The Howler

Death. Taxes. The oncoming train in the climactic fight scene of “The Matrix.”

The way the 2023 season has started, it almost feels as though Albert Dikwa scoring goals should be added to the list of things that are inevitable.

Even after a career season in 2022, it would’ve been hard to predict the blistering strike rate the 25-year-old forward has posted this spring. Dikwa leads the USL Championship with nine goals through his first 10 games of the season, and the pace is picking up with four goals already in just two league matches in May.

Before looking at the “how” part of Dikwa’s goal binge, let’s look at how historic a start it has been.

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Best in the City… and nearly everywhere else, too

Dikwa’s 10-game burst to open the year — keeping in mind these numbers exclude U.S. Open Cup matches — established a new best in Riverhounds history to start a season, eclipsing the mark of eight set by Thiago Martins in his club-record-setting 2003 season and matched by Rob Vincent in the 2015 season.

And while the start isn’t a USL Championship record over a 10-game stretch, it’s rare to see a player flirting with double-digits before Memorial Day. According to the league, only one player — Orlando’s Dom Dwyer in 2013 — has ever hit 10 goals before reaching May 15 on the calendar. With Dikwa popping in Nos. 8 and 9 on May 13, he now occupies second place on that list, as well.

Dikwa is unique among the list of early goal scorers in that, presumably, he will play the full season with the Hounds and have a chance to build on his rapid start for a full season. In contrast, Dwyer was recalled from his loan spell with Orlando by Sporting Kansas City midway through 2013, while McBean, Belmar and Barlow all played for MLS reserve sides and yo-yoed between the reserves and parent club.

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Model of efficiency

If there was a knock on Dikwa’s play early in his career, it was never his work rate or his physical ability, but rather a lack of clinical finishing in front of goal. Early returns this season show that he might be turning a corner in that regard.

Dikwa shooting stats with Riverhounds

Year	Goals	Total shots	Shots on goal	On-target percentage	Goals/SOG
2023	9	25	12	48.0%	.750
2022	11	52	30	57.7%	.367
2021	2	23	13	56.5%	.154
2020	3	15	7	46.7%	.429

As the numbers show, Dikwa has been consistently around 50 percent through his Hounds tenure when it comes to putting shots on goal, but the rate at which shots on target are hitting the net has raised considerably. That increase could be attributed to a number of factors, but a big one is the patience being shown by Dikwa, who is showing the calmness of a seasoned striker when opportunities present themselves.

Take, for instance, two of his recent goals — at Indy and his first the following week at Monterey Bay. Both were breakaway/transition moments and excellent opportunities, but they were the sort of chances where an inexperienced forward might miss the target or, more likely, hit the ball straight at the goalkeeper.

Instead, Dikwa waited out Indy goalkeeper Yannik Oettl until the netminder stumbled to leave an opening (clip below at left), and instead of rushing to blast the ball with power at Monterey Bay, he allowed it to run across his body and took a simple touch to split the legs of onrushing keeper Antony Siaha.

The folks in the analytics world are liking what the see from Dikwa, as well.

John Morrissey, better known online as @USLTactics, recently talked about the importance of Dikwa to the Hounds’ system. While goal scoring was an obvious highlight, he also underlined the striker’s importance as a hold-up player and foul winner — facets of his game that were crucial in the Open Cup win over the New England Revolution and a big reason he has consistently held a place in Bob Lilley‘s lineup. All added together, there’s a reason Dikwa rates in the 99th percentile this season above replacement, according to the data.

Certainly Dikwa is benefitting from becoming more of a focal point to the attack, a result of the offseason departure of a goal-scorer like Russell Cicerone and becoming the team’s clear No. 1 leading the line.

But given the trajectory of his 2022 season and the start to this year, signs are pointing to Dikwa’s scoring being sustainable, even if not quite at his current electric pace.

It’s an unusually early weekend off for the Riverhounds SC pro team this weekend, yet the past couple weeks have been something of a whirlwind of new around the club.

Local, national and international media have been taking note of the big events happening around the club, and here’s a quick whip around some of the items you might have missed recently.

