Riverhounds defeat Indianapolis, travel to Hartford for Saturday match

The Riverhounds will hit the road this week when they travel to Hartford, Conn., to take on the Hartford Athletic at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 20.

Hartford enters the match at 4-2-5, while fourth-place Pittsburgh comes in with a 6-4-1 record.  For the second straight week, the Riverhounds will face a key player who led them to the 2025 USL Championship, when Augustine Williams takes to the pitch for the Athletic.

Williams was the Riverhounds’ leading scorer last season and is now Hartford’s top scorer, although he has managed to score only two goals.

Pittsburgh is coming off a key 1-0 victory over the Indy Eleven in front of a sellout crowd Saturday night at F.N.B. Stadium.  The first half was a defensive battle as the two squads jockeyed for momentum.  Indianapolis applied the game’s initial pressure, but Hounds goalkeeper Nico Campuzano was up for the task and kept the Eleven off the board.

Pittsburgh’s Eliot Goldthorp finally provided the Hounds with a scoring opportunity from within the box at the 25-minute mark, but he was unable to beat former Hounds goalkeeper Eric Dick and the half ended in a scoreless tie.

The second half saw the Hounds attempt to score quickly, but Goldthorp was again thwarted in his efforts in the first minute.  Albert Dikwa continued to provide Pittsburgh with scoring opportunities, but the Hounds couldn’t find a way past their former USL Champion teammate, Dick, who had four saves for the game.  The match was scoreless at the end of regulation.

At the 90+2 mark of stoppage time, Pittsburgh’s Perrien Barnes slid a pass deep into the Indy box that was controlled by rookie Lasse Kelp on the left side.  Kelp, with defenders reacting, made a turning shot across the goal mouth that rolled between the legs of Dick and into the net for the game-winning goal and a 1-0 win for the Riverhounds.  Campuzano recorded his third straight clean sheet, and the Hounds had their fourth shutout in the past five games.

The Riverhounds won possession (60/40) and had five shots on goal to Indy’s two.  Indianapolis is now 5-3-3 for the season and sits in fifth place in the Eastern Division.  Pittsburgh’s recent success, with strong defensive efforts and timely goals, is reminiscent of its championship season of a year ago.