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Earning a point at the Charleston Battery this past Saturday, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (6-1-7) now travels to Louisville City FC (7-2-4) for a showdown at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Louisville Slugger Field. This will be the first time Pittsburgh will battle Louisville since the Kentucky side won the 2017 USL Cup.

Unconquered

The Hounds will carry an unbeaten 2-0-4 road record into their match with Louisville this Wednesday. Although not taking a loss away from home this season, Pittsburgh is still searching for its first road victory against a team with a winning record. Grabbing three points against Louisville will be a daunting challenge for the Black and Gold, as the adversaries have not dropped a game at home to this point (5-0-1).

Give Him a Chance

This season, midfielder Kevin Kerr leads the squad with 33 chances created, which also ranks tied for fifth most in the Eastern Conference. Last time out in a defensive match, the veteran notched one of three key passes for the Hounds. Kerr should continue to be a focal point of the Pittsburgh attack against Louisville.

Mo’ Dabo

Missing time due to injury, holding midfielder Mouhamed Dabo made his first appearance since the squad’s April 28 game against Atlanta United 2. Playing 21 minutes this past weekend against Charleston, Dabo recorded two tackles. The Senegal native should earn additional playing time moving forward.

Riverhounds SC has allowed zero goals this season while defender Joe Greenspan is in the match (286 minutes).

Last time out at Charleston, the Hounds and the Battery played a largely defensive match. During this game, the teams combined for only eight shots and two shots on goal (Pittsburgh finished with five shots and one shot on target). Against Louisville, which averages 1.46 goals per game, the Hounds will need to reenergize their attack as they continue their road trip.

For the first time this season, reigning champion Louisville City FC (7-2-4) will challenge Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (6-1-7) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 27 at Louisville Slugger Field.

With a 7-2-4 record, Louisville City FC currently sits in second place in the Eastern Conference. The club has not won a match since May 26, with its three most recent games ending in ties. Louisville’s past two matches, in particular, have featured second-half leads being blown in the final 10 minutes of play. So far this year, Louisville has not dropped a match at home, picking up five of its seven wins to date at Slugger Field (5-0-1). Additionally, in head-to-head action, Lou City has yet to lose a game to the Hounds since 2015.

Defender Kyle Smith has been a consistent presence on the backline, starting all 13 matches for Louisville and going the full-90 in each. He’s been strong distributing in his own half of the field with a 84.3 percent passing accuracy rate. The Cincinnati, Ohio native’s defensive play has also resulted in 32 clearances, 19 interceptions and two blocks.

Strengths:

Distribution: Louisville has excelled in distribution to date, currently placing seventh in the East with a total of 6,201 passes and a 76 percent passing accuracy.

Fouls: In 2018, Lou City has been one of the most well-disciplined clubs in the conference, with the least amount of yellow cards (19) and second-lowest total of fouls conceded (150). 

Weaknesses:

Conversion rate: Despite ranking fourth in the conference with 199 shots recorded, Louisville has struggled to cash in, with its 13 percent conversion rate placing them in the bottom half of the East (11th).

The ball screamed toward the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC goalmouth.

Finding himself on the goal line, defender Hugh Roberts blocked the incoming New York Red Bulls II shot. The ball continued to ricochet off the goalpost before ultimately being cleared by fellow defender Ray Lee.

Moments later, the Hounds flipped the field on Red Bulls II and scored the second goal of their 3-0 victory. As Roberts’ blocked shot helped preserve the shutout last time out, Pittsburgh (6-1-6) will look to continue its defensive success in a road match against the Charleston Battery (5-3-6) at 7 p.m. on Saturday at MUSC Health Stadium.

“We’ve been really organized the past couple weeks,” goalkeeper Dan Lynd said. “We had a stretch there where we were giving up a few too many [goals] and we really made it a focus in training to stay organized in the back and with the midfielders. So far, we look so good.”

Currently, the Hounds are on a historic pace on the defensive side of the ball. The team’s 0.54 goals allowed per game average ranks as the best mark in team history. The only other time Pittsburgh allowed less than one goal per game came during the 2004 season, when the squad allowed 0.85 goals per game.

“It’s a bunch of guys that know the USL, know their jobs and the system,” Lynd said. “Three of the four [defenders] last game were with Bob [Lilley] previously, so they have a really good understanding of what we want to do, and everyone else has picked up on it as well.”

Playing under Lilley at the Rochester Rhinos in 2017, defenders Jordan Dover, Ray Lee and Todd Pratzner, as well as Lynd, have built on their first season as teammates. Eight Hounds have played at least 900 minutes this season, and the aforementioned group makes up half of these athletes.

