Riverhounds blank Detroit City, extend USL Championship unbeaten streak to 13 games

Edward Kizza said it was an emotional week both physically and mentally given the Riverhounds had three games in eight days.

After a big 1-0 win at Louisville City Wednesday, he said it was imperative the team come home and finish the job.

Kizza helped the Hounds do so with and they upped their unbeaten streak within the USL Championship to 13 games with a 2-0 win over Detroit City Saturday night at Highmark Stadium.

Burke Fahling also added a goal for the Hounds, who improved to 8-0-5 during their unbeaten run and maintained their lead in the USL Championship Eastern Conference standings.

The stretch also included a 0-0 draw against Sacramento last Saturday.

“If we go to Louisville and win a game you don’t want to come home and lose points,” Kizza said. “All of those teams who are chasing us want us to drop points. So, if you get three points against Louisville, a strong team, coming home it doesn’t matter who you are playing against. At the end of the day (Detroit) is going to be fighting for a playoff spot and to get points off them is amazing.”

The Hounds (10-2-8) are two games away from tying the 2004 team for longest unbeaten streak in USL play in team history at 15. It’s also the longest unbeaten stretch in the Bob Lilley era which started in 2018. The Hounds were undefeated for the last 11 games of the 2019 regular season and won their first playoff game.

They also remained undefeated at Highmark Stadium across all competitions at 10-0-3 and 7-0-3 in league play.

Lilley said his team wasn’t at its sharpest Saturday, but given the recent workload he was pleased the group got a victory.

“I’m happy for the guys that we got the result, happy for the fans that came out in dodgy weather and the night was successful to a certain extent,” Lilley said. “Hopefully some of our play was due to fatigue, but we didn’t have much possession and created very few shots. We had to defend from deep for a large portion of the game. You’re not going to win that many games playing that way, but the guys dug in and found a way. Hopefully we get some energy back (next week). My sense is that we were tired as a group.”

Part of what’s buoyed the streak has been superb goal prevention.

Jahmali Waite returned fresh off playing for Jamaica in the Gold Cup and recorded his sixth clean sheet in league play. Since June, the Hounds have yielded only one goal in USL play and only a dozen all season, which ranks second to Sacramento.

“It starts in training to have that mindset,” Waite said of the Hounds’ success on defense. “We defend well as a team, whether that’s getting pressure higher up the field, defending in our box against crosses, it’s across the board from everyone. Bob is on us about that and it’s good to have that consistently as a team.”

Luis Zamudio returned to DC United after a month-long loan during Waite’s absence. He had four clean sheets in his five starts.

Kizza’s goal came in the eighth minute on a turning shot in front of the net. He was set up by a precise long, low pass by Michael DeShields. It was Kizza’s third goal in league play this season and DeShields’ first assist.

“He had so much time to pick out a pass that I had to get into a good position,” Kizza said. “I kept trying to find space. Once it came to me I had one thing on my mind: get a good touch and at least get the ball on frame. Luckily it went in.”

Fahling converted a free kick in the 51st minute from just outside the middle of the 18-yard box after Albert Dikwa drew a foul. It was Fahling’s second goal of the season.

Juan Carlos Obregon Jr. made his Hounds debut in the 83rd minute. Obregon signed July 5. He previously played in the USL for Hartford Athletic and represented Honduras in the 2020 Olympics.

The Hounds travel to Charleston next Saturday prior to returning home the following Wednesday to play Indy Eleven.