broadcast team, showed the first glimpse of his knack for late-game heroics. (And, trust us, that will come up again later in the countdown.)
But Ydrach’s header wasn’t all that went into the win. The match also featured a pair of crucial Eric Dick saves early in the second half, a late point-blank miss by NYCFC’s Julian Fernandez and perhaps the biggest play of the match by Bradley Sample less than a minute after entering the match.
The combination of fresh legs and heads-up play made Sample the perfect player to exploit hesitation on the ball by NYCFC defender Strahinja Tanasijevic, and rather than concede a breakaway, Tanasijevic pulled Sample down and received a red card for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity.
Without the numerical advantage, the Hounds could have conceded late with NYCFC on the front foot in the final 15 minutes. But through resolute team play and a timely late set-piece goal, the Hounds claimed a third win in their past four matchups with MLS teams.
The win set up a Round of 16 matchup at the Philadelphia Union, where the Hounds would be eliminated from the Open Cup, but not before being the farthest advancing team outside of MLS, a feat they have achieved in two of the past three years, 2023 and 2025.
Looking back, perhaps the match is most memorable for showing the team’s resolve in knockout matches, something that would get tested later in the year.
