Day 16 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh 2, Richmond 1
A goal late in the first half by Pittsburgh's Thiago Martins turned out to be the game-winner as the Pittsburgh Riverhounds defeated the Richmond Kickers by a 2-1 score in a match played in front of 1,486 at Pittsburgh's Bethel Park High School. Aleksey Korol had the first Riverhounds goal, while Rob Ukrop had the lone goal for the Kickers.
Early in the match, it was the Riverhounds who were pressing the attack, and in just the 2nd minute, Thiago Martins had a good look at goal from near the penalty spot but his shot was just wide right. Four minutes later, Tiest Sondaal had another good chance for the home side with a hard shot from the top of the box that was right at Richmond keeper Ronnie Pascale.
But in the 7th minute, the Riverhounds broke through when after Jaman Tripoli played a pass down the right side to Aleksey Korol, whose shot from near the corner of the 18-yard box rebounded off a Richmond defender and into the left side of the net to give the Riverhounds an early 1-0 lead.
The Kickers had their first good chance in the 15th minute when Rob Ukrop was briefly able to break in behind the Pittsburgh defense, but he was forced to shoot quickly as the Pittsburgh defense closed, and his shot was right at Pittsburgh keeper Randy Dedini. Two minutes later, the Kickers had another good opportunity when Peter Luzak managed to get his head on a free kick, but his shot was right at Dedini.
In the 35th minute, after a Pittsburgh corner kick, a Pittsburgh shot rebounded off a Richmond kicker and the ball ended up loose in the box, and Pascale was just able to smother the ball as Martins attempted to punch it into the net.
One minute later, Kevin Jeffrey had a good chance to turn on a ball to shoot from inside the Pittsburgh box, but his shot was blocked away by a Pittsburgh defender. But in the 41st minute, a seemingly harmless shot towards the Pittsburgh net by Rob Ukrop ended up tying the match as Dedini seemed to have been caught going in the wrong direction as he stumbled and attempted to keep the ball from going in behind him, and though he was able to get his foot on the shot, it wasn't enough to keep the ball out of the net, and the match was tied at 1-1.
But it didn't take long for the Riverhounds to re-take the lead, when in the 44th minute, a cross from the right side by Gary DePalma found Martins wide open about 8 yards out from the net, and he was able to turn in the ball uncontested and knock it into the right side of the net to give the home side a 2-1 halftime lead.
The second half saw many fewer scoring opportunities, and it wasn't until the 71st minute when the first good scoring opportunity took place, a Pittsburgh shot by Justin Evans that required Pascale to snatch the shot just under the bar, then keep himself from going back into the net as he brought it down. In the 75th minute, the Kickers had their first good scoring chance of the half when Greg Simmonds hit a shot from near the corner of the 18-yard box that forced a sprawling save by Dedini, then a quick recovery as he was just barely able to cover the loose ball before a charging Kickers player.
In the 86th minute, the Riverhounds had a good opportunity to widen the lead when David Flavius got behind the Kickers defense for a breakaway, but his shot was saved by a reaction save by a charging Pascale. The Riverhounds had the last good scoring opportunity of the match when Corey Woolfolk's shot from the top of the box was deflected wide by a Kickers defender, but it didn't matter as the Riverhounds managed to carry their one goal halftime lead to the end of the match to secure the 2-1 win over the Kickers.
