After a high scoring affair the Hounds play turtle to a 1-1 draw.

When you watch soccer for years and years at some point you start to get a good sense of when a game is going to end in a draw. By half time I knew where this was going. The Hounds apparently took a look at the historic 6-5 victory the week prior and decided to do something about that 5. More often than not though, when you swing hard in the direction of defense your offense will suffer. St. Louis plays a pretty strong defensive game as evident by their 12 GA in 10 games. They also only have 12 GF, so they’re not exactly the most high flying offense out there either. Defense vs Defense made for 90 minutes of waiting for the other team to make a mistake. In the end that’s exactly what we got on both goals. The Hounds got the PK, St. Louis got the keeper error, and both teams walk away with a point.

We were flying high after the emotional Open Cup game and the crazy win against Harrisburg. Nothing like a 90 minute grind to bring you back to the real world. I don’t know how Rochester fans watch games like that every week. We actually shouldn’t be too surprised at the result. This season has been a roller coaster ride with high scoring matches followed by dips. If the Hounds keep this pattern up it’ll be another 5 goal game on July 4th against the baby Bulls.

But hey enough of being a downer. Points are points and the Hounds leave the weekend in the same spot they entered at 5th place. We’re one point behind Louisville for 4th, and 3 behind Richmond for 3rd. On the flip side there’s Harrisburg, St. Louis, and New York Red Bulls II nipping at our heels, all within three points. Any positive result is critical at this point in the season, and there are 6 easy points waiting for the Hounds with their next two matches against the Charlotte Independence and FC Montreal.

Notes

• I don’t really have anything this week other than super early games suck.

What They’re Saying

Matt Gajtka – DKonPittsburghSports.com

After the Riverhounds’ back-and-forth madness of last week’s 6-5 win over Harrisburg, attack-minded coach Mark Steffens said the pendulum swung too far the other way.

“Disappointing,” Steffens said. “All week, we worked on defending because we gave up five goals last week, but we didn’t create the number of scoring opportunities we have been doing. I’m happy on one side of the ball, but not so much on the other side. We have to play to our strengths.”

John Krysinsky – Pittsburgh Soccer Report

Saint Louis were highly organized in the back — and the Riverhounds began to sending balls forward to the width, mostly to Kevin Kerr on the right side. Kerr created a few chances including a cross that found Vincent and he set up a few corner kick opportunities.

On their first corner, Lebo Moloto served a low, grounder just away from the goal that Vincent dummied, then Kerr followed with a shot right at Pais.

It also appeared that Vincent had some times where he wasn’t able to get his shots, and passed the ball off to an open teammate on a few occasions.

“It was very difficult. They had four in the back playing tight. TThey didn’t give us a lot of space. They were closing gaps. We had to be a little more cute in and around the box,” added Vincent.

Around the League

• Seattle and Sacramento stumble with losses.
• Charleston and Harrisburg get a point, Richmond picks up three.
• The East has developed into three tiers. 1-3, 4-8, and 9-12.
• The West is wide open. Only 7 points separate 1st from 11th.

#UNLEASH