Riverhounds beat Birmingham for club's 1st playoff win since 2004

Neco Brett’s goal in the 71st minute was one of many indelible moments created by the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on Saturday night at Highmark Stadium.

The Riverhounds ended a 15-year drought without a playoff victory in style, crushing 10th-seeded Birmingham Legion, 7-0, in the USL Championship Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

Brett, a Robert Morris graduate, provided many of the top highlights. With four goals, Brett became the Riverhounds’ all-time leader for postseason goals. David Flavius held the previous record with three.

“When I got in the locker room, I realized everyone was locked in,” Brett said. “Whenever I get in the locker room and the guys are locked in, I know they are going to bring their ‘A’ game. I was looking forward to a game like this. Not this many goals but a good game.”

The Riverhounds will take on Louisville City in the Eastern Conference semifinals next Saturday at home.

“We’ve made progress,” Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley said. “We made progress last year, obviously, and were disappointed to be the higher seed to lose in the first round. We had the lead twice. … This year, we handled it better. We’ve handled the bigger games this year.”

Brett’s scoring performance was one of several new standards set by the Riverhounds (20-4-11).

The Riverhounds, who hadn’t won a playoff match since defeating the Harrisburg City Islanders in 2004, set a team playoff record for margin of victory and goals scored.

Robbie Mertz, who scored on a penalty kick in the 63rd minute, set the wheels in motion for Pittsburgh’s first two goals. In the 13th minute, Mertz hit a shot that hit the post and bounced off Birmingham Legion FC goalkeeper Matt Van Oekel. Two passes later, the ball ended up at the feet of Brett, who buried a shot from 10 yards.

For the Riverhounds’ second goal, Mertz hit a cross into the box, which was headed in by Birmingham defenseman Kyle Fisher in the 17th minute. Birmingham Legion (12-16-7) lost all three of its meetings with the Riverhounds this season.

“We knew their backline wasn’t steady,” Brett said. “All we had to do was put pressure on them. That’s exactly what we did.”

The Riverhounds took a 5-0 lead into halftime after Brett scored in the 27th and 35th minutes, and Jordan Dover added another in the 45th.

Birmingham had difficulty defending the Riverhounds, and two of their fouls resulted in penalty kicks for Mertz and Brett. Both were converted.

“Everyone can agree it’s our best of the season,” said Mertz of the team’s performance. “To be doing that at this time of year is what you want.”

Birmingham Legion was never in sync, generating only one shot on target. Birmingham played the final 29 minutes down a man after Zachary Herivaux drew a red card.

It was a tough turnaround for Birmingham, which played a play-in game Wednesday.

“You could tell right from the get-go we were tired,” Birmingham coach Tom Soehn said. “I couldn’t tell how much of a carry over we would have, but unfortunately it was big. Pittsburgh is a good team. If you come tired or heavy-legged, they are going to take advantage.”