The Hounds fight back for a hard earned 1-1 draw

After a rough road trip the Riverhounds returned home to battle out a 1-1 draw with the Richmond kickers. You always want to walk away with three points, but I’m really happy with this draw. I was concerned the team would still be shaky which, when playing one of the best teams in the league over the last few seasons, could go real bad real fast. Instead the Hounds fought hard and generally looked pretty good. For the first time in a while they didn’t make any glaring defensive mistakes this game. In fact Arena, Pasher, and even Dallman made some great plays through out the evening and really held down the back line. Richmond’s lone goal was due to the unfortunate timing of Arena losing his footing on the slick surface than a tactical flub. Credit to Richmond for being able to pounce on that. Fortunately for Arena’s pride his header in the second half put the Hounds on the board. He probably doesn’t get many opportunities to score as a defender, and he seemed pretty stoked about that one. It was fitting that Arena scored the Hounds lone tally after Brian Ownby put one in for Richmond. The former Houston Dynamo loans continue to show why they’re one of the best in the league at their respective positions.

An increasingly concerning problem for the Hounds coming out of this match is the attack in the final third fizzling out. The midfield continues to look solid and they’re able to build up play a lot better than we’ve seen in the past. For whatever reason once the Hounds get inside the 18 they just can’t get the ball in the net. It’s a weird issue to be talking about when the Hounds have one of the best goals for in the league. However, if you take away the 5 goals in the opener against Harrisburg (who’ve played much better since), and the 5 goals against Toronto II (who has the leagues worst goals against), the Hounds have scored more than 1 goal in just one of the remaining six games. That’s 5 one goal games. Which I suppose in soccer isn’t that bad, but it would be nice to see them put a 2 on the score board more often. Especially since so far this season they haven’t been able to keep a clean sheet. Simple math. If they keep letting up a goal, then they need two to win. The Hounds haven’t quite shown they’re able to get that many yet unless they’re playing a bad team. On the plus side at least they aren’t getting blanked.

The Riverhounds are back in action this Wednesday night for their first match in the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Kick off is at 7:00 pm.

Notes

• I was a little ho hum on Pasher’s defensive ability before this match. He seemed a much more offensive minded defender. A Kris Letang if you will. I’m much higher on him now. He made some key defensive plays during the game and was just all around solid.
• Calle Brown had about as good of a professional debut as you could hope for. He looked confident in net and didn’t make any major mistakes. There were a couple balls where he wasn’t totally sure handed on, but nothing that was detrimental. Even with the announcement of Thompson’s call up it was surprising to see him sit this out. I figured he’d play at least the next two games, and we would see his replacement get time in the Open Cup game this Wednesday. Apparently Thompson tweaked his back last week and may sit a couple out. I was concerned starting Brown against Richmond would be throwing him to the wolves. It shows the confidence the coaching staff has in him and the defense.
• Dantas has to bury those shots when he has almost an empty net in front of him.
• New comer Boris Zivanovic looked speedy and aggressive. He took over for Dantas towards the end so I think it’s safe to say he’ll be playing an attacking role. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s going to be more of a super sub (he did cause a lot of havoc for Richmond towards the end), or if he’ll slip into a starting position.
• Nice to see Russell back.

What They’re Saying

Dejan Kovacevic – DKonPittsburghSports.com

Boris Zivanovic, the newly acquired 25-year-old forward from Belgrade, Serbia, arrived early this week and — mercifully — replaced Dantas in the 73rd minute. He’ll need time to get accustomed to the new team and to get his legs under him after the overseas flight, but the early reviews were good. He drew a foul, he showed sound footwork and, best of all, joined Kerr in running behind the defense, which is supposed to be his strongest suit.

“I felt strong, and I had fun,” Zivanovic told me in Serbian, and no, I don’t need a translator for that. “But it can be better.”

The Riverhounds can be a lot better in this area.

Matt Gajtka – City of Champions Sports

It was the first time this season that Thompson was on the sideline, so the Hounds were a little more cautious in the back to insulate the rookie Brown, who is coming off a national championship run with the University of Virginia last fall.

“With our keeper in his first pro game, we asked our outside backs to settle in a little bit at the beginning of the match,” Steffens said. “We wanted to be safe back there.”

…

“You saw his confidence,” Steffens said. “We think he’s going to be a big-time keeper one day. He just needs the experience.”

Alexander Chismar – Pittsburgh Sporting News

Going into the last ten minutes, the game intensified even further. Richmond found two late scoring chances but Brown smothered any ball that he could get his hands on. Pasher and Russell were set up multiple times, but missed the goal by a matter of feet.

Unfortunately, for the Riverhounds none of these chances translated to goals. While Richmond is a quality team, the Hounds came off the field disappointed knowing they were not too far away from stealing a few more points from the third place Kickers.

John Krysinsky – Pittsburgh Soccer Report

“It’s tough in this game to chase a lead. We’ve been in that position way too much this year,” said Mark Steffens, Riverhounds Head Coach.

“We do have confidence when we are behind, but the problem has been consistency,”

“But, I’d much rather score first,” Steffens chuckled.

Around the League

• Montreal finally got points! And gave Charleston their first loss which is great for us!
• Rochester is the last undefeated team in the league.
• Louisville doubled their season goals for this week with a 3-0 and 4-0 win.
• As mentioned above Harrisburg have quietly been playing well, picking up another win over the weekend.
• New York Red Bulls II make their debut at their new home at Columbia University.

#UNLEASH