Hounds-CW partnership thriving

While the announcement that Hounds matches in 2023 would be shown locally on Pittsburgh’s CW (WPCW-19) came just prior to the season, the partnership has gotten off to a flying start.

KDKA sports anchor Rich Walsh was on site at last Friday’s home opener doing live sports reports from the field for sister stations KDKA and WPCW. He was even joined in his final segment by Hounds owner Tuffy Shallenberger, as the home season kicked off with a bang.

The local coverage rolled on later with a segment on the Hounds appearing on KDKA’s new afternoon program, “Talk Pittsburgh.” Head coach Bob Lilley, captain Kenardo Forbes and Pittsburgh native Robbie Mertz sat down to talk about the team’s growth and their goals for the 2023 season and beyond.

.@KDKA joined us at our AHN Montour practice facility for a special sit-down featured on its new show "Talk Pittsburgh."

Hear our guys discuss team growth and future goals ⏬#HOUNDTAHNhttps://t.co/syWruQNV9a

— Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (@RiverhoundsSC) March 29, 2023

Jahmali making it big in Mexico

With everyone piling into Highmark Stadium to kick off the home schedule against Miami, one noticeable absence on the field was goalkeeper Jahmali Waite.

Waite was away for the team’s match Friday, but for good reason: He earned his first start in a competitive match (and third overall) for the Jamaican National Team, coming up big for the Reggae Boyz in a 2-2 draw with powerhouse Mexico at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. The result ended Jamaica’s run in the CONCACAF Nations League, but the team did secure its spot in this summer’s Gold Cup with a runner-up finish in the group.

Bordoy signs out of the Riverhounds Academy

Last, but not least…

And, of course, there was the aforementioned home opener, in which Burke Fahling ensured the Hounds would get something out of the match with his 85th-minute strike that finished runner-up in USL Championship Goal of the Week voting.

Here is how the match was described in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Tribune-Review and on Pittsburgh Soccer Now, but most importantly, here’s one last look at Burke’s big finish.

The 2023 USL Championship season is only days away, and in the weeks leading up to the present, this year’s Riverhounds roster has gone from a solid starting core to a fully formed squad ready to push for a spot near the top of the Eastern Conference.

The sixth season under head coach Bob Lilley and assistant coach Dan Visser will feature a team that, like most years, has an even balance of new blood and familiar faces. While questions loom each year about offseason departures, it’s worth noting that this year’s team returns 10 players from a season ago. That is only one player fewer than the 11 who returned to the 2022 team, which was the highest retention rate in Lilley’s tenure.

Entering this week, the team had 21 players announced under contract, which does leave a little room for a final two or three pieces to be added. With that in mind, we scan through this year’s lineup as it stands and take a closer look at this year’s Hounds.

Goalkeepers

For just the second time in Lilley’s time in Pittsburgh, the Hounds have an incumbent starter in second-year pro and newly capped Jamaican international Jahmali Waite. Waite made his first big splash last year with some acrobatics in the team’s extra-time cup loss at FC Cincinnati, and as the season rolled on, he gradually assumed the No. 1 role.

His 9-6-6 record with seven clean sheets and 1.00 goals-against average in 21 USL matches were strong numbers. If one statistic lagged, it was a save percentage of just .618, but Waite has a chance to make a leap forward as a shot stopper with another year of experience and the advice of new goalkeepers coach Jon Busch, a former MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, to lean upon.

Busch has a young goalkeeper room to work with, as Waite is joined by two rookies, Christian Garner and Jonathan Gomes. 

Garner started in two of the NCAA’s toughest conferences in a career that took him to Boston College and Northwestern, while Gomes was dominant in his final year at the Division II level with Mercyhurst. As no season under Lilley has seen fewer than five starts go to the No. 2 goalkeeper, history says there will be opportunities for one or both to shine.

Defenders

The deepest position in terms of returning players is the back line, where center back Arturo Ordóñez and left back Nate Dossantos return as starters, while jack-of-all-trades Dani Rovira — who has played all but eight games the past two seasons — has seen plenty of preseason action at right back and in midfield this preseason after a five-assist 2022.

