The Pittsburgh Riverhounds took their 2-1-1 overall record to Rochester on Saturday night with the hopes of finally getting a win. As it turned out, they were so close to earning a point, losing to the Raging Rhinos, 2-1.
Rochester provided a physical game all contest as the 'hounds struggled for momentum, after their 6-0 trouncing of West Virginia in their mid-week exhibition.
Unfortunately, it was Rochester to grabbed the lead in the 25th minute when Viktor Paco beat Riverhounds goalkeeper Randy Dedini with a header of a cross from Lenin Steenkamp.
When the Rhinos were on target, Dedini made many great saves to prevent further damage before the half ended.
Five minutes into the second half, the 'hounds finally tied the contest when Thiba Martins, the league's leading scorer, headed a cross from Aleksey Korol past Rochester cageminder Bill Andracki.
Martins had a few other chances too, but only found the target that once. Unfortunately, David Wright was sent off in the 63rd after having received his second yellow, while getting up from an injury.
The hounds survived many threats from the Rhinos after and almost found themselves heading for overtime, until Steenkamp managed to get his head on a throw-in from Scott Schweitzer in the final minute, which Dedini had no chance at.
The 'hounds will try to recover from that as they head home for a match with Richmond in an afternoon game on Memorial Day(3 PM), which will also be the second match for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The winner will move onto the next round. A picnic follows that game.
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