Riverhounds rally to beat Hartford Athletics, move into 1st in Atlantic Division

After the Pittsburgh Riverhounds were denied by Hartford Athletic keeper Jeff Caldwell several times in the first half, Alex Dixon found the finishing touch and helped his team move into first place.

Dixon scored twice in the second half to propel the Riverhounds to a 3-1 win over Hartford on Saturday night at Highmark Stadium.

The win coupled with Tampa Bay’s 2-0 loss to Charlotte, put the Riverhounds (9-4-3) atop the USL’s Atlantic Division standings.

“In the first half, we just didn’t break through and their keeper made a few really good saves, but we stuck with it,” Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley said.

“We changed it up and got Dixon up a little bit higher. We went with one less center back. We weren’t going to wait until the last 20 or 30 minutes to push. Our mindset wasn’t to draw. We wanted to get at least two goals and did a good job limiting their chances in the second half and getting the chances we needed to find some goals. I’m proud of the guys. It wasn’t a straightforward game. The crowd played a big part. They were loud and brought the energy when we needed it.”

Dixon scored a tap-in goal after a long cross through the box by Mekeil Williams to tie the score in the 49th minute. Williams’ pass landed perfectly on the foot of Dixon.

Williams made his first appearance since returning from playing in the Gold Cup for Trinidad and Tobago.

Dixon’s second goal came on a counter attack. He dribbled from outside the midfield line in and fired a shot into the top left corner of the net.

“On the first goal, Williams put a great ball in and I was able to get good contact on it,” Dixon said. “The second one, I had a little bit of a break. I dribbled it until I was about 35 to 40 feet out and I didn’t really have any great options, so I decided to take a shot.”

Dixon, who previously played for Hartford, doubled his goal total on the season to four.

Louis Perez added an insurance marker in the 87th minute that was setup by a headed pass in the box by Tommy Williamson.

The Riverhounds controlled play, finishing with 63.6% possession and had several prime scoring chances in the second half prior to Dixon’s winner.

Dani Rovira served a perfect cross into the box from the left side, but Albert Dikwa’s header went over the crossbar.

Dixon put a cross in from the right side in the 72nd minute, but again a header went over the crossbar, this time from Anthony Velarde.

Four minutes later, Williamson was fouled and the Riverhounds received a free kick from just outside the box. Williamson took the free kick, but his attempt went just outside the right post.

In the first half, the Riverhounds had five shots on goal and generated six corners, but one well-executed counterattack was finished by Derek Dodson propelled Hartford to the lead.

Dodson split the Riverhounds’ defense after a perfectly placed pass from the other side of the midfield stripe from Christian Gomez and deposited the ball into the bottom left corner of the net in the 26th minute.

The Riverhounds nearly tied the score six minutes later after a back pass from Younes Boudadi went sailing past Caldwell and resulted in a corner.

On the corner, Williams headed the ball at goal, but it was batted away by Caldwell. The rebound rolled to Dikwa, who fired a heavy shot that was thwarted by a diving Caldwell.

Caldwell also robbed Dikwa on a close-range opportunity in the 43rd minute.

Dodson almost struck again in the 37th minute. After winning a 1-on-1 battle with Dixon, Dodson dribbled in alone on goal, but his shot went into the midsection of Riverhounds keeper, Danny Vitiello.

“We dodged a bullet there,” Lilley said. “I don’t know how productive the locker room would’ve been at halftime down 2-0. There wouldn’t have been much instruction.”

After playing three games in three weeks, the Riverhounds have reached the halfway point of the season. They will face a daunting stretch of eight games over the next 29 days.

“We prioritized our last three games, because we knew the stretch we were getting ready for,” Lilley said. “Everything we do in these next 29 days is going to be critical. If we can stay around the top places we have the opportunity to set ourselves for a strong finish.”