Ordóñez and Dossantos, both former second-round MLS draft picks, could take a big leap in their second years as pros, and another second-year man, Luke Biasi, returns knowing Lilley’s system and able to play either outside position.

With those known quantities, finding who would play center back alongside Ordóñez was a top offseason priority, and a few possible solutions were added.

Joe Farrell, a former All-USL player under Lilley in Rochester, was the offseason’s first new acquisition in a transfer that brought him from Phoenix, where he was a regular starter with one of the best teams in the West during his five-year stint in the desert. Pat Hogan, a tough tackler with good size signed after two years with a struggling Charleston side, and Mike DeShields, a former first-round MLS pick, joined the Hounds after playing last season in MLS Next Pro. All three have lined up alongside Ordóñez in recent weeks, and some sort of rotation is virtually a given, considering the demands of the six-month schedule.

Expectations will be high on this group, both to defend and be more active on set pieces — DeShields got a set-piece goal this preseason — but early returns have been promising after clean sheets in preseason against both Detroit and Louisville.

Midfielders

The captain, Kenardo Forbes, is back for a sixth year. The club and league all-time assists leader might not have the same pace at 34, but with a game predicated on vision and savvy, the 2022 Second Team All-League player is still one of the best creators in the USL.

Also back is hometown boy Robbie Mertz, who will play his first full season since returning via transfer from Atlanta, and no teammates in the league this year served more assists in 2022 than the 19 posted by Forbes and Mertz. Add in Marc Ybarra, another strong passer who as a first-year pro became a valuable piece as a spot starter or holding mid substitute, and that’s a pretty strong triangle on the ball.

The missing central piece might have been a play-disrupting tackler in the No. 6 role, but veteran free agent signing Junior Etou seems to fit that bill perfectly after playing last season for Eastern rivals Tampa Bay and being plugged into the Hounds 11 this preseason.

Last season, the Hounds’ preferred five-back formation meant the outside “midfielders” often were wing backs advancing high up the field, a role players like Dossantos and Rovira still can fill. Whether that remains the case or if the formation shifts to more traditional outside midfielders, the Hounds have two other, rather different options in Burke Fahling and DZ Harmon.

Fahling, who had a goal and an assist this preseason, showed energy getting up and down the wing and a knack for getting the ball into dangerous spots during exhibition play. Harmon, meanwhile, brings more size and pace, and he fits the two-way mold Lilley so often seeks.

Forwards

When a team’s top scorer departs, it naturally leaves a hole, but the Hounds had the luxury of two double-digit goal scorers a year ago, and Albert Dikwa is back after his career-best, 11-goal, four-assist 2022.

Dikwa is the clear choice to lead the line after also completing the healthiest season of his career, but he will have a returning running mate this year in Edward Kizza, who is with the Hounds on a permanent deal after joining last year on loan and providing his memorable playoff heroics against Birmingham. While both are naturally “No. 9s” — central strikers — they likely will see the field in tandem at least some this season, creating a new but potentially potent dynamic up top.

The forward group is also a young one — even the seven-year pro Dikwa is just 25. Newcomer Tony Lopez is the only other non-rookie, and the well-rounded attacker had a strong season a year ago with the Cal United Strikers in NISA, a division below the USL Championship.

Rounding out the group are two first-year pros. Langston Blackstock led the Peach Belt Conference in goals while at D-II Clayton State, and he was one of the first trialists signed during camp. The youngest of the group at 22 — and the tallest at 6-foot-3 — is Tola Showunmi, a third-team All-American at New Hampshire who also got a goal this preseason.

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While the Hounds have some new parts to work into the mix, the most notable overall trends are the additions of more height across the board and more youth on the roster — of the 11 new players, only Etou and Farrell have more than three seasons of pro experience.  But the group is expected to be tested straight out of the gates with its first three matches against playoff teams from a season ago. 

The team will have plenty of time to get to know each other and connect on the road with seven of the first nine league matches away from home, starting with Saturday’s season opener at 7:30 against Birmingham Legion FC. But for the fans in Pittsburgh, the first chance to see the 2023 Hounds in action will be the home opener against Miami FC, 7 p.m. Friday, March 24 at Highmark Stadium.