Riverhounds Notebook: Team hitting its stride as end of regular season nears

Since the end of August, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds have been playing some of their best soccer.

In four straight games, starting with a 3-0 road victory over Hartford Athletic on Aug. 28, the black and gold have put together a streak of four straight victories and four straight clean sheets. They’ve outscored their last four opponents, 14-0.

They’ve started to reach their peak as the regular season comes to a close with three games remaining, and they’ve done it all without captain Kenardo Forbes in the middle of the pitch. Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley met with the media via Zoom on Wednesday to discuss the team’s recent success, an update on a few injured players and what it will take to finish out the season strong.

Goose egg gang

The Riverhounds have started to play some of their best defense during this four-game stretch. They haven’t allowed a goal since St. Louis’ Wal Fall scored in the 57th minute Aug. 22. The streak resembles one last year when the Riverhounds held their opponents scoreless for a remarkable 698 minutes, which is the second-longest streak in USL Championship history.

That streak lasted for seven games as the Riverhounds went 5-0-2, outscored their opponents 10-0 and propelled themselves into first place. This streak has done somewhat of the same for the Riverhounds as they currently sit at No. 1 in the USL Championship power rankings and have the second most points (28) in the league behind San Antonio FC and the Tampa Bay Rowdies, who are tied at 30 points apiece.

On Wednesday, Lilley said the recent success of the Riverhounds defense could be attributed to a few different things, but it has mainly come down to their familiarity with each other and their ability to manage games.

“There’s definitely more familiarity with our team in terms of guys playing together in the back or in the midfield,” Lilley said. “There’s more of an understanding now and we’ve added some personnel, which has helped as well.”

During the season, the Riverhounds have brought in defender Ray Lee, Patrick Bunk-Andersen joined the team after a lengthy immigration delay, and Mark Lindstrom has recovered from an early season injury that kept him off the pitch. Combine those players with mainstays like Thomas Vancaeyezeele, Skylar Thomas, Ryan James and Jordan Dover and the Riverhounds have become a cohesive unit.

They’ve also been able to go up early on opponents as well and scored at least one goal in the first 11 minutes in three of the four games. They also scored twice in the first 15 minutes in two of the four games.

“We’re managing games better and I think sometimes when you can dictate the game and keep the ball when you want to, it helps you defend better,” Lilley said. “When the game is wide open and it’s happening at break-neck speed, the game gets stretched, fatigue sets in, the gaps get bigger, and you don’t defend quite as well.”

Injury updates

It sounds like the Riverhounds will get two of their most important players back in time for the playoffs.

Forward Steeven Dos Santos suffered a knock before their game with Hartford Athletic on Saturday and was not available for the contest, although he wasn’t needed as the Riverhounds won, 5-0.

“He’s training this week and we’re optimistic that he’ll be available although we’ll see how he does during training on Thursday,” Lilley said.

Although he isn’t as far along as Dos Santos, Forbes is also on the mend. He suffered a quad injury in the first 10 minutes during their game against Hartford Athletic on Aug. 28. It was a diagnosed with a recovery time of 4-8 weeks but Lilley is hopeful that Forbes will return in time for their regular season finale against Philadelphia Union II or their first-round playoff game.

“He’s starting to run on the gravity machine where he doesn’t have his full body weight, but his flexibility and body strength are coming back,” Lilley said. “He’s progressing well and we’re hoping will have him back training that week leading up to Philadelphia. Hopefully we can get him back and get him some minutes at the end of the regular season before playoffs.”

Midfielder Dakota Barnathan is also back to training after recovering from an achilles heel injury the last few weeks.

USL Championship Team of the Week

For the second time this season, Ryan James was named to the USL Championship Team of the Week after his two-goal performance against Hartford Athletic on Saturday. James scored in the 13th minute on a volley in the middle of the box and also tallied a second goal in the 47th minute.

It was the second time this season that James scored two goals against Hartford Athletic and he’s been crucial in the absence of Forbes.

“It’s nice to see him really stepping up since Kenardo has been out,” Lilley said. “He played in the midfield for me before in Rochester, and he’s a very versatile player, and he’s quickly formed a good relationship in there with Robbie Mertz, Danny Griffin and Anthony Velarde.”

“He’s just one of those guys that shows up every day in practice and in games.”

Loudoun matchup

The Riverhounds are also set to finish their season series with Loudoun United on Saturday when they travel to Virginia. The teams have already faced off twice this season and the Riverhounds won both matchups.

They won their first matchup Aug. 19 when they scored two early goals and cruised to a 2-0 clean sheet, which was their third of the season. The black and gold then protected their home field with a 3-0 victory Sept. 1.

Heading into their final meeting of the season, Lilley is just hoping that his side can continue to play their style of soccer.

“We’re in good form, and we’re trying to play aggressively but also play intelligently,” Lilley said. “I think we’ve married those two concepts together a lot better recently, where we are aggressive and we are dangerous. Our movement is good, but we are also picking times to hold the ball, manage the game and play at our tempo.”