Riverhounds play to another scoreless draw, tying San Antonio at home

A scoreless draw to end a stretch of three games in eight days like the one the Pittsburgh Riverhounds had Saturday night at Highmark Stadium may seem like an acceptable result in most circumstances.

Especially since they were the stronger side statistically. But going up against a San Antonio FC team that had one win on the road all year, not getting a victory was a missed opportunity even if it did run the Hounds’ unbeaten streak to six games.

Close calls and ones that got away have been an overarching theme for the Hounds in 2024, and they still sit outside the playoff picture with 10 games remaining.

The Hounds (6-9-9) are in 10th place and three points behind Loudoun, which occupies the final playoff spot in the USL Championship Eastern Conference.

Overall, Hounds coach Bob Lilley was pleased with his team’s effort on short rest, but again, his team was unable to produce a goal. It’s the 13th game this season that the Hounds did not score.

“I’m proud of our guys, but we still need to find another gear,” Hounds coach Bob Lilley said. “We came out firing, got behind them, pushed the issue and created lots of chances. We didn’t score, but we needed to maintain that throughout the rest of the half and into the second half. We lost the last 15 to 20 minutes in the first half and the game evened up.

“In the second half, we played more in their half and there were positives in our play, but we didn’t have urgency until the last 15 minutes. There’s a 50-minute void in the middle of the game where we needed to be more productive.”

Saturday’s result was the sixth time a Hounds game has ended in a scoreless draw this season. They did not allow a goal during the three-game stretch in eight days.

The Hounds spent most of the second half trying to break down San Antonio, which played with 10 players behind the ball most of the time.

In the last five minutes prior to stoppage time, Edward Kizza had a header go wide and Junior Etou took a shot from 20 yards that screamed over the bar.

“I was a little shocked that (San Antonio) didn’t come out in the second half and go for it, but I thought we did a good job of moving the ball back and forth and making them move a little bit,” Hounds defender Pat Hogan said. “We just couldn’t find that clear-cut chance to finish or get a guy open in the box. We had one or two runners and they had five or six in the box. It’s a numbers game. You have to get more numbers in the box if you want to have a better chance at scoring.”

San Antonio’s Jake LaCava suffered a serious leg injury on a noncontact play in the first minute of the second half. LaCava was taken off the field via a stretcher.

The delay led to eight minutes of stoppage time at the end of the match. The Hounds generated several corners during stoppage time, but not many good looks at goal. Their best chance came when Kenardo Forbes put a header over the crossbar.

The draw denied Lilley of securing his 400th win as a professional coach. The Hounds will try to get it for him again next Saturday when they host Colorado Springs.