Roberts, also one of these veteran defenders, appeared in his 100th career USL match earlier this season against Toronto FC II on April 7. Heading into the showdown against Charleston this weekend, Roberts ranks fourth on the team with 38 clearances.

As the backline carries years of experience, it allows the group to hone in on aspects of the game in which it can improve upon.

“I think we were unhappy [Red Bulls II] played through us a couple times last game,” Lynd said. “I think overall we did pretty well. It’s just tweaking little things throughout the week to make sure we give ourselves the best chance to get a win.”

The Hounds will carry an unbeaten road mark of 2-0-3 to MUSC Health Stadium this weekend. Despite the zero in the loss column, only one of Pittsburgh’s eight clean sheets have come on the road – the squad’s 0-0 season opener result at Nashville SC.

Meanwhile, in the Battery’s 14 games this year, they have only been shut out three times. The Hounds have not blanked Charleston on the road since 2011.

“We showed well against Red Bulls II,” Lynd said, “and we’ll tweak some stuff going into Saturday and hopefully put on a good performance this week.”

After grabbing three points at Highmark Stadium this past weekend, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (6-1-6) will hit the road to battle the Charleston Battery (5-3-6) at 7 p.m. on Saturday at MUSC Health Stadium. This will be their first meeting this season, and the Hounds held a 1-0-1 advantage against the Battery in 2017. The match will be televised on Pittsburgh’s CW.

Backflips

Romeo Parkes scored his second goal in his second straight match against New York Red Bulls II this past weekend and has a tally in three of his past four games started. Ranking second on the team with three goals this season, the forward will look to continue his past road success this Saturday at Charleston. Seven of his 11 career goals with the club have come away from home, which marks tied for the seventh most road tallies in team history.

Let it Lee

Defender Ray Lee, assisting Parkes’ goal, notched his first-ever regular season point last time out against New York Red Bulls II. The Kansas City, Missouri native leads the team with 40 crosses and ranks fourth on the club with 12 chances created. He figures to be a source of offense out of the backend moving forward.

Too Ezee

Thomas Vancaeyezeele is the only athlete to play every minute of the season (1,170) for the Hounds. He also is the only player to rank top three on the squad in tackles (third), clearances (third) and interceptions (first). Vancaeyezeele should continue to be a large part in the Hounds’ defensive success, as the team commences a two-game road trip this weekend.

Last time out against New York Red Bulls II, Kevin Kerr recorded his 144th career game played in Black and Gold. With one more appearance, he will tie Gary DePalma for the second most games played all-time in club history.

During the Hounds’ last road match at the Richmond Kickers, the squad struggled to place shots on target and only one of its 10 first half shots was on frame. Due to this, the team fell behind, 1-0, before ultimately coming back to win, 2-1. This week against Charleston, Pittsburgh will need to shore up its accuracy, especially in a tough environment at MUSC Health Stadium.

For their first home game this month, the Charleston Battery (5-3-6) will face off against Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (6-1-6) at 7 p.m. on Saturday at MUSC Health Stadium. This will be the first match between the teams this season.

So far in the 2018 season, Charleston has had half of its games on the road and half at home. The last match the Battery won was a home game on May 12 against Bethlehem Steel FC with a final score of 2-1. The club’s most recent game was a 1-1 tie on the road against the Charlotte Independence.

Charleston has yet to play the Hounds this year, but last season lost its first game to Pittsburgh at home with a final score of 2-1 and tied its second game 2-2 on the road against the Hounds. The Battery’s standing is 0-1-4 in their last five games played.

Forward Ataulla Guerra leads Charleston in goals (seven), points (16), shots (23) and chances created (22). Of the team’s 16 goals forwarded this year, Guerra has almost half of them. The last goal scored by the striker was three games ago against Indy Eleven, which ended in a tied match.

Strengths

Tackles: The club has a success challenge rate of 69.6 percent. Charleston has won 181 tackles and has only lost 79 of them.

Clean Sheets: Charleston is ranked fifth in clean sheets this season in the Eastern Conference. Four of these shutouts were at home.

Weaknesses

Fouls: The club ranks second in the Eastern Conference in fouls with a total of 195 fouls conceded. The squad also has 27 yellow cards (fourth most in the Eastern Conference) and two red cards (tied for the most in the Eastern Conference).

Possession: Charleston has on average conceded the possession battle this season with 45 percent